Ok, so we love, love, love our dogs, and couldn’t imagine life without them by our side! With them come all kinds of interesting and sometimes not fun stuff like fleas! Yick! Well, because we also stick to a chemical free life as much as possible, and after a horrible experience with a common flea treatment years ago, we use the following flea protocol. Sure, dogs get an itch every now and then, but when the itching starts to increase (about this time of year) I immediately start this and our problems go away….. Yay! We haven’t found any harm in doing the following, even if it turns out not to be fleas, so we just start this anyway. Of course, I can’t guarantee this works for your dog(s), nor make any promises for safety for your personal pet, and definitely don’t recommend this for any pets besides dogs.
At first beginning itches*:
Take your dogs outdoors with some food grade diatomaceous earth. We use this brand and love it, and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can order it next day (and not wait for more fleas to reproduce!) (Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial.)
What this does: Diatomaceous earth is a great item to ward off pets of all kinds. Made up of small shard-like pieces that are actually tiny, fossilized diatoms (plankton). These will cut open the outer shell of a lot of bugs and pests, killing them. Applying it to fur and leaving on for a few days will also make sure the powder gets to all the places your dog goes, and where fleas can be hiding. So all pet beds, blankets, and the couch or your bed they secretly sleep on when you’re gone also will get some bug killing powder on it… Flea eggs take a varying amount of time to hatch and if they aren’t reckoned with can start a vicious cycle. When you wash your dogs (below), vacuum everything to get as many as possible up. It’s a good idea to reapply the powder to all the places your pets are in the house again once the eggs may be getting ready to hatch. Still nothing to worry about as it’s safe for people and pets.
Why I love this: Food grade diatomaceous earth is safe for humans and pets to eat! Some people even detox with it (no, haven’t tried that). So if your dog reaches around to nibble, instead of a mouthful of chemicals, they’re ingesting something safe for them to eat (and maybe get a little detox themselves). I also don’t have to worry if any gets on me, I just jump in the shower afterwards.
What to watch out for: Do not inhale the powder, it’s been debated how unsafe this can be. Even tough editable, not particularly breathable. Watch out for windy days, and if you need to apply on a windy day apply in the bath/shower/garage. Also note this powder can turn into a messy paste so don’t over apply for when you need to clean some up or when you get to the next step below.
After a few days, it’s time for a bath
Happy and flea free!
Once the itching has somewhat subsided, it’s time to take a bath. We usually wait a day or two to do this. The powder that has killed any fleas on your pets can be washed off. Most may have fallen off by now, and can easily be vacuumed up. Any left on your dog can be washed off. If there is still quite a bit still in their fur I suggest brushing a lot of it out with a good brush, outside. Get them in the bath/shower and lather them up with Dawn (feel free to pick a scent of choice) starting at their neck and working your way to their tail. Once you have them lathered up, with a good, thick lather covering everything but their face, leave it on for 5 minutes. Here, it can get challenging depending on the dog. You may need to just rub them for the entire time to keep them in the bath!
After 5 minutes, begin rinsing them off. Before rinsing all the soap off, start to brush their coat with a flea comb. After one or two combs through their hair at one of the spots they were scratching, take a look at the comb. If you see little brown/black specks these are fleas. If they’re moving they’re still alive (run for the hills!). Seriously, lather up your dog again and wait another 5 minutes. If you don’t see any moving, keep combing their entire coat and look for any that are moving. There’s a pretty good chance you won’t see any!
Why this works: I’ve had a number of dog groomers tell me this is their secret to getting rid of fleas. What the coat of bubbly dawn does is pretty much suffocate any live fleas. They can’t make it too long in these conditions and should die. If they haven’t and you’ve got scuba diver fleas (not a real thing) then just lather and wait some more.
Why I love this: This gets all the powder out of your dog’s coat and really gets them clean! All while killing fleas. Wondrous miracles.
What to watch out for: Be careful with some dog breeds, this can really dry out their coat. For example, our Husky has a nice, oily coat. This generally acts in her favor and keeps her from getting fleas. But if we have to put her through this her coat can dry out. You can help re-oil it by using moisturizing shampoo, or rubbing them with a little coconut oil. Don’t wash them like this too often, you don’t want to mess up the balance of oil on their skin and coat, which can actually keep fleas off!
Avoiding fleas to begin with!
To keep fleas at bay, as well as other pests, a great old farmer’s trick is to cover your dog’s coat in a fine (i.e. small) layer of coconut oil. When fleas jump on their coat they can’t grab onto the oily surface and fall right off!
If you can’t use coconut oil for any reason, there are many other great ways to ward them off. Here are a bunch of ideas from Every Day Roots.
Good luck towards a no flea zone!
Do you have a great flea remedy or way to avoid them? Please share below!
