5 Natural Flea Treatments

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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.

Posted on Nov 20, 2007

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About the Author

Green Living Ideas provides ideas, tips, and information to help you improve the environmental sustainability of every aspect of your life: home energy, green building and remodeling, cars, food, waste recycling—and everything in between. GLI's editorial voice is driven by founder Sean Daily and Editor-In-Chief Adam Shake, and written by an amazing staff of author and interns.

18 Responses to “5 Natural Flea Treatments”

Guest

Jan 30, 2008

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!!
carlos

Jun 10, 2008

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.
joe

Jun 27, 2008

Maybe we should try these.
Guest

Aug 08, 2008

How do you make the tea for tip #1? Use a regular tea bag with lemon peel and water? Thanks
Ann
dette

Aug 20, 2008

Hmmm… i will give it a try …
Guest

Sep 02, 2008

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
Guest

Sep 22, 2008

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.
Linda

Oct 18, 2008

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.
Brandy

Oct 23, 2008

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.
Samuel

Dec 13, 2008

Natural remedies are always the best for everyone..both humans and animals alike.
Guest

Dec 26, 2008

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.
Guest

Feb 15, 2009

Erth Dogs natural dog products has a great natural & herbal flea & tick powder.
guest

Twitter: @Twitter Name (optional)
Apr 16, 2009

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
GLI Editors

Apr 16, 2009

Nice! Thanks for sharing your experience — glad to hear that treatment is working well for you.
GLI Editors

Apr 22, 2009

Thanks for the note, glad it helped!
Nutritional Supplements

Apr 14, 2010

Maybe my pets won’t get fleas this year since we have a basil plant.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Earth Day Pets Go Green To Save Money List | Dancing Dog Blog says:

April 22, 2009 at 3:40 pm

[...] and even some deaths reported. No recall has been issued at this time. You can call around for a flea and/or tick natural product alternative at your local Petco, Petsmart, a local boutique store, or make your own with the recipes at the [...]
Why would pet owners put pesticides on their pets? « Ecoflair says:

March 24, 2010 at 11:00 pm

[...] To my delight, I found that fleas can be safely eradicated without the use of harmful chemicals. Here are a few tips I found on http://www.Greenlivingideas.com: [...]