The natural way:

• Vacuum your home frequently and seal vacuum bags before

disposing.

• Wash the bedding of your dog weekly in warm soapy water. This

is where fleas usually breed.

• Bathing your pet weekly with a mild dog shampoo prevents flea

invasion.

• Use cedar shampoo for your dog, and put cedar oil in their

sleeping mats. Cedar will repel fleas and other insects.

• Fleas are attracted to dry skin, so to avoid it, give your

dog Linatone oil mixed with its food. Excessive shampooing

should be avoided.

• A mixture of brewer’s yeast and garlic, available in powder

or tablet form can be given in small doses to your pet. This

creates a certain odor in pets, and fleas are surely to avoid

them.

• Fresh or dried pennyroyal leaves is a natural flea repellent.

Use this in carpets to avoid the abundance of fleas in the home.

Do not use it if you have small children around, as this could

be toxic.

• A mixture of 60 ml of lavender oil with 2.8 liters of rock

salt can also be placed in areas where dogs usually come in

contact with and this solution could also be used to wash your

dog.

• Planting marigolds in the yard is helpful too, it repels

certain types of bugs as well as fleas.

• Boiled lemon or orange peel in water can be used as a dip for

dogs and can be used too to soak in dog bedding for a few hours,

then washed with warm soapy water.

• Lukewarm water with little shampoo and detergent is a good

way to prevent fleas. A dog’s body may be dipped into the

solution for fifteen minutes and then rinsed. This only works

if flea infestation is light.

The natural way of treating fleas is effective only if the

level of flea infestation is average to very few. This method

usually is recommended for prevention only.

Different commercially available products with chemical

contents:

• Advantage. Active ingredient is imidacloprid. This is a flea

poison, from Bayer. It is in a liquid form and applied to the

skin, at the back of the dog, and works for about a month. This

works by upsetting the nervous system of fleas when they come in

contact with the liquid. This product is fast acting and is not

absorbed into the internal organs and bloodstream of the dog.

Studies indicate that this product is highly toxic to fleas and

other insects as well. A dog will be free from fleas in just a

couple of days.

Ingredients are: imidacloprid -- a chloronicotinyl

nitroguanidine integrated from the nitromethylene class of a

compound. This joins the nicotinyl receptor sites of insects,

thus upsetting normal nerve transmission which causes death.

A set of two vials costs 15-20 dollars.

• Frontline. This product is very similar to Advantage, but is

not water soluble, so alcohol is needed to wash it off. This

can safely be used in pups, dogs, cats and kittens.

Efficiency in repelling lasts up to four months.

Active ingredients include: Fipronil 5-amino -1- (2,

6-dichloro-4 [trifluoromethyl]phenyl) -4- (1,R,S)-

(trifluoromethyl0sulfinyl) -1H-pryazole-3-carbonitrile 0.29%

inert ingredients 99.71%.

Fipronil works as a nervous transmission interruptor, which

causes quick death to fleas and ticks. It is proven to kills

96% of fleas for the first two hours and 100% within 24 hours.

Ticks die sooner than they attach themselves to the host.

Fipronil is from the new phenylpyrazole class.

Very effective and can be considered safe, so long as dogs are

not allergic to fipronil.

• Knockout. Performs like Frontline and is as effective, but

can only be used in dogs. Active ingredients: Pyriproxyfen:

21[1-methyl-2-(phenoxyphenoxy)ethyoxy] pyridine....0.05%

cyclopropanecarboxylate 2.00% inert ingredients 97.95% Also has

NYLAR, which is flea growth regulator.

• Biospot. This is for topical application and kills up to 75

percent of fleas, eggs, and ticks. It also is a good repellant

of mosquitoes and works for about a month. Temporarily, at

times, it turns white hair to yellow. This can not be used in

cats and contains permethrins and IGR.

• Proban (cythioate) and Prospot (Fenthion). While not to be

used in cats, they are widely used in dogs. This is absorbed by

the bloodstream and fleas die due to the poison that is present

in the blood. For it to work, it requires the bitting of fleas.

There are certain conditions to be considered though. You are

injecting a small dose of poison into your dog’s body and side

effects are not known. Then this does not help if a dog has

flea allergy, and can not risk to be bitten.

Generally fleas abound during the summer months, when it is

their breeding season. These commercial products can greatly

help in fighting heavy flea infestation and needed where severe

invasion occurs. However, it is always best to consult with your

veterinarian as the choice of flea control will greatly depend

on your life style.