Fleas & Ticks

Traditional dog and cat flea and tick preventative treatments are toxic to us and our pets. Many veterinarians recommend these toxic chemical topical flea and tick treatment preventatives (Click HERE to Read “Are ‘Spot-On’ Flea Killers Safe?”) and collars. These traditional flea and tick treatments are killing pets, some within a matter of hours after applying the flea/tick collar and rushing the pet to the veterinary hospital, others within a few days.

Crawling Insect Control Diatomaceous Earth  does not poison our pets, and simply dehydrates fleas and ticks that come in contact with it within 72 hours. Crawling Insect Control Diatomaceous Earth can be sprinkled in your home carpeting, on dogs, cats, and other animals, applied in their bedding, and in all dry outdoor areas that fleas congregate. If your pet currently has fleas, it is essential to feed Food Grade Diatomaceous earth daily at double the recommended daily dose to address the tapeworms your dog, cat, ferret, or other pet will have from ingesting fleas.

Using traditional flea and tick poisons is toxic to us and our pets. Chemical pesticides are designed to kill bugs and weeds, so putting flea and tick poisons in or on your beloved furry dog or cat’s body is complete insanity. These toxic flea preventative treatments do NOT make your dog or cat smell bad, so the fleas and ticks do not want to hitch hike on your pets, they poison your pet’s body – skin, blood, brain, kidneys, liver, lymphatic system, and then when the flea or tick bites them, it kills them. Some people get rashes and have allergic reactions to petting dogs or cats who have been treated with these topical flea treatments.

If you’re dealing with an infestation, the quickest, easiest way to deal with fleas, ticks, termites, Japanese beetles, (and other yucky insects) is to spray beneficial (parasitic) nematodes – available online at Arbico Organics Beneficial Nematodes for Flea Control; beneficial/parasitic nematodes parasitize soil dwelling insect larvae and eggs. Beneficial nematodes are watered into lawn, gardens, and outdoor areas. You can find beneficial/parasitic nematodes at some garden nurseries or purchase online. Beneficial nematodes will parasitize flea larvae which prevents them from hatching. At the same time, lightly sprinkle Crawling Insect Control Diatomaceous Earth (DE) on the pet(s) who has adult fleas and/or ticks. Lightly, but thoroughly, get the DE throughout their fur. It will kill adult fleas and ticks within 24-72 hours of the flea(s) coming in contact with the DE. DO NOT buy the pool filter grade diatomaceous earth, which is heat and chemically treated and is TOXIC if ingested; make sure that you buy either the Crawling Insect Control diatomaceous earth (external use) or the Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (internal use). Give Flea Free Food Supplement in your pets daily food and/or water to keep pesky insects off of them.

To make flea and tick treatment successful, it is imperative that everything is treated all at the same time, the dog, cat, or other pet; the yard; the bedding; the household, if the animal is an indoor pet. If you are diligent in treatment with the diatomaceous earth and the beneficial nematodes in the yard or acreage, you can expect a flea and/or tick infestation to be eliminated within 3 weeks. NOTE: Beneficial/parasitic nematodes parasitize flea larvae, tick eggs, fly larvae, termites, grubs, and a huge array of soil dwelling pests, BUT once their food supply is gone, they die and therefore may need reapplication in the warmer months.

The reason everything must be treated at once is because ONLY 5 to 15% of the flea and/or tick infestation that you see are the adult fleas and ticks. The remaining 85 to 95% of your flea and tick infestation are the flea larvae and tick eggs that have not yet hatched!! :O( Thus, in order to completely eliminate a flea/tick infestation, everything and every affected pet must be treated at the same time for lasting effectiveness.

Flea Free Food Supplement is an excellent addition to your flea, tick, mite, mosquito, and other blood sucking insect problem and is excellent for the health of all dogs, cats, other pets and animals.

When we take in tiny feral kitten rescues, they often have freeways of fleas running around their little tummies. IF I attempted to bathe the kittens, they would likely attempt to kill me, which would create undue stress on both of us and then likely they would never come near a human again, which would make it extremely difficult to get them adopted out! A few years ago, I started confining these tiny feral kittens to one room of the house. I dunked their little bodies into a 5 gallon bucket of diatomaceous earth, keeping it out of their eyes and ears, put some diatomaceous earth in their litter box as well (helps to keep it dry and odor free, besides giving them some diatomaceous earth on their legs every time they potty). I dust them with DE twice/week and within 2 to 3 weeks, ALL of the fleas are gone and they do not propagate in the house. I do try to comb them once/week or so, just so I can see how many fleas they still have, but combing tiny feral kittens is difficult and their little elbows, armpits, etc. are nearly impossible to get fleas out of with a comb and they generally don’t take to kindly to being turned over on their backs by a strange human.

Since they have fleas, I also feed them a teaspoon of food grade diatomaceous earth in their food each day. They always have lots of tapeworm segments on their hind end fur, following the first day of dosing them with DE and continuing for a week or so thereafter. Recommended feeding rates for 4-5 week old kittens is only 1/2 teaspoon, but since they are infested with fleas, I know they will be infested with tapeworms, so I increase the dose to 1 tsp., sometimes just a bit more to make sure it is effective.

If you travel frequently with your pet and until you get their immune system strong and healthy, we recommend spraying your pet with Hikers’ Friend Insect Repellent for Pets. This natural flea and tick repellent spray can be sprayed well into their underbelly, armpits, and other areas to prevent the fleas/ticks from hopping on them when you are taking them for walks in areas that fleas and ticks are abundant, but otherwise, if they just stay home in your house and yard, spraying the yard with parasitic/beneficial nematodes and putting food grade DE on them when they have adult fleas and ticks (though we still recommend checking your pets daily for ticks to prevent Lyme disease), as well as their bedding, and inside the home (IF fleas/ticks are a problem there) will take care of your infestation within 2 to 3 weeks. We also have the Hikers’ Guard Insect Spray for people. Both Hikers’ Guard and Hiker’s Friend are great smelling, DEET Free, and excellent for repelling fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.

For added flea, tick, mosquito, and other blood sucking insect control, see our Flea Free Food Supplement web page.