Strategies to prevent and eliminate a flea infestation in your home and yard, or on your pets naturally without chemicals.
Fleas are tiny, wingless insects that survive by piercing the skin and sucking the blood of mammals and birds.
Even a single flea can wreak havoc as I discovered on a recent trip out of town when my daughter and I stayed in a home that had a large dog.
While the home itself appeared free of a flea infestation, a single flea or two must have gotten trapped under my daughter’s shirt (she liked to lay right on the dog!).
The day we got home, she discovered bites all over her torso that were a bit frightening to behold!
Fortunately, she didn’t have any other symptoms other than the visible appearance of the bites and they healed up quickly within a few days using baking soda baths and a homemade herbal salve.
Even though this experience had a happy ending, it reminded me how important it is for health-conscious families with pets living indoors to have natural, non-toxic ways to deal with a flea infestation when necessary.
It is important to know effective methods for safe flea control on your pet too instead of toxic drops, sprays, shampoos, and oral medications.
Flea Prevention is Key
Prevention is key when it comes to flea infestation problems. It is important to note that pets that are healthy are much more resistant to fleas than unhealthy pets eating highly processed bagged or canned pet food.
Assembling a raw food diet for your pet can go a long way toward preventing flea infestation problems in the first place.
Ridding Your Pet of Fleas Without Chemicals
While pets eating a nutritious diet are far less likely to attract large numbers of fleas, even animals with strong immune systems will occasionally attract a few.
Quickly running a flea comb through your pet’s fur after a walk can help keep any stray insects from making their way into the house.
Alcohol paralyzes fleas, so if you find a few while combing through your pet’s coat, drop them in a bit of alcohol to keep them from hanging around your front door to be picked up the next time your pet is outside.
According to holistic veterinarian Tamara Hebbler DVM, a good quality, natural pet shampoo (I like this one) will kill fleas just fine so there is no need to use harsh, chemical-laden formulations on a pet that has an infestation.
Simply lather up your pet and leave the suds on for about 20 minutes before rinsing off. Wrapping Rover in a towel to prevent chills during that time is a good idea too in cooler months.
Sticky Flea Traps
The most effective way I’ve found to rid your home of fleas is to use a flea trap.
This is the model I recommend. It is the best one I’ve tried for durability and effectiveness.
Place one in every room that has a flea problem. For large rooms, you may need two or three strategically placed. I’ve found one trap for every 200 square feet or so works very well.
Make sure they are on at night as this is the most active time for fleas!
Note, you can save money by using this generic brand of glue paper refills, which need to be replaced frequently if your infestation is heavy.
Once you get the problem under control, the trap only needs to be turned on one night a week or so as a “test” that everything is all clear. Be sure you are vacuuming often too.
Without a doubt, the very best vacuum for this purpose is the Dyson Animal-Pro.
I honestly do not think that without this particular vacuum and the flea traps (used as needed), that we could successfully keep two indoor/outdoor cats as we have for many years without the use of chemicals.
Keeping Fleas Away
Some of the nastiest, most toxic pet products on the market are those flea prevention drops, sprays, and shampoos.
Do you really want to douse your poor pet with pesticides and then have them lay on your carpets and furniture where your children sit and play or worse sleep in their beds?
A much better prevention strategy is to lightly dust your pet with food-grade diatomaceous earth once a week.
Diatomaceous earth is made from fossilized marine algae that have been crushed to a powder. It works by scratching the exoskeleton of fleas which dehydrates and kills them.
While non-toxic, diatomaceous earth is a respiratory irritant.
Be sure not to breathe it in and avoid your pet’s nose and eyes during application. You may wish to wear a dust mask if you are especially sensitive to airborne irritants.
I’ve used it for years without a problem and haven’t ever used a dust mask. The key is to use caution when applying as the powder is very fine and can get airborne very easily.
Warning about Essential Oils
While using essential oils around the house as a flea repellent may seem like a good idea, note that some cats are sensitive to essential oils.
Use cautiously and watch and observe your feline friends for any signs of lethargy or confusion which would indicate a reaction.
Ridding Your Home of a Flea Infestation
Suppose your house becomes a flea infestation hotbed despite all your best efforts at prevention. Rest easy knowing that there is no need to use toxic pesticides in your home to resolve the problem!
Lightly dusting the infested areas with food-grade diatomaceous earth will kill the fleas in only one day. Vacuum up the visible residue the following day and voila! no more fleas! Because diatomaceous earth is a mechanical rather than a chemical killer, it does not work on flea eggs, so you may need to reapply if a secondary wave of fleas emerges 1-4 weeks later.
The good news is that a thorough vacuum after the diatomaceous earth eliminates the adult flea problem is usually all that is required to prevent reinfestation from hatching eggs later.
Note that you can apply diatomaceous earth to upholstery and mattresses in addition to carpet if necessary.
Wool carpets and rugs should be treated as well. Use it in your car if need be.
Some sources suggest boric acid as an alternative to diatomaceous earth.
However, I don’t really like using it (a less toxic option is using borax) as it does have some mammalian toxicity even though it is low risk compared to using pesticides.
Diatomaceous earth has no toxicity at all so this option would be the best approach for eliminating a flea infestation. This is especially important if young children live in the home who are touching everything and putting their fingers and toys in their mouths.
Preventing/Eliminating Fleas in the Yard
Fleas thrive in shady areas, so only these spots in your yard are susceptible to infestation. The use of cedar or eucalyptus mulch in landscaped areas will discourage them from sticking around.
Spraying with beneficial nematodes on the grass to balance the soil will work to eliminate flea larvae as well.
I can personally vouch for the amazing effectiveness of nematode treatment for yards.
I initially sprayed nematodes on my yard several times when my husband and I first moved into our home many years ago to solve rampant problems with mole crickets.
Since then, I have never needed to use pesticides or chemicals on my lawn.
It is beautiful and lush every growing season with zero effort as the soil is balanced with plenty of beneficial microbial activity.
It is worth the effort to prevent fleas and eliminate infestations naturally both on your pet and in/around your home.
Remember that pesticides are toxic, hormone-disrupting compounds so it is best to avoid any exposure as much as humanly possible, particularly in your home where you are spending the majority of your time living, breathing and sleeping.
References
(1) Safe, Effective Flea Control
(2) Three Steps to Natural Flea Control
(3) Healing Hope, Holistic Veterinary Care
More Information
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Fast and Effective Fly Repellent
Quick and Easy Homemade Fly Trap
Spider Repellent Guaranteed to Work
Fast Acting Mosquito Bite Remedy That’s Probably Already in Your Kitchen
You can use Lime sprinkled generously all over your lawn, just like at the baseball diamomd. It will help keep the fleas away as well. You can also use salt mixed with De and sprinkle it on the cusions of your furniture and all over the carpet. It looks ugly but if you leave it down a couple of days then vacumn it up. all your pests will have dried out and died. You can put it on and around the animals bedding. When it gets on your animal it kills them there too. I also sometimes use blue Dawn to get rid of pests. I also use it on the cats and just dry them if need be.
thank you for all of your advise, it sure makes a difference! God bless you.
Ingesting 300mg of B1 has always worked against all biting insects for our animals and us humans.
My pet is a small bunny (under 4 lbs). I believe she brought home a flea or two from having a romp in a friend’s backyard some months ago. It only takes one or two fleas for an infestation to develop.
Bunnies clean themselves, so I have hesitated to dust her with diatomaceous earth, due to the risk of respiratory irritation. Also, bathing bunnies is bad for them, since they can become ill from being wet to the skin and they take a long time to dry.
What would you recommend for my pet bunny to rid her of fleas? She’s already on an all-raw diet, by definition for a rabbit. I’ve been trying the vacuum approach for months now and still encounter fleas on her despite flea-combing daily. BTW she’s 100% an inside pet, never allowed outside (except for that one visit) – hawks and coyotes rule the outside where we live.
I use DE on our cats … they clean themselves and are fine. DE is an internal anti-parasitic, so no worries there.
Through no fault of my own I have been battling several flea infestations in my home for about 6 years. I am now left with flea eggs in some of my clothing; some of my paperwork and some of my books. I am at a loss to know how to tackle these leftovers?! I do soak my clothing in apple cider vinegar and wash it with a natural flea shampoo plus several essential oils which seems to help most of the time. Any ideas/suggestions would be welcomed. Thank you.
I recommend the flea traps suggested in the article. They work wonders.
Hi All.
We have a giant schnauzer. She’s on a raw food diet. She was getting fleas on the regular. We live in the city and have many city critters going through our yard. We have fruit trees, garden beds and a grape vine, which critters ADORE! Rats, in particular. It’s simply the nature of living in close quarters with others. We constantly have traps set for rats. When the city critter population is high in our yard so are her fleas, until I started giving her grapefruit seed extract! I put some on her food daily and after about 2 weeks I started noticing less fleas, and then almost no fleas. We went from infestation to pretty much none. I still wash her every other week with mink sheen shampoo. I also have a lemongrass spray I use in the yard. It’s too dry here in Los Angeles to use nematodes in the yard. We were at our wits end and my hubby wanted me to put her on nasty meds, I’m so glad we did not! Grapefruit seed extract! Just a note – diatomaceous earth never worked for us, either outside, inside or on her. I tried the flea comb but that is beyond time consuming for big dogs with lots of hair. We also tried shaving her, but the fleas still persisted. Just wanted to sprinkle some hope for those of you who are at your wits end but really don’t want to use nasty chemicals for flea control.
When I lived in Florida we had fleas outside, which of course made their way inside on our pets. I read somewhere that oil of wintergreen would repel them and it worked like a charm. Put a little oil on a cotton ball and hide where your pet can’t get it, like under the couch or behind some place they can’t get to. I’d be cautious about putting it on your pet, as it’s said to be poisonous. It would put a tiny bit in a place they could not reach, and they never got sick.
I have tried several homeopathic remedies recommended by Kaviraj with much success. I have not tried the one for fleas (I have no pets); but, based on my experience with homeopathics in general, I think it is more likely than not to work.
Thank you for the article with its suggestions in combating fleas around the home however diatomaceous earth does not work and neither do essential oils. I feel these two notions will misguide people. I tried both on my dog when she had fleas from the loose sand at the beach and they did not work; it was a waste of effort and money. What does work is buzzing all their fur off, then one doesn’t need to monkey with natural remedies which often fail.
I have some flea problems at home and I want to get rid of them. I’m open to all ideas on how to cleanse my home of them. I’ll probably go with a professional as I don’t want them coming back.
For inside of your house the most effective method to remove fleas and their eggs is this protocol:
Turn up the AC in the house to 80 degrees. This allows for the humidity to build up.
Vacuum all areas of the house where the animals live and move around, carpet, tile and wood floor, and even furniture.
Immediately after vacuuming, EMPTY the vacuum and into a plastic bag and seal it up.
Do this process, 3 – 4 days in a row, 5 for really bad infestations.
The reasoning behind this is because the eggs hatch faster due to heat, humidity and vibration (beater bar of the vacuum)
The newly hatched fleas are vacuumed up daily.
The immediate emptying and disposal of the vacuum contents is because the fleas will make their way out of the vacuum and survive if you do not do this. If you have a vacuum with a bag, you can freeze the bag which you seal up in a plastic bag between your vacuuming. This will kill the fleas in the bag over night.
This is the protocol that our company recommends to our customers regularly as we do not want to treat anyone’s home for fleas because the required pesticides are not good for anyone.