Natural Flea Home Remedies

Fleas are tiny, brown, wingless insect that survive by drinking the blood of your pets. These pests are a stubborn species and are very difficult and time-consuming to get rid of. Female fleas will lay about 2,000 eggs in her life span of 10 months, i.e. about 27 to 45 eggs a day. Fleas can wait for as long as 8 months while finding a host to live on.

Fleas might bring viral and bacterial infections and other diseases to your animals and to you as well. They are the culprits for the spreading of the flea worm, which causes anemia, allergic reactions and excessive scratching. Once your pets have fleas' problem, it is important for you to eliminate these pests thoroughly before they spread to other pets. Besides cleaning your infected pets, you also have to destroy all fleas hidden around your home and yards to prevent this problem from recurring.

Here are a few natural home remedies for treating fleas:

Apple Cider Vinegar: This is among the most recommended remedies for treating fleas for pets and also for preventing human from flea bites.

• For treating pets: Pour apple cider vinegar into a spray bottle and dilute with water in 1:1 ratio. Bathe you pets in baby shampoo first before spraying the solution on them. Keep on rubbing their skin while spraying. Do this every other day for 2 weeks. At the same time, add 3 tbsp of the vinegar to each gallon of their drinking water. However, if the dog has open sores, don’t spray it with vinegar as it burns so bad.
• For preventing human from flea bites: Wet a washcloth in vinegar and wipe the whole body. Let it dry and get dressed, you may also apply Benadryl and calamine lotion. At the same time, mix 1 tbsp of vinegar with 8 oz. of water and drink once a day. It takes about 3 weeks to see the result.

Dawn Dish Soap: Use the Dawn to bathe the cats or dogs as it will kill the fleas effectively. First, put the soap on a washcloth and clean the areas around the eyes, nose, mouth, chin and ears carefully (don’t apply soap too near the sensitive areas). Then, continue down to the neck area, private part, tail and legs. Lastly, wash the rest of the pet’s body in any order using a flea comb. The suds barrier will prevent the fleas from escaping. This is an effective method for killing fleas.

Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth-Borax: The diatomaceous earth and borax should be purchased from local garden store. Mix together the earth and borax, 1 1/2 lbs each with a cup of salt. Sprinkle the mixture throughout your home (e.g. carpets and harder to reach areas). Leave it for a few days before vacuuming it up. However, if your have children at home, you may want to use an alternative way. You can pour the mixture into the vacuum cleaner bag and then thoroughly vacuum the house. All the fleas that have been sucked will then die inside the bag. This solution is good for killing fleas but not their un-hatched eggs. Therefore, you might need to repeat the process.

Vinegar-Dish Soap Bath plus Heating Pad: This method is good for small pets such as kitten. It involves 3 steps, i.e. bathing, tweezing and heating pad flea-hunting.

• Bathing: Fill a tub half way with lukewarm water and add in some vinegar (any type). Then, put the kitten in the vinegar solution (except for its head). Then, take it out and apply the dish soap on the body and massage gently (the fleas will be running towards its head). To kill the fleas on the head, wash with baby shampoo (be very careful not to get into its eyes). After that, rinse the fur entirely with the vinegar solution.
• Tweezing: After the vinegar-dish soap bath, tweeze off all of the fleas slowly using a pair of tweezers. When it is done, put the kitten in the vinegar solution again. After that, rinse off with lukewarm water and then towel dry.
• Heating Pad Fleas-hunting: Place a blanket on a heating pad and set on LOW (not too hot). Put the clean kitten on it and do the fleas-hunting once again. When it is done, towel dried them very well.

Dish Soap-Lamp Flea Trap: In a light colored bowl (preferably white), fill in some water and add a few drops of dishwashing soap to make a solution. Put the bowl under a switched-on lamp. The light colored bowl allows more light to be absorbed, attracting the fleas. The soap covers the fleas and makes them drown and sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Neem or Oatmeal Shampoo with Essential Oil: Bath your pets using shampoo added with two drops of essential oils is an excellent way to kill fleas. Leave the lather on your pet for a few minutes before rinsing it off very well.

Flea Prevention Diet: Add garlic and sulphur to your dog's diet once a week will help preventing fleas. Giving Black Walnut Hulls (the capsule form can be found at many health food stores) to the dogs will also help repelling fleas. It may take about 4 to 6 weeks for these solutions to be effective.

Avon's Skin So Soft: Rub your dog's coat with it as it repels fleas. But don’t apply too much as it will make the pet’s fur a little greasy.