Before you rush out to buy dog flea medication, you may want to learn a little about natural prevention instead.

If you have a dog, you are going to eventually deal with fleas, a blood sucking parasite that can multiply by the thousands in the blink of an eye. Fleas depend on a host animal for survival and the ability to breed. Dealing with fleas leaves you with two basic options, commercial flea medication or natural treatment and prevention.

It is nearly impossible to prevent your dog from coming into contact with fleas, which means you are going to be faced with either preventing them from sticking around or killing them once they do. As stated above, there are over the counter or prescription medications you can employ, or, you can use one of many natural methods. There should be no question which flea treatment is better for your pet.

Problems with Commercial Medications

The first thing you should consider is whether flea poison that is administered topically or orally is really safe for your pet. If the substance kills fleas, it cannot be completely innocuous for your dog. On some level, all ingested pesticides (yes, topical application has the same effect as oral because the skin is an organ) weaken the canine immune system.

Many side effects are mistakenly seen as other health problems. Immediate side effects can be huge oozing sores and even death from overworked organs not able to flush this toxin from the body.

Natural Alternatives

If you think there are only a few ways to deal with fleas naturally you may be surprised. In fact, there are several different options you can use, from treating your pet's environment to topical and internal treatments for your dog. All of these treatments are perfectly natural and pose no threat to your pet.

Boric acid is not a good choice for a topical application on your pet, but for carpet and bedding areas it is much cheaper than diatomaceous earth. Boric acid is a natural substance mined from the earth that causes severe dehydration and death to pests. Sprinkle it on carpets, around your kennel, or anywhere your dog frequents for environmental flea control. Just be sure to brush it in with a broom. This keeps it from being readily vacuumed or going up your dog’s nose!

Did you know you could create your very own natural flea collar? Choose material for your collar such as a bandanna, then dose the collar with one of several different essential oils. Lavender, citronella and tea tree oils are possibilities. It is important to make sure you get actual essential oil and not simply scented oils, there is a big difference.

In addition to environmental and topical treatments, you can also give your pet natural flea treatments orally. Adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar to pet water is a powerful and easy way to prevent fleas. The vinegar is excreted through the skin and fleas do not like the acidity. Other substances you can give your pet include garlic and brewer's yeast, adding just a bit to your pets daily diet will help repel the fleas.

Conclusion

Commercial flea treatments are widely available and many veterinarians use and prescribe them on a daily basis. However, if you are interested in a more natural approach that is both cheaper and safer for your dog, try some of the natural options listed above.

And most important, I’ll let you in on a secret. A healthy dog is not attractive to fleas!