Post by CampGreyhound on Oct 2, 2010 15:07:03 GMT -5
The contents of this thread is taken from an actual email to a Camp Greyhound client who was trying to rid her raw fed dog of fleas without resorting to more pesticides, since they had clearly been ineffective in initially protecting her dog from a flea infestation.
Hi Karen:
What is your experience with fleas? Do you use the DE? How do you apply it? What happens if they get wet? Can you dust it on carpets?? Again, how is it applied ?
It seems S****** has fleas...
just got back from the vet who confirmed it.
I am worried about what to do around the house also. She was on Sentinel, but I gather from the vet it doesn't work ..... They also said that the fleas are very bad right now in Toronto...
would really welcome your advice and thoughts...
my poor girl...
**
REPLY
'Tis the season, unfortunately.
The fleas do seem to develop resistance to the drugs fairly quickly. Last time we got nicked with them, what I did was either wash or freeze all blankets, bed covers, mats, and what could not be washed and dried on high heat or frozen was vacuumed thoroughly every day while we were battling them.
You can put blankets, bed covers, and even vacuum bags in a garbage bag and then freeze them overnight if you have a freezer. If you don't freeze the vacuum bags after you've vacuumed, the fleas and eggs and larvae can escape, so you have to throw it out every day, you'll need a large supply of them to get through the month.
DE can be used, we put it on the dogs, focusing on the ears, butt, legs and groin. It can also be used in dog beds, couches and anywhere the dogs hang out and may have dumped flea eggs. It's effective but it takes a little time 24-48 hours.
95% of the population can be taken care of by vacuuming, and the rest by washing or freezing.
... There is a product called Capstar that only stays in the system 24 hours, which is actually great, much less toxic. You must take care of the environment as well, but you have to do that anyways. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Keep it up for 30 days and then you'll be clean.
If you want to shampoo her, you don't need flea shampoo, any shampoo will do so long as you suds her up and leave it on for 10-15 minutes, this will kill all the fleas on her.
For repelling fleas, try lemon water, or if you can get rose geranium essential oil (and you have no cats - essential oils are toxic to cats), that's supposed to be good, also rosemary. I use dried calendula petals (from the health food store) and I slice a lemon up thinly, and cover it all with boiling water. Then I add the rosemary, lavender if I have it, and let that sit for a few days in the fridge. I add colloidal silver to keep it from going bad, and then I filter it through a coffee filter into a spray bottle and spray that on the dogs when they go out.
Fleas like damp, so mow your grass short, and spread your DE out in your yard where she hangs out.
You could also start giving S******* a tablespoon of DE in her food every night, as she may well have tapes now from the fleas.
Use the DE sparingly in the carpet, and leave it down as long as possible, you don't want a lot of DE getting into your vacuum. It doesn't take a lot in the carpet, you can use more in the couch and dog beds, and on her. It's quite drying, so your hands will feel dry afterwards, and her coat will feel dry too.
DE is fossilized diatoms, from the ocean, so getting wet is not an issue. This rumor got started because people would put DE on plants to get rid of bugs, and then when it rained, it washed the DE off, so it had to be re-applied. So then somehow that morphed into "DE doesn't work if it gets wet" It works fine wet or dry.
I always just take a small handful and kind of drop it along the areas that need it; try not to fan it around, it's a very fine dust. Rub it in gently on her, rather than vigorously. Also , for internal or topical use, make sure you use Permagard, it's food grade. The agricultural grade is ok for use in the couch, bed, and outside. Do not use the pool filter grade, it's toxic. We do carry Permagard in our webstore if you need more.
Hope that helps, if I think of anything else I'll pass it along.
2nd REPLY
I know what a pain in the ass the fleas are, but you will be able to get rid of them, so don't worry. It's the environment that is more trouble than the dog, so yes, if you gave her a good shampoo and left the suds on long enough to drown the fleas that were on her, she's likely much more comfy. The tricky part is getting the eggs/larvae/adult fleas out of the house before they hatch, that's where the numbers are (fleas lay about 48 eggs per day). If you have mostly hardwood and ceramic that's a huge bonus, once you have your vacuum you can easily take care of any eggs hanging around.
There's a good test you can use to see how successful your efforts are. Have S******* stand over a piece of white paper, and run her all over briskly. You will see hair and little bits of stuff land on the paper. Then wet your finger and run it through any little bits of dirt that have landed, if you get a red streak, that's flea dirt (dried blood) and you know you've still got critters, and it's time for another bath.
Here's the stuff I was telling you about, that seems the safest:
Capstar:
www.pets-megastore.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=847
We don't use any of this stuff regularly, but if fleas get a foothold, I have to use it, I can't have campers going home with fleas! But no problems this year so far. Right now is the time that's it's worst, we've had rain so the little devils have hatched, and cold nights, so they are jumping on the dogs to stay warm.
This too shall pass!
Karen
Awesome Paws at Camp Greyhound
Hi Karen:
What is your experience with fleas? Do you use the DE? How do you apply it? What happens if they get wet? Can you dust it on carpets?? Again, how is it applied ?
It seems S****** has fleas...
just got back from the vet who confirmed it.
I am worried about what to do around the house also. She was on Sentinel, but I gather from the vet it doesn't work ..... They also said that the fleas are very bad right now in Toronto...
would really welcome your advice and thoughts...
my poor girl...
**
REPLY
'Tis the season, unfortunately.
The fleas do seem to develop resistance to the drugs fairly quickly. Last time we got nicked with them, what I did was either wash or freeze all blankets, bed covers, mats, and what could not be washed and dried on high heat or frozen was vacuumed thoroughly every day while we were battling them.
You can put blankets, bed covers, and even vacuum bags in a garbage bag and then freeze them overnight if you have a freezer. If you don't freeze the vacuum bags after you've vacuumed, the fleas and eggs and larvae can escape, so you have to throw it out every day, you'll need a large supply of them to get through the month.
DE can be used, we put it on the dogs, focusing on the ears, butt, legs and groin. It can also be used in dog beds, couches and anywhere the dogs hang out and may have dumped flea eggs. It's effective but it takes a little time 24-48 hours.
95% of the population can be taken care of by vacuuming, and the rest by washing or freezing.
... There is a product called Capstar that only stays in the system 24 hours, which is actually great, much less toxic. You must take care of the environment as well, but you have to do that anyways. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Keep it up for 30 days and then you'll be clean.
If you want to shampoo her, you don't need flea shampoo, any shampoo will do so long as you suds her up and leave it on for 10-15 minutes, this will kill all the fleas on her.
For repelling fleas, try lemon water, or if you can get rose geranium essential oil (and you have no cats - essential oils are toxic to cats), that's supposed to be good, also rosemary. I use dried calendula petals (from the health food store) and I slice a lemon up thinly, and cover it all with boiling water. Then I add the rosemary, lavender if I have it, and let that sit for a few days in the fridge. I add colloidal silver to keep it from going bad, and then I filter it through a coffee filter into a spray bottle and spray that on the dogs when they go out.
Fleas like damp, so mow your grass short, and spread your DE out in your yard where she hangs out.
You could also start giving S******* a tablespoon of DE in her food every night, as she may well have tapes now from the fleas.
Use the DE sparingly in the carpet, and leave it down as long as possible, you don't want a lot of DE getting into your vacuum. It doesn't take a lot in the carpet, you can use more in the couch and dog beds, and on her. It's quite drying, so your hands will feel dry afterwards, and her coat will feel dry too.
DE is fossilized diatoms, from the ocean, so getting wet is not an issue. This rumor got started because people would put DE on plants to get rid of bugs, and then when it rained, it washed the DE off, so it had to be re-applied. So then somehow that morphed into "DE doesn't work if it gets wet" It works fine wet or dry.
I always just take a small handful and kind of drop it along the areas that need it; try not to fan it around, it's a very fine dust. Rub it in gently on her, rather than vigorously. Also , for internal or topical use, make sure you use Permagard, it's food grade. The agricultural grade is ok for use in the couch, bed, and outside. Do not use the pool filter grade, it's toxic. We do carry Permagard in our webstore if you need more.
Hope that helps, if I think of anything else I'll pass it along.
2nd REPLY
I know what a pain in the ass the fleas are, but you will be able to get rid of them, so don't worry. It's the environment that is more trouble than the dog, so yes, if you gave her a good shampoo and left the suds on long enough to drown the fleas that were on her, she's likely much more comfy. The tricky part is getting the eggs/larvae/adult fleas out of the house before they hatch, that's where the numbers are (fleas lay about 48 eggs per day). If you have mostly hardwood and ceramic that's a huge bonus, once you have your vacuum you can easily take care of any eggs hanging around.
There's a good test you can use to see how successful your efforts are. Have S******* stand over a piece of white paper, and run her all over briskly. You will see hair and little bits of stuff land on the paper. Then wet your finger and run it through any little bits of dirt that have landed, if you get a red streak, that's flea dirt (dried blood) and you know you've still got critters, and it's time for another bath.
Here's the stuff I was telling you about, that seems the safest:
Capstar:
www.pets-megastore.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=847
We don't use any of this stuff regularly, but if fleas get a foothold, I have to use it, I can't have campers going home with fleas! But no problems this year so far. Right now is the time that's it's worst, we've had rain so the little devils have hatched, and cold nights, so they are jumping on the dogs to stay warm.
This too shall pass!
Karen
Awesome Paws at Camp Greyhound