Hi, well after many attempts to rid my house and dogs of fleas the all natural way I simply cannot win against the fleas!!

I have a 14yr old dog who isnt very well so what is the safest way to rid of the fleas? We have tried every all natural thing to no avail, they are infested and he cant be comfortable. I hate to put toxic chemicals on him but dont know what else to do...and how do I get rid of them in my house? We cant afford an exterminator....

Btw all pets are on raw. With added garlic and acv.

Fleas are the bane of my existense and I waged all out war on them earlier this year....here is what worked

My old girl is highly allergic.
I put her on Comfortis and she has had no problems at all with it, and it works like a miracle.

A bath with mild shampoo, letting it sit for about 5 minutes will also kill any fleas that are actually on him and make him feel much better.

I also made old fashioned flea traps:

Using shallow pie tins or casserole dishes fill with an inch or two of soapy water then light a candle in the middle. This is amazingly effective and non toxic. You will be amazed by how many it catches!!!!!

The other thing you have to do is to vacuum and wash everything that you possibly can. Don't forget all the cracks and crevices in furniture and baseboards.

I also mopped all hard floors with extra soapy water.

I actually tossed the dog beds and just started fresh. I sprayed them with a flea spray with IGR in it and let it dry outside for a day or so before bringing them in.

After the initial big cleaning I would keep vacuuming daily and then seal the bag or canister contents in a ziploc and toss.

When I had a flea-allergic senior, I de-flead the house (and the dogs!) as Jennifer describes, but I also started using the monthly Advantage. If it had not been fully successful, I'd have gone with Comfortis too.

It was a balancing thing for me, and I have seen the misery that a dog with flea hypersensitivity goes through. Not only that, but every exposure for an allergic dog is an immune-response event, so it seemed to me to be a possible immune-system ding either way, and I voted for a comfortable dog.

A hint about the bath .... fleas tend to be on the body rather than the skull. So at the beginning of the flea-removal bath, you want to apply the shampoo and lather around the neck first, in a wide band completely lathered well into the fur. This helps a lot, IME, to prevent the body fleas from migrating to the face and ears, which are not easy areas to shampoo. (Plus you don't want to introduce moisture to a healthy ear.) Then get the lather all over the body below that band. Then have the dog sit for 5 to 10 minutes lathered up. Tiny high-value treats are a help here, and so are such tricks as "shake paw."

Rinse very very thoroughly. IME, baths are not the drying event that many think (I learned this from the excellent book by Shawn Messonnier http://leerburg.com/971.htm ), but not getting all the shampoo out can indeed by very drying, as can using a shampoo made for humans (very different pH).



eta
After a few months of monthly Advantage, I found that my dogs can go most of the year without it. If I see any evidence at all of a flea, however, back it comes. I am vigilant, having had the terrible experience that Jennifer had. An allergic dog is a miserable animal.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (12/04/2010 04:20 PM)
Edit reason: eta

I like Capstar.

I like capstar as well, and usually keep some on hand for flea emergencies.

However I have found that since starting the comfortis I am getting the same results as with capstar, only they last the full 4 weeks.

I forgot to add that I also buy flea collars and cut them into pieces and put a piece in my vacuum every time I change it out.

thanks guys! I went to the vet and got capstar(couldnt find comfortis) and a flea spray for the house which they said was non toxic. The lady said it had bin a really awful year for fleas which makes me feel a lot better b/c I was wondering where i went wrong.....

I will have to get them on a reg flea preventative for a while, but we use advantage at the shelter where I work and to be honest it hasn't even worked remotely lately. Revolution is by prescription only and we cant afford to take all 3 dogs and 2 cats in for an exam and pay $50 exam fee each, ridiculous even if we could afford it in my opinion.

What else do you guys use to prevent fleas besides advantage? Can I just do another round of capstar every month?

Connie, I had heard that about bathing, the old guy cant really stand for 10 minutes though, the other 2 can. We have an all natural shampoo so hopefully its not too drying as we just bathed them a few weeks ago.

So heres to another weekend spent washing dogs, dog beds, vacuuming every nook and cranny, mopping, spraying flea stuff all over the house, washing dog toys, jackets, our blankets etc!! Yah for the 3rd time this year....grrr

Thanks agin

hey anyone know if bunnies and chinchillas can get fleas?? They run around the house with the dogs almost every night...

Capstar only works for about 24 hours.

If you are having problems with advantage not working I highly reccomend trying to find some comfortis or trying program in conjunction with it.

I know Bunnies can and do get fleas, and that supposedly Advantage is safe for bunnies.

I don't know about chinchillas, a quick google tells me that they don't get fleas, but I really don't know!
I might also assume that the volcano dust they roll in might work similarly to DE and dry out any fleas that they happen to have. (pure speculation, I could be totally wrong!)

After the initial big cleaning you really do need to vacuum daily or every other day. It doesn't have to be as thorough as the original clean, but it is important.

And really try the candle in the dish of soapy water trick... I was amazed!!!

It was a rough year for fleas around here too. My 13 yr old Cairn Terrier does have a flea allergy and it is very obvious when a flea is around because she will be scratching a bit. However, this year, she literally chewed herself bald and it was months of care to get her back to having hair on butt and sides! We had two instances when I found fleas on the dogs...one the day before I got my new pup and one the day before I had my gallbladder out...talk about timing! Anyways, with Daisy, I'd say in her old age, she is hypersensitive to them and now she will have to be on preventative. I used Advantage with success and will pop her on it once it is warm again...prefer that over Frontline because the flea has to bite to be killed with that.