Need natural remedy for fleas fast & cheap

[Bridget]

We have had a real warm spell here and my dogs suddenly are scratching again. Normally we don't do Frontline in the winter. Does anyone know of a natural remedy I could use as kind of a quick fix? It needs to be cheap too, as I am quite broke after Christmas, etc.

Regarding garlic products, can I use just regular garlic powder or fresh garlic or do I have to buy special "garlic for dogs" products? Also, if garlic is the best answer, how much to use and in what form?

If oils are better, can anyone tell me how to use them on the dogs??

Thank you for any advice or suggestions.

[mysweetkaos]

I may be mistaken...but I think bathing them in anything "sudsy" will take care of the ones on their body. With our foster I bathed him and then did a mix of apple cidar vinegar/water 1/3 ratio and sponged that over his body. As for household...my dad has owned an exterminating company for 30 ++ years said best/cheapest is buy some flea collars, put them in the vacuum, in between the couch cushions, in their bed (obviously in the zippered part or whereever they can't access it) anywhere dust could accumulate and fleas could make their home. Hope that helps.....Good luck!!

[Emoore]

Natural? Nope, don't know of anything. But Adams flea/tick spray in the blue spray bottle will kill them dead. Costs six or eight bucks for a big bottle.

[kiya]

I would think flea baths followed by changing & cleaning all bedding, vacumm everyday. Sometimes 1 flea is all it takes for a lot of scratching.

[mysweetkaos]

Woops...missed the natural part when recommending "stashing" collars. Sorry about that. I know there is a spray at Petco (?) that is peppermint oil along with other types.....but it runs about $26 a bottle.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Not natural but Capstar will kill off current fleas just to get rid of them.

Diacetemous (sp) earth will also kill fleas, and is natural, just not sure if it is as fast as Capstar, where you will see the fleas dropping off like...flies. We picked up a puppy for rescue and the fleas were having a circus on her - her foster said that they gave her Capstar in the travel crate and watched the die off - the crate was full of dead fleas.

[Germanshepherdlova]

A couple months ago I had a battle with the fleas-and I won! I did not use natural flea killers though. The vet put my dogs on Comfortis and I also put Frontline on them a few weeks later. I bought some spray from the vets that worked awesome-it kills fleas, eggs, etc for the next 70 days after you apply it. I think it costed about $20 a can. All areas in the home need to be treated including under couches, cushions, pet beds, carpets, curtains, can't leave anywhere for those critters to hide. The cans are large and I used 3 to cover all surfaces. Within a month the fleas were all gone. Once the spray dried it was safe to use all furniture, and such. Sorry it's not natural but it was what worked for me. Good luck-I know how awful it is to battle those nasty little critters!

[GatorDog]

With my flea battle over the last few months, the combination of things that worked was multiple baths, an all natural flea/tick spray, diatomaceous earth, and LOTS of house cleaning. Vacuuming at least once, if not twice a day. I started with the flea spray (which was a mix of peppermint oil, etc - made by Richard's Organics and wasn't too expensive) Left that on for about 6 hours, then a bath. Any sudsy soap works if its left on long enough to kill the fleas - typically about 5-10 minutes. I just used oatmeal and sensitive skin stuff with aloe in it because I knew he'd be getting multiple baths and didn't want to dry his skin out. Then I applied the diatomaceous earth directly to his coat and rubbed it in. I also applied it to the carpets and rubbed it in with a broom, let it settle as long as possible, then vacuumed it up. I pretty much sprayed everything with the natural spray daily, along with applying diatomaceous earth and vacuuming. The baths were about once every two weeks if I could go that long. It was a two or three month long battle, but it worked!

Good luck!

[Bridget]

Thanks all! I knew I could count on you guys!

[Courtney]

I have heard a bath in DAWN dishsoap will kill the fleas instantly...but you still have to stop the entire cycle.

I also stop Frontline in the winter but it's been so mild here in Ohio that now I'm nervous. I hope we will be ok. I dealt with fleas one time and it was awful. At that time I was only using neem oil & Springtime garlic & DE in the yard...he still got fleas and I HATED to use Frontline but felt I had no choice.