Fleas, the evil jumping vampires.
I hate fleas. Does anyone actually like those little annoying, hopping, bloodsuckers?
But I also hate chemicals. The flea medicines you put on your pets – Frontline, Revolution, Biospot, etc – they are all so messy. They stink, they ooze everywhere no matter what you do, and who knows what long term effects they will have on your pets, let alone you for getting on you when you apply it!
Of all the products I’ve tried I’d have to say I love Revolution the best – it does everything: fleas, ticks, mosquitos, worms, even earmites. Biospot I have found claims to do all the same things for cats, and Cutter for dogs. The problem is price! 6 doses of Revolution costs around $80 at the vet. Biospot is more resonable and Cutter even cheaper but if you have more than one pet it still gets expensive.
My husband and I are just starting out and we have a three-month-old son. We simply can’t afford to keep buying all these expensive flea remedies. Now, I love the fact that the Revolution, etc, takes care of heartworms and mites and things, but I still just cannot afford it.
So I use the old tried and true home remedies. And they work like a charm every time!
If you think a room in your house has an infestation of fleas in the carpet, all you need to do is to put a bowl of warm water in the room overnight. Don’t let pets or people in the room. If there are fleas taking up residence in your carpet, they’ll be drawn to the warm water and will jump in. In the morning you’ll find lots of drowned fleas. And if that’s the case, sprinkle some plain old baby powder or baking soda on your rug, let sit about 10 – 20 minutes, then vacuum. It smothers the fleas and you vacuum them right up. Just empty the vacuum and there you go. Do it at least every other day for a while and no fleas.
If your dog (or even your cat) is covered in fleas give them a bath with Dawn dish soap. I swear Dawn is great for everything! It gets out the oil stains on my husband’s work pants, it gets rid of grease, and it even makes ticks let go. As for fleas, it kills them outright. Soap up your pet real well and the fleas will be smothered before you are even ready to rinse. Just be careful around the eyes.
To keep fleas off your pets, use baby powder. It smothers the fleas. It also seems to help keep ticks from attaching to them. Just sprinkle a real light coating of baby powder on the pet and brush it through their fur. They’ll be clean, they’ll smell good and feel good, and best of all, no fleas. And fleas will be very reluctant to jump on them when they’re outside too – baby powder sticks to them and smothers them. Brush them once a week with it, being careful not to get too much where they’ll get a lot in their mouths when they groom, and no worries.
As for dog house, just add cedar shavings. Bugs seem to hate cedar shavings. It’s kept spiders, ticks, ants, fleas, wasps, and bees out of my dogs’ houses for years. And dogs seem to love them. Not to mention they smell a lot better.
These remedies work great, and all without harsh chemicals! And baby powder and Dawn are also much less expensive than the name brand flea medicines.
Strange New World 