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10 Common Flea Myths
[Originally shared by Only Natural Pet in 2015]
- Healthy dogs don't get fleas
- Fleas only live on dogs, not in the house
- Once you get rid of fleas, your good
- Keeping your home clean prevents fleas
- Topical flea and tick treatments are safe for dogs
- Veterinarians can prevent fleas
- Flea collars are safe for dogs
- If your dog only has a few fleas, no big deal
- There are no fleas in winter
- Fleas can't be treated naturally
Flea season in the Pacific Northwest lasts from May to November. And it can last longer if you host generations of flea families in your carpets and furniture. In this blog post, I will share how I can protect my dogs (and myself) from the annoyance of flea bites without resorting to harsh chemical repellents.
Fleas and Diet
I’m very fortunate because [knock on wood] our dogs don't get fleas for several reasons. One of those reasons is that I feed a raw diet, and fleas don't like the taste of healthy, raw-fed dogs, preferring dogs that eat a high-carb diet (aka kibble). Feeding raw doesn’t guarantee that a dog won’t get fleas, but it’s a great first step.
I also add garlic to my dogs’ diet because – YES, GARLIC IS SAFE FOR DOGS TO EAT. It seems like anytime someone mentions feeding garlic to dogs, someone comments about the dangers of doing so.
I would never feed my dogs the amount of garlic it would take to harm them. Instead, I add several garlic cloves when making bone broth or my vegetable mix.
Benefits of Garlic for Dogs
- Garlic turns our dogs into natural flea and tick repellents
- Garlic helps to fight cancer by destroying cancer cells.
- Garlic acts as a natural detox.
- Garlic stops the formation of blood clots in the system.
- Garlic reduces cholesterol.
- Garlic is a natural antibiotic, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic.
Feeding Garlic to Dogs
If fleas are a huge issue, I recommend adding garlic to your dog’s meals. Using the serving guide below, crush the clove(s) of garlic, allow it to sit for 20 minutes, then mix it into your dog’s raw meal. I suggest starting once a week to see how it works for your dog.
- 10 to 15 pounds – half a clove.
- 20 to 40 pounds – 1 clove.
- 45 to 70 pounds – 2 cloves.
Need Kilograms?
- 4.5 to 6.8 kg – half a clove.
- 9.1 to 18.1 kg – 1 clove
- 20.4 to 31.8 kg – 2 cloves.
Dr. Pitcairn derived these dosage amounts in his book The Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. This is not recommended for puppies, pregnant dogs, or dogs with an anemic condition.
Fleas and Sunshine
Another reason our dogs don’t have fleas – 99% of our property is exposed to sunlight.
“Well these garden fleas love to live in damp, moist places where sunlight cannot reach them. It’s interesting to note that fleas cannot exist in broad sunlight, hence why they hide under hair, etc.”
~ TheBugSquad.com
I have hay fever, which has allowed me to take a break from yard work until now. J now has a business that takes up a big chunk of his time, so I’m helping him maintain our property. This weekend, I’ll be walking around with clippers and hedge trimmers to trim back plants and trees, exposing more of the ground to sunlight.
I also worked several weekends planting and transplanting flowers and plants that naturally repel fleas and other pests:
- Basil – repels fleas, mosquitoes, and houseflies
- Catnip – repels fleas and mosquitoes
- Citronella – repels mosquitoes
- Lavender – repels mosquitoes, fleas, flies, and moths
- Marigold – repels mosquitoes and aphids; they also discourage the deer from eating my vegetables
- Peppermint – repels fleas, mosquitoes, spiders (which I like), and ants
- Rosemary – repels fleas and ticks (the plants aren't toxic to dogs)
Of course, my gardening tips are useless if you hike with your dogs or go to dog parks and fields. During the summer months, I sign my dogs up for SniffSpots around my area once a month.
Wait! Isn't Rosemary Toxic to Dogs?
You may have read that rosemary causes seizures in dogs, which is only partially true. Rosemary, the plant, is great for dogs. You can even dry it and use it as an herb in their food to support gut health while adding powerful antioxidants to the diet. Rosemary essential oil, however, has triggered the fear of rosemary because rosemary essential oil will cause seizures in epileptic dogs.
My dogs aren't epileptic; although rosemary essential oil repels fleas, I don't use it. Hey, I can quickly leave rosemary off the rotation with the number of essential oils and blends in my collection.
Fleas and Essential Oils
My experience with Young Living did nothing to dampen my love of essential oils. I now order my oils from Simply Earth (they also offer a subscription service) and Plant Therapy. I use the oils to make flea and tick repellents, dog shampoo, dog conditioner, deodorant, and when cleaning our home.
- Simply Earth
- Plant Therapy
- AnimalEO – essential oils formulated to be used on pets by Dr. Melissa Shelton
Essential Oils that Repel Fleas
- Basil essential oil
- Catnip essential oil
- Cedarwood essential oil
- Clove essential oil
- Lavender essential oil
- Lemon essential oil
- Lemongrass essential oil
- Peppermint essential oil
- Thyme essential oil
You can use essential oils to make natural flea collars (using bandanas), or you can do what I do and add 20 drops of your favorite oil to a large spray bottle and spray the dogs' bedding, the rugs, and the furniture every other day. It not only kills fleas, but it freshens the house.
To learn more about how to safely use essential oils with dogs, check out the Animal Desk Reference guide by Dr. Melissa Shelton.
Natural Shampoo that Repels Fleas
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of creating products, I highly recommend shampoo by 4-Legger. The ladies who formulate 4-Legger products care about sourcing, ingredients, and our dogs. I know everything in their shampoo is safe for my dogs and works. My dogs have never smelled better for longer.
Flea & Tick Repellents
I used Wondercide for years and found this spray effective. It’s not full-proof, nothing is, but it did work for my dogs. I've been told that Wondercide may not repel all fleas and ticks, but it will stop or slow them down when they bite our dogs. Eventually, they’ll fall off in search of a better meal.
It is disappointing that they changed their formulation when they lost a source for one of their ingredients, but this change doesn’t make their product any less effective.
- Read More about Wondercide’s ingredient change
After learning about the ingredient change, I began looking for alternatives – just in case – and found Kin+Kind, a brand that several people recommended. It's been a great product for my dogs.
Mind Jam about Fleas, Ticks, and Keeping Our Pets Safe
I can’t guarantee that if you do everything I’m doing, your dogs will be flea-free, but I think it’ll get you and your dogs on the right path.
Read More About How I Repel Fleas
- Why Flea Prevention is Necessary for Our Dogs
- Alternatives to Flea and Tick Collars for Dogs
- Essential Oil Recipes for Dogs by Simply Earth
That’s what I’d do; although garlic is safe for dogs (unless you go overboard), I still remain conservative about how much I give to my dogs. I just mixed up 15 jars of fermented vegetables and I added 12 cloves of garlic; so three jars didn’t get garlic. And I’m splitting this between four dogs.
So, if I had just one 80# dog, I’d definitely do as you mentioned. Add 2 cloves of garlic to the veggie mix I make 2x a month (increasing to 3-4 cloves twice monthly to the veggie mix as I became more comfortable).
Hi Kim,
for the dosage of the garlic – I see that you suggest starting at 2 cloves (hes 80#) a week, but if all goes well, how often do you recommend feeding the garlic? I mix his meals every couple of weeks and he gets a veggie mix (thanks for that btw :); could I just add the 2 cloves to that and just scoop it into his portions?
thanks!
Thank you so much. i will post picture of what we get for the Puggies. Thanks again
Jaxon and Olivia of
http://www.facebook.com/pugsquared
I use NexGard- easy to give chewable. I’ve never found a flea or tick on my dogs, but they’re a HUGE problem here in the northeast. I work in a vet’s office and we get multiple calls daily of people who find ticks on their dogs. Every day we have another lyme positive case. My own dog’s mother recently passed away from lyme nephrosis, a terrible complication of lyme disease. She was a completely healthy, relatively young dog that suddenly went into complete liver and kidney failure from lyme disease (from a few ticks she had got when lost less than a year previously). I don’t mess around with prevention. I trust my vet, and I trust the products they recommend for my dogs. So far, we’ve been lucky to not have a problem with fleas or ticks, but still check them regularly and test yearly.
Prudence currently wears a Soresto flea collar. So far we haven’t had any issues w/fleas or ticks but I worry about the chemicals.
I usually use K9 Advantix with my dog here in San Diego for flea prevention. I hate putting it on him, but it is what works best for preventing fleas. I’m always looking into other options and want what is best for my dog and the rest of my family. I do miss how I did not have to worry about fleas when I lived in North Dakota. I didn’t worry much about ticks either, only if we went hiking. I didn’t do anything for flea prevention there. Maybe once a year I’d apply a natural prevention if we went camping.
With 2 dogs and 7 cats I’m looking for a flea treatment that’s both safe and easy on my wallet. Going to give this a try.
I used to use Frontline but stopped using it. This contains too many chemicals in my opinion. Also, our vet urged us not to use flee collars. These are just toxic. Definitely more natural products are the way to go or making your own flee remedies with natural ingredients.
We use garlic tablets recommended by the vet, but we also use Frontline. I’d like to try something more natural, though.
Mandi, thank you so very much!!! I love that I’ve found a way to help our dogs live a healthier life.
Here where we live in Saskatoon, SK, Canada, fleas and heartworm are not a problem (Thank goodness!), but ticks are NASTY! I have been using a natural product called Tick Off on my 2 dogs for the past few years and it has been working pretty great! 🙂 http://tickoff.ca/about.htm
Also, I wanted to finally say THANK YOU for such a fantastic blog! I was motivated to try feeding my little guy a raw diet and trying natural methods when he was diagnosed with cancer at age 5. He just turned 9 and no signs of cancer in sight! So thankful for his improved health! When he suffered through pancreatitis and I adopted my Border Collie, I became a little overwhelmed with all the information out there. Both of my dogs are now on 100% raw and we are loving it!! Your blog is so well organized and I have learned so much. I come back to it very often. So, thank you so so much, from all of us! 😀
Nope…the dogs don’t smell like garlic at all…the room does for a few minutes after I open the jar, it’s potent stuff.
I add one scoop of the crystals every morning to their Olewo carrots while they’re re-hydrating and then stir it up when I add the salmon oil. In the evening, I give them a frozen “pup pop” which includes their spirulina, kelp and garlic (held together with yogurt).
I started using just one scoop a day (as directed on the container) and saw a drastic tick increase. When I added the second scoop, the ticks virtually disappeared. My skeptical self is very pleased with this product. I still find a tick here and there, and I’m striving to be 100% tick free naturally…so I’ve add the Wondercide soap, but my dogs don’t get baths often…so the soap makes them smell good and helps to repel ticks for few days after their bath.
I’ve used Only Naturals Pet tick collars before…I wonder if their Spot On treatment might be the final piece to my tick puzzle. ??
I’ve always included garlic in my ground mix…and believe my pups reap the benefits of garlic. Studies have shown it helps to build a strong immune system and may help to prevent cancer. 🙂
Fantastic!
Do the dogs smell like garlic at all? And do the crystals have other health benefits? I hear so many good things about garlic.
I’ve battled ticks for the last several years…we had sod installed and the ticks came as a bonus. I’ve tried several methods to protect the dogs…topicals (traditional & essential oil based)…essential oil spray…shampoos (traditional & essential oil based)…collars (traditional & essential oil based)…nothing worked…until now.
I may have finally discovered the right mix…I started all four of my Labs on Springtime Garlic Crystals (2 scoops) daily and use Wondercide’s soap bar (man, does that lather up nicely!) for bath time. Instead of picking a dozen ticks off each of the dogs nightly, I may find one or two total. It’s not 100% (is anything?)…but it’s much improved. I think I need to find an essential oil spray to apply once or twice a week…and I will have conquered the tick situation.
They actually reached out to us at the perfect time last year when I was debating about continuing to use the chemical flea and tick care or try to go natural. I jumped at the chance to try it and am so happy I did!
Only Natural Pet with Wondercide has become the Dynamic Duo in our home. Having 4 dogs, fleas can quickly get out of control and I love that we can easily (and affordably) keep them at bay without using harsh chemicals. How did you learn about Wondercide?
Thank god I dont have a huge problem, but if I have to kennel my Yorkies I use frontline. But its only once ayear
I really need to check out the options over at Only Natural Pet. We just use Wondercide right now and I’ve been impressed with the results so far! We also sometimes use a shampoo that has essential oils in it aimed at pest control.
I recently just stopped using Frontline! I’m in the process of switching over to Wondercide actually! I’m super excited to try it out. And will definitely have to look into the other products you listed.
We don’t have a big tick issue here so I still need to learn more about it in case it does become an issue. Now I know who to call 🙂
I currently use First Shield Trio. I would love to get away from all the chemicals of flea/tick and HW preventative. Thanks for the chance to win.
Thankfully, fleas & ticks are not a huge problem here in Colorado – ticks being the main concern during certain times of the year. I use a natural repellant if we go hiking.