Natural flea remedies?

ali2005jason

Has anyone successfully used any natural flea repellents/remedies? I was just looking it up as I was curious and I found something that said you can add apple cider vinegar to your dogs water or dilute it with water and spray it on the dog. There was another one about lemon. Anyone tried it?

kristinanddan

We use neem oil for fleas and ticks. The spray we use is made by Ark Naturals, who also make a spray called Flea Flicker and Tick Kicker (or something like that).

ali2005jason

And you spray it right on the animal? How much is it and where do you get it? Thanks for the info!

Mryan209

We feed raw, use a shampoo with neem and a few other oils in it, and use an all natural neem spray when we're near wooded areas or go to TN.  Thank goodness, we've never had fleas and I've pulled one tick off Kali in 3 years.

MissusTexas

This is the first year we've had to go get Advantix II. The Diatomaceous Earth and natural oils were not doing a thing! We also feed raw, so that may explain why there were less fleas on my dog than the neighbors, but I was still finding at least 5 or 6 fleas on my dog per day after weeks of natural stuff.

I did not try Neem oil, though, and that seems to really work for some people.

bruins8624

Advantix and any citrus flea shampoo with kill all current fleas. Give the dog a bath before putting the flea treatment on. Hope this helps!

kristinanddan

ali2005jason:

And you spray it right on the animal? How much is it and where do you get it? Thanks for the info!

Oh yes, I use it on myself too. We also use the shampoo on our dog. I get it on Amazon - it's maybe $10 for the spray?

LuckyAngel07

MissusTexas:

This is the first year we've had to go get Advantix II. The Diatomaceous Earth and natural oils were not doing a thing! We also feed raw, so that may explain why there were less fleas on my dog than the neighbors, but I was still finding at least 5 or 6 fleas on my dog per day after weeks of natural stuff.

I did not try Neem oil, though, and that seems to really work for some people.

I REALLY HOPE the Advantix II works better for you guys than it has for us. Without fail, I'll manage to find a flea or two on Zoey 2 1/2 to 3 weeks after application; it's like the stuff just quits working in a shorter timeframe than it's supposed to (and no, bathing is not the issue since Zoey rarely gets bathed). We doused the house in DE and have powdered the pets with it, but we'll also be switching Zoey to an ingested flea/tick/heartworm preventative. Hopefully it works better; fleas are BAD here! 

MissusTexas

LuckyAngel07:

I REALLY HOPE the Advantix II works better for you guys than it has for us. Without fail, I'll manage to find a flea or two on Zoey 2 1/2 to 3 weeks after application; it's like the stuff just quits working in a shorter timeframe than it's supposed to (and no, bathing is not the issue since Zoey rarely gets bathed). We doused the house in DE and have powdered the pets with it, but we'll also be switching Zoey to an ingested flea/tick/heartworm preventative. Hopefully it works better; fleas are BAD here! 

This is only our first month on it, so we'll see! Which ingested preventative do you think you'll use?

TheLinkBride

I use neem spray and different essential oils (and I feed raw). We have not had any flea issues.  I like the Vetri Science flea and tick spray that is made of essential oils.  You can make your own if you want as well, there are many oils you can use, some include: Sage, Rosemary, Citronella, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Orange, Cedarwood, Pine, Tea tree oil. Mix, cut with alcohol, and spray.

The side effects/issues that dogs have with Comfortis (same flea med in the combo Trifexis) are scary to me so I wouldn't choose to use them.  Program (same flea med in the combo Sentinel) in my opinion seems to have less issues but it only sterilizes the fleas, it does not kill them.

M6girl

We use to use Brewer's Yeast and Garlic and it did the trick when we were in NC.  Now we use Frontline Plus bc we're in FL.  We also sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth around the yard and stuff.  

LuckyAngel07

MissusTexas:

LuckyAngel07:

I REALLY HOPE the Advantix II works better for you guys than it has for us. Without fail, I'll manage to find a flea or two on Zoey 2 1/2 to 3 weeks after application; it's like the stuff just quits working in a shorter timeframe than it's supposed to (and no, bathing is not the issue since Zoey rarely gets bathed). We doused the house in DE and have powdered the pets with it, but we'll also be switching Zoey to an ingested flea/tick/heartworm preventative. Hopefully it works better; fleas are BAD here! 

This is only our first month on it, so we'll see! Which ingested preventative do you think you'll use?

I think we're going with Trifexis. I'm trying not to use Frontline/Plus because, while the vet didn't have any knowledge of it, I think the fleas around here are getting a little accustomed to it and it's losing its effectiveness. We're already using Interceptor for hw prevention, and that's the hw component in Trifexis; Comfortis is the flea component.