You don’t have to depend on toxic pesticides to get a handle on your pets’ mobile flea population!
Some of the best natural flea deterrents can be found in your kitchen or herb garden . . .
- If your dog or cat is suffering from fleas, make a “tea” of lemon peel and water, and let it steep overnight. Citrus naturally repels fleas—if you sponge the tea on your flea-infested pet, the fleas will die instantly.
- Rub your pet all over with tansy, fennel, basil or mint, pennyroyal, or another strong smelling herb. You can also grow these herbs, as well as wormwood, rue, pyrethrum, or marigolds around kennel areas or parts of the yard where your pet likes to play or bask in the sun.
- Add salt to the water that you bathe your pet in to kill fleas.
- Add brewer’s yeast to your pets’ food—animals that eat brewer’s yeast are distasteful to fleas. This natural “additive” will give them a shiny coat to boot!
- To keep fleas at bay in your home, sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax on carpets, sofas, and under furniture and cushions. Be sure to first test the product on a small, unobtrusive area to make sure it is safe to use on your fabric.
More from GLI:
I just wanted to drop a note and tell everyone that these methods work great– I needed a quick and easy reference — thank you so much!!
Thanks for the note, glad it helped!
thanks i needed a natural way to defend my dogs body against fleas. Any product that I purchased although it said natural seemed to be somewhat toxic to my pup. The lemon and tea mixture with a bit of salt seemed to do the trick.
Maybe we should try these.
How do you make the tea for tip #1? Use a regular tea bag with lemon peel and water? Thanks
Ann
Hmmm… i will give it a try …
I have used a chemical treatment plus bought a herbal treatment and nothing seems to help so I guess I will give this a try
It is so great to inform the general public of natural ways to deal with fleas. Thank you for making that available to us. I for one, do not think we have to poison ourselves, our children, pets, or our earth when clearly there are safe ways to rid pests.
I feel so sorry for my 3 yr old Lhasa..she is plagued with fleas since late AUG…all the products I bought totaled over $80 and only gave her relief for a few days..and they are back. I bought the breyers yeast and
will try the lemon juice….
hopefully it will work.
Just wanted to let you know that tea tree oil is wonderful when diluted with water and spray your dog. Not only does it smell good, it works good on my Siberian Huskey. Keep in mind that every dog is different, but I have found this works good.
Natural remedies are always the best for everyone..both humans and animals alike.
Just a note about the natural remedies here. Pyrethrins are insecticides derived from the African chrysanthemum (Pyrethrum). Pyrethroids are synthetic derivatives of
pyrethrins. Both are commonly used in conventional preparations which make the product sound innocent because it\’s derived from a flower. But pyrethrins alone can be toxic to the animal and pyrethroids expose your animal to more chemicals.
Other natural ingredients known to cause allergic reactions or have toxic effects in some animals include Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) oil and Pennyroyal oil.
Cats should not be given any essential oils, period.
Erth Dogs natural dog products has a great natural & herbal flea & tick powder.
all three of my dogs have been on brewer’s yeast w/ garlic tablets for 30 days now and no more fleas. Yeah!!! I am going to try Geranium Rose oil on their collars for Ticks. hopefully it will work. Also Borax 20 Mule Team laundry detergent works great for killing fleas in the house. I have used it for years and it is cheap
Nice! Thanks for sharing your experience — glad to hear that treatment is working well for you.
Maybe my pets won’t get fleas this year since we have a basil plant.