Do you often find your dogs or cats scratching their heads or bodies? It probably is caused by flea. Not the Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist, but the small bugs living on their bodies. Flea’s bite is itchy, and scratching it is the natural response.
When you find your cats and dogs are scratching in torture, you might want to get rid of their flea using chemical treatments. However, not all those chemicals are natural and safe for both your pets and you.
Indeed, there are some natural ways to get rid of the annoying flea off your pets. You can try some of these methods and see which one is the most effective for your pets. Or maybe you want to try all of them to get rid of flea quickly? That’s your choice.
Homemade Flea Collar
Using flea collar is one of the most preferable methods to get rid of annoying flea off your pets. Not only making the flea go far away from your pets, but it can also prevent those annoying bugs to come back to your cats and dogs while using it.
However, most flea collars are made of plastic and infused with chemicals. Those chemicals, combined with the plastic materials, might irritate and poison both you and your pets. If you have little kids around, it can also risk their health. So, here we give you some ideas of how to make natural flea collar.
There are two kinds of flea collars, depend on what your pets are. If you are planning on using it on your cat, you can make it from ordinary nylon strings or cheap (maybe you will prefer the cute one) pet collars. Dip the nylon or collar in mixtures of 1 teaspoon of unflavored vodka and 1 drop of cedarwood or geranium essential oil.
If you are planning on using it on your dogs, the method is the same. The only difference is the ingredients of the mixture. For dogs, it requires a combination of several essential oils. The first mixture is garlic oil + thyme essential oil + rosemary essential oil, and the second is the mixture of eucalyptus essential oil + cedarwood essential oil + lemongrass oil.
Dip the strings into the mixture and dry it before using it. This flea collar needs to be refreshed every once in a week to keep it functions well. By using this natural flea collar, you can prevent you and your pets from getting any allergies and poisoning.
Rosemary
The ingredients in your kitchen can also act as effective flea repellent, especially rosemary and lemon. To use rosemary as flea repellent, you need to bathe your pets in rosemary water. Yes it might be hard to apply to your cats, but for dogs it is not that hard.
Crush two cups of fresh rosemary and steep it down in boiling water for about 30 minutes. Remove the remaining leaves and strain the water. Mix it into a gallon of warm water and let it cool until it is comfortable enough for your pets. Use this brew to bathe your dogs or cats and let it dry.
For lemon, the method is pretty similar. Slice the fruit into thin slices, put it in boiling water, and then let it sit overnight. This mixture can be applied in two methods, you can directly spray it to your pets or bathe them using this brew after adding some warm water.
You can also directly rub lemon juice to your pets’ fur. Make sure to target hidden spots like behind ears and base of tails if you are rubbing it. And use only fresh lemon, not the essential oil since the high concentration of lemon citrus essential oil might irritate your pets’ skin.
Yeast
Overall, brewer yeast is considered as a supplement for your pets. But the health benefits that the yeast can give your pets is not the only positive thing you can get from brewer yeast. Apparently, consumption of a yeast can also help to repel those flea off your pets.
Afterall, flea usually only invade unhealthy pets and leave the healthy ones alone. “Healthy pets get fewer fleas, and good nutrition makes for healthy pets,” said Dr. Michael Fox, D.V.M. Small regular consumption of brewer yeast can also help you prevent fleas.
You don’t need to convert the whole meal of your pets into brewer yeast. You just need to mix a small amount of it in the meal. For smaller pets, you can mix ½ teaspoon of brewer yeast into the meal, and for larger ones try to measure 1 teaspoon per 30 pounds of body weight.
Apple Cider Vinegar
You might have heard about the health benefits of routinely consuming apple cider vinegar. Apparently, those benefits are not only for human, but your pets can also get it all. One of those benefits is simply getting rid of annoying flea.
In the application, you can use a mixture of half apple cider vinegar and half water. Dip your flea comb in the mixture and use it to comb your pets. For dogs, the application can be simpler, just spray the mixture to your dogs’ fur.
Not only from outside, you can also apply it from the inside. Try to add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to their drinking water. 2 tablespoons might not change the taste of the water a lot, but it can give full benefits.
However, not every dog like the slight change of taste in the water. If you find your dogs doesn’t like it and don’t want to drink the water in the first try, you can simply reduce the amount of apple cider vinegar in the mixture and slowly increase the amount of it.
“You have to apply common sense. Most dogs are notoriously over-alkaline, and cider vinegar will help them. If a dog’s system is overly acidic, you’ll see clinical signs, such as obvious symptoms of illness,” said Sue Ann Lesser, D.V.M., to The Whole Dog Journal.
Sources:
Leave a Reply