Make Fleas Flee
June 27, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under Home & Living
I hate fleas.
I hate insecticide.
Stinks to be me, right? Wrong.
A great antidote to fleas is something called Diatomaceous Earth. Now, this is not the stuff you put in your pool It is a fine powder.
And you can use it for all sorts of things. Now, to get the best you need to buy food grade which is actually cheaper than the kind that you might find locally. Make sure that it is not the swimming pool kind, and make sure it has no additives or pesticides added. Sometimes the kind from a garden center does. You want pure, food grade diatomaceous earth. It is $22.00 for 50 lbs here and that is the best price I have seen.
It is a powder that is made up of fine, fossilized shells. It lacerates the bugs and they die from dehydration. You can use food grade diatomaceous earth for worming animals, as well as food storage preservation but we can chat about those things later. Right now it’s fleas.
In order to kill fleas you would use this as a dust under sofas, chairs and around the perimeter of your room. You could dust the whole house with it but your vacuum would get mighty clogged up. Dust the area where the dog sleeps. Most important spread it on your yard.
Now, it is great for your soil and it will not only kill fleas but we used it and didn’t see fire ants for years.
It is not hazardous to animals or humans, altho it can dry out your hands and you shouldn’t breath the dust. This is seriously great stuff.
Give it a try. And we will chat about some of the other amazing abilities of this wonder-stuff another day.
Pure white vinegar will kill fleas on animals, too. We rescued a puppy with a horrible infestation. Soaked the little booger and the fleas died just about on contact. It also helps get rid of potential skin infections.
I did not know that Julie..I have some vinegar posts coming soon.
Oooh, then I can share with you some of my uses. Email me if you want!
You bet Julie!
I have found that orange peels work great for fleas on dogs and lemon peels on cats. I peel 2 or 3 oranges (lemons), place the peelings in a large Dutch Oven pan. Cover with water and let boil for about 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off heat, place lid on pot and let sit overnight. Next day, take peelings out, give your dog or cat a bath with the mixture. Make sure your pet gets good and wet. It is best if you do not completely towel dry your pet, but let it dry on your pet. When pet is completely dry, toss on a new flea collar and you are flea free the rest of the summer. I live in rural Okla. and this has helped me fight the fleas. I feed the left over oranges and lemons to the pigs. Have also wiped the orange water on my horses too.
that is a great idea angie! thanks
I used to be a pet groomer for a career. Honestly just in case anyone needs to know; you can use any pet safe shampoo to get rid of fleas. you just need to make sure to leave it on for 5 to 10 minutes. and make sure to wait at least 2 weeks before you give them another one. It may dry their skin out. Just some little tips. hope it may help someone! thanks for the helpful info. and God Bless!
Thanks Michelle that is good to know.