FLEAS

[Merika]

I can't afford to go to the vet for those flea pills for dogs. Meanwhile, I've tried a variety of things which don't work. What we end up doing is giving him a bath in flea relellant shampoo and combing them off with a flea comb. A day later...he has them right back.

I dusted the outside...which seemed to be a minimum of help. I will do it again after it dries up from all the rain. We do not have a flea problem inside....but we will if we don't stop it.

Does ANYONE have any suggestions or home remedies?

[Duke]

I stole this from here: http://www.caberfeidh.com/Fleas.htm

Fleas, like all parasites, prey on the weak, sick, and malnourished. An animal infested with fleas is an unhealthy animal, and while the fleas certainly worsen this ill health, they do not cause it. Poor-quality, inappropriate diets cause parasite infestations, as do unsanitary conditions and all forms of stress. By knocking out the flea, whether with insecticides, nematodes, or hormones, you have done nothing to solve the root problem of ill health.

The first and most essential step is to improve your animals' health and vitality. The single best way to do this is to feed them a diet based on nature, rather than a highly processed commercial food. This single step is 99 percent of the battle, and yet is the one most people don't want to consider when looking for an alternative to pesticides.

Some good ideas can be found in the following links:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980716c.cfm

http://www.extendedyears.com/forum/fleamess/4285.html

[Merika]

I think I've going to try giving him the garlic pills or brewer's yeast. Because he is short haired and white....you can see every flea. It drives me nuts.

[Duke]

I'd hate that too.

[Samson]

Once upon a time I visited a central American nation on business that I'll not go into here. At any rate, we were quartered in the room of someone's home where they kept the dogs before we had the privilage of moving in. Even after amounts of foggy poison were applied that far surpassed the legal application in the USA, fleas persisted to bother us at night. In fact, it felt as if only the most hearty survived.

Most disappointing was the remedy: Female companionship. Apparently, whenever we had a female "visitor" only they would be attacked. Soon, the word spread among the female population not to visit us, for many reasons, but mainly to avoid the fleas.

We ended up drinking vast quantities of rum into the dark hours until we could not feel fleas, or anything else for that matter.

[Star]

Fleas are a pain in the arse! If there are fleas in a place that I walk into, i get eaten alive!

Our dogs never had fleas. Mickey would get a tick here and there that we would remove but no fleas. our outside dogs never had them either. Maybe it has to do with where we live???

I did have a cat that had them bad and I got rid of it because i just couldn't get rid of them! Then I got my place fumigated for fleas. Since that cat, the only way i would own a cat was to keep it indoors. solves the flea problem if they don't ever go outside!

Flea medication is very expensive.

[Duke]

I thought you could buy foods that are systemic and kill fleas from inside the animal, I could be wrong though.

[Merika]

I know people used to use a garlic mix. The vets have pills for it....but that's not in the current budget. So far, I really don't have any problems in the house. I'm manic about checking him each time he comes in now.

I'll stop at a health food store tomorrow to see what I can get for a good price. I'm sure they have something.....

[Duke]

Are you 100% sure that you don't have a flea problem somewhere in the house. I read somewhere that people will vacuum up fleas but not throw away the bag right after vacuuming allowing the little buggers to just come right out again and infest your vacuum closet or wherever it's stored.

[Merika]

The flea problem is outside. We really didn't get a cold enough winter to kill off any creepy bugs this year. (Even though...I read fleas live 3 feet in the ground during cold winters.....only to come back in spring!) I have some flea dust I will put back out in the yard now that it's stopped raining.

[Duke]

Isn,t there something better for outdoor applications?

[YellowLioness]

Flea collars have helped us tremendously. They're around 10.00 a piece here, not sure if that would be the same farther down south, Merika.

Oh, Naked is bathing himself again! Yay!

[Stone]

Frontline or Advantage is the only thing that works.

[YellowLioness]

Have you tried Dawn dish soap?