Ridding Dog Fleas

By Matt Adams

Pet owners everywhere are at one time or another faced with the issue of how to get rid of fleas! When your pet gets infested with fleas it can be a terribly frustrating experience for both the owner and pet. Our local pet food store sells an assortment of flea collars, flea powders and flea shampoo including Frontline for fleas. Even though the staff are helpful, it is pretty hard to know which product to use and almost impossible to know all of the active ingredients of these dog flea products. There can be some hazardous side-effects of those well known but potentially highly harmful dog flea products. The chemicals used in some of the household name products and major national popular brands on the market may be poisoning our pets and marginalizing our own family?s health at the same time. So the question is, how to get rid of fleas safely?

More recently, dog owners are seeking homeopathic or all-natural alternatives to the issue of how to get rid of fleas. Some of the more popular all-natural dog flea remedies are outlined as follows:

1. Household salt solution. Sprinkle table salt all over your house. Pay particular attention to where Fido takes his nap. Let the salt sit for at least one week and then look at the results. Fleas don?t seem to like salt. Your dog will lie down on the rugs, etc and the salt will also get on to his fur?fleas don?t like this. A few days later the fleas are gone.

2. Talcum powder to treat dog fleas. Cover your dog or cat with baby powder and this will smother the fleas. This remedy is often recommended for puppies or kittens who are too young to be treated with any flea chemical. You can also use baking soda.

3. For the dog fleas on adult dogs, you could try an olive oil bath. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the fleas just drown in it and fall out. Start from the dog?s head and work your way back so the fleas don't move to the face where it's really hard to pluck them off. Then you just shampoo the oil out and the dog fleas will wash down the drain.

4. Other people think garlic is the only way to go in the battle against dog fleas. Use fresh garlic diced in a food processor or by hand. You can put a dab of oil into it in order to make it more paste-like plus the oil will make for a nice shiny coat. Some people use a garlic pill supplement while others use freshly chopped garlic and mix it into the food.

There seem to be many all-natural alternatives to treating dog fleas. Some are bound to work better than others. These treatments will likely work best for a small infestation. For a really major case of fleas you might want to try a stronger dog flea remedy available at the pet store or vet?s office. In figuring out how to get rid of fleas its best to do some homework. However, with all matters pertaining to the health of your dog, please check with your vet about potential bad side effects. - 31975

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