In many situations, organic flea control is not just possible, but preferable. Dousing our homes and our pets with poisons is also a daunting thought. There are proactive non-poisonous strategies which will work; depending on the different factors in our own situation.
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The climate. Living in a cold and dry environment creates a completely different scenario than living in a hot and humid one. Places with freezing winters take all the humidity out of the air; the humidity these pests need to maintain both their bodies and their eggs. In nature, fleas survive the winter on their hosts. So our lawns and gardens will take care of themselves if they have to winter over.
Places without this natural checkmate to the fleas will require all year vigilance aimed at both the environment and the pets.
The vectors. If our cats don’t go out, and we don’t have dogs who go out, we don’t have any way for the fleas to get into our homes and onto our pets. This is a strong argument for keeping our cats indoors.
Dogs who go out are more easily treated with the back of the neck drops, which work much better than flea powders or collars. I never had any luck with anything else, personally. The dog has their flea protection on their skin, not their fur, so it’s less likely to be transferred to cats or kids or us. Dogs don’t groom themselves the way cats do, so they won’t ingest the poison. Controlling the fleas on the dogs who go out will control fleas coming into the home.
The home environment. If we have wall to wall carpeting, fully upholstered furniture, and lots of lush drapes, it’s going to be more challenging to keep ahead of a flea infestation that it would be in a home with bare floors, washable rugs, and wooden legged upholstery with leather or microfiber coverings. Every bit of comfy fiber is another place flea eggs can hide and hatch to launch the next offensive.
Cats do groom themselves constantly. How can we control fleas on our outdoor cats if we don’t want to use poisons?
I’ve used all of the following methods.
Nutritional support. Brewer’s yeast can be obtained in health food stores, and is a great supplement for any cat. The B vitamins and micronutrients are just what a carnivore needs, and often can’t get from their pet food.
A teaspoon daily also keeps the cat’s skin and coat in great shape. Fleas actually prefer a compromised skin situation; it is easier for them to invade and get the blood they need to reproduce.
Many people claim there’s something in the Brewer’s yeast which actually repels fleas. Many other people claim it does not work.
In my experience, it does work, but not by itself. This is how it has such a checkered reputation. Someone whose cats go out occasionally, in a place with hard winters, and do not hunt warmblooded prey; these are cats whose exposure to fleas are minimal and their skin is in good shape. That can be enough.
In a high exposure situation, it might not be enough.
Targeted grooming. A flea comb with closely set teeth will groom the fleas right out of the cat’s fur. Keep a container of warm soapy water handy to drop the fur in, and we’ve got most of our battle won.
This was my preferred method for cats in quarantine, who might have health issues and were in no shape to be doused with flea killer.
If we only suspect fleas, the flea comb will let us know the status of our cat. Drop dirt into water; if the dissolved dirt turns red, this is flea detritus, and we do have a situation. If not, relax.
Appropriate vacuuming. By “appropriate,” I mean such things as:
Make flea traps. We can catch fleas at large in our house with a desk lamp and a broad pan of soapy water. Position the lamp so that the light shines over the water pan, and plug it in every night. The fleas who are not on our cats, and are looking for someone to infest, will be drawn to the lamp and drown in the soapy water. (Soap is to dissolve their waxy coating and compromise their defenses; plain water will not work nearly as well.)
By targeting the fleas on our cats and on our floors as the flea season approaches, we can head them off and keep them from gaining that first foothold.
There will be other posts which discuss tackling more serious problems.
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Well glad you wrote this cause my cats, dogs, and house are all infested with fleas. I am using flea traps and that does work. And I have used the stuff you put on their necks but I sure don’t like to do that. And the only way to treat the yard, is with horrible poison. I don’t think I am going to do that. Will just keep trying to keep the fleas off the animals in other ways. Good blog
Good post. I am a huge fan of Advantage spot treatment, but it’s the only flea treatment I’ve found that works reliably, and it’s really expensive. Some people don’t like to use it, too, because it’s a chemical. AND, it can’t be used on very small or sickly cats. I don’t know how effective it is for indoor/outdoor cats; we only use it on our indoor cat.
Flea combs are wonderful. I still miss this one comb I had when I was a kid with incredibly thin and close-set teeth. Never yet found one as good; most are too big and let the really tiny fleas get through. I kept five cats flea-free with that thing. I’d just comb them whenever they got into my lap. I got used to doing it with my fingers, too, grooming them like a monkey. The cats loved the scritching, and I could kill scads of fleas that way.
The flea traps with light and water work really well, too. The number of fleas you find in those things in the morning can be really alarming!
You must be careful though, as some other forms of pet medicines do not always react well with natural and organic flea preventatives. A friend of mines cat got really sick after her body didn’t like the mixture of organic flea medicine and the antibiotic she was on.
.-= Robert´s last blog ..Living A Natural Life? Your Pet Should Too! =-.
Thanks for the info wearbear. I’ll try the flea trap thing. Luckily my sofas are leather and the curtains are shear , so I only have to worry about the carpeting being infested. I did put garlic powder in the dogs dry food today and will continue that experiment for a month or so. I also put olive oil on it, taking your advice about compromised skin. Their skin seems a bit dry from all the scratching. I’ve been treating them with oatmeal spray, but not every day for the same reason. But will ramp that up to at least a daily thing. I have a bactine spray for where they’ve broken the skin nibbling and scratching at their fleas. Neither cat seems to have any fleas, so that’s a good thing. But if I don’t get this under control soon, we’re all going to be infected. (sigh)
Now to find something safe for the yard.
I totally agree. There are a lot of ways for flea control such us regular grooming and frequent vacuuming. We could also use borax to kill fleas. There are tons of products available in the market. I’ve used one of them and it’s really effective.
I really recommend food grade diatomaceous earth. It’s so safe that it’s regularly added to grain to keep out infestations and to cattle food to kill parasites and there are people who swear by it as a supplement. I killed off a flea infestation by sprinkling it around the house and on my kitties.