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The last few years seem to have been really great the for fleas. The warmer winters in my area at least, seem to allow the fleas more of a fighting chance. Battling them with chemical repellents is very easy, but there are many people and animals that are allergic to the chemicals. Here are some “natural” ways to fight fleas.
First vacuum every inch of carpet and furniture that your pet frequents, now dispose of the sweeper bag.
Wash all bedding, rugs, slipcovers and anything else that your pet lays on.
Now sprinkle carpets, dog beds and furniture with dried pennyroyal (mentha pulegium), which is a member of the mint family, or pyrethrum powder (the dried flowers tanacetum cinerariifolium). Repeat this step after 3 to 4 days.
You will also need to bathe your pet using your own mixture of flea shampoo. To make this shampoo, combine 1 cup of a very mild dishwashing soap and 2 teaspoons of oil of eucalyptus. Wet your pet down, then lather, rinse, now lather again and rub this into their coat for about 5 minutes. Now rinse your pet in a strong tea which you have made from pennyroyal leaves steeped in boiling water, then cooled. Dry your pet and brush.
I had a friend that swore by this next idea. His dog spent part of his day outside in a kennel in the yard. He planted pennyroyal in his dog’s pen and around the outside. This will freeze in colder climates, but will reseed itself. Pennyroyal makes an excellent ground cover and will spread quickly. My friend actually ended up having it grow all over his yard, but it looked attractive and smelled nice and can be mown just like grass. Pennyroyal can be purchased in most gardening centers, and while it will take a little while to grow, the benefits will be worth it.
Another thing that you can do for your pets, is to make them a cloth tube or use an old bandana. Stuff the tube with pennyroyal. Or if you prefer put a few drops of oil of eucalyptus, on a piece of cotton and put this inside of the tube. Now tie it around your pets’ neck. This will need to be refreshed every 3 to 4 days.
Inserting the herbs and oil inside of the tube will prevent your pet from actually licking the repellant when they are grooming themselves. Some herbal oils will make animals ill, so by encasing the herbs will keep the animals from ingesting any by accident.
Do not try keeping your pets out of the house if you are having a flea problem. The fleas will then attack you instead. Flea eggs are stimulated into hatching by activity, if the activity stops, so does the flea egg hatching cycle. Try vacuuming several times a day, this will stimulate the flea eggs into hatching and you can suck them up with the sweeper. Again change your sweeper bag daily since flea eggs can hatch inside the sweeper bag.
You can also build your own flea trap. Fill a cookie sheet or other low long pan with water. Place your pan under a light source at night, the fleas will be attracted to the light. When they jump towards it they will land in the water and drown. These flea traps are very similar to commercial flea traps that use a screen and sticky paper to catch fleas. Again with using a light source for attraction the fleas jump towards the light, fall through the screen and get stuck to the sticky paper.
Also, for a few quick tips, be sure to keep your grass clipped short. This will allow the sun to get to the flea eggs, the heat from the sun will kill them. Keep your pets away from damp, dark areas.
If you take your pets in the car with you, cover the seat with a sheet or towel, immediately remove the cover from the seat and wash. When brushing or combing your pet, keep a bowl of water nearby to dip the comb or brush in to drown any fleas that may come off by combing.
While commercial repellants are easy to use, and work much quicker, for those people and pets that cannot tolerate chemicals, this will do the trick.
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