Diatomaceous earth for flea control.

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abbott75

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Yep... The dog was nice enough to infest the house with his friends.

I've been looking at natural ways to control fleas in the house, because of the animals I keep poisons aren't really an option. I've been reading a lot about diatomaceous earth and how it works.

I've heard it can be purchased from pool shops?

Does anyone have any experience using it?

Thanks :)
 
I dunno about that product, but that happened to us once and we got all the carpet professionally cleaned with the hot staemer thing and they went away lol
 
Use Ivermectin. Yes, it's a poison, but you only treat the animal itself, so unless anything eats your dog it won't affect them. One application, once. Easy, cheap, safe. Diatomaceous earth might stop them spreading over a smooth floor covered in it, but it isn't likely to be a useful solution, especially if you have carpet.
 
Use Ivermectin. Yes, it's a poison, but you only treat the animal itself, so unless anything eats your dog it won't affect them. One application, once. Easy, cheap, safe. Diatomaceous earth might stop them spreading over a smooth floor covered in it, but it isn't likely to be a useful solution, especially if you have carpet.

The problem is they are everywhere. Not just on the dog. Take a step into a room and 10 will jump onto your leg. The sand under the house probably isn't helping either. We don't have carpet.
 
We used lime and spread it all under our house(and hubby would go and wet it ) ...as far as inside goes ...steaming can still work wonders,even if its not carpet ..but you have to treat that dog now!! ...fleas are such a pain even if its just on the dog ,but when you get a flea invested house thats worse ...
 
The problem is they are everywhere. Not just on the dog. Take a step into a room and 10 will jump onto your leg. The sand under the house probably isn't helping either. We don't have carpet.

Fleas are parasites, they need to drink blood. As long as you aren't personally feeding them your own blood in any real quantity and any which bite the dog die of poisoning, assuming the dog is the only major source of blood, they should all die out. You might need to reapply the ivermectin once or twice with doses about a month apart, as the eggs can sit dormant for a while.

If you don't have carpet you should be able to mop up most of the eggs/larvae and get rid of them quickly. They won't breed in the sand under your house unless you have untreatable animals which sleep on it, in which case you're going to have a very hard time dealing with it.

If you can treat the animals which feed the fleas, the fleas will all die.
 
I've been reading more online... a lot of people swear by it, but it seems the DE made for pool use is not the go.

Because of his health, the dog is kept inside 99.9% of the time, however it seems that the fleas are 1000x worse outside than in.
 
abbot, I have used de before, though not for fleas but for plant mites.... you can buy it from most good hydroponic shops....
 
Mother Earth wool wash from coles or woolies is great, only a cap full in the dogs bath is enough to kill the fleas. Although he may be chased by koalas as its the euycalyptus that the fleas hate, please keep away from the dogs eyes. All natural and the dog smells good too.
 
I know you want to use a natural method, but I tend to find that they don't work very well at all, in my experience.

If you kept up the monthly treatments with a product like Advantage (made by Bayer- Advantage, advocate etc are the ones I seem to have more success with than Frontline. havn't tried revolution) you'll find the flea population to dwindle dramatically. Fleas cannot survive off humans, and must feed on dogs/cats to survive and reproduce. Also, with these spot-on applications (you apply the tiny volume of solution to the back of the neck for dogs) the flea does not actually have to bite, simply come into contact with the substance. From what I've learnt, when you apply the product it goes into the hair follicles and is slowly released, which kills fleas for up to a month (as the manufacturers say). Fleas, requiring to feed on the dog, will sense vibrations, air movement, CO2, temperature etc. to detect when a warm blooded mammal is passing, and they seem to be able to tell the difference between humans and dogs, for example (something to do with the differeing odour and chemicals released by each species). When the fleas sense the presence of a dog, they emerge from their 'hiding spots' in floorboard cracks, beneath the carpet etc. and hitch a ride. So, when you apply a product like advantage, it will kill the fleas immediately on the animal, and then any fleas jumping onto the dog after the application will also be killed. So, as I mentioned, if you kept the treatment up and applied it once a month, you'd soon dramatically drop your flea population, both on the dog (any seen on the dog after the application are most likely ones that have just jumped on and have not yet died- just because you see the fleas on teh dog after the application does not mean it is not successful- you'd need to monitor the flea numbers in the environment as well) and in the environment.

This will sound bizarre, but if you have such a huge infestation in your yard, you'd be best to treat the dog, wait about 24hrs for the product to be distributed over the dogs body, and then let it out or a nice really long run in the yard- any fleas will be attracted, any eggs will be stimulated to hatch (preventing from them lying dormant for however long, and getting a new infestation) and pupae will mature etc. The fleas that then hitch a ride on your pup willl die, and its a pretty neat way to 'cull' the flea population pretty quickly :)

Theres no real quick solution, fleas are an absolute pain in the **** to get rid of completely, but they are easy to control. Thorough vacuuming of carpets is also thought to be beneficial, though it must be very thorough and even then you won't get all of the larval and pupae stages, because they are embedded down there pretty darned well! but everything helps :)

Hope you understood all that, and sorry for the long post. I haven't had any experience with the DE that you mentioned, so cannot comment on that :) I wish you the best of luck with these annoying parasites!

Also as another note- you will need to maintain the treating regime, for at least a few months- if you do not, and say, for example, treat only once, you will not get all of the eggs, larval and pupa stages in the grass, plants, floor cracks, carpet, dirt etc. which will all then infest your dog and initiate the problem again, within a very short span of time. The products I've been referring to are pretty safe, and I've never had a problem with my cats, dogs, fish, birds and turtle :) they come in an easy to use, disposable pipette with the appropriate treatment volume, so you treat the dog, throw the pipette out and its all done :)
 
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xshadowx went into the detail I didn't bother with, I agree with 95% of it. Ivermectin works in the same way as Revolution, but is not marketted towards dog and cat people (it's used on cattle), so costs only a small fraction what Revolution does. Being used on cattle might make it sound scarey, but I've used it on animals as small as pink mice. Any new rats or mice I get in are given a precautionary treatment with Ivermectin at the start of quarantine. I'm sure revolution is just as good, you'll just have to pay a great deal more for it.

If you want to try the diatomaceous earth, give it a go, if it works, awesome, if not, give a chemical solution a go.
 
I use Revolution. The fleas will try to feed off the dog and will die. The same will happen with the freshly hatched fleas. They prefer to seek out there normal host rather than feed off of us. Washing any bedding the dog sleeps on will help too, the more 'breaks' you can get in the life cycle of the flea, the better.

I'll have to look into that Sdaji (cost saving).
 
Thanks Shadow and Sdaji.

We actually use Ivermectin with our birds, so I think I will try it for the fleas.

I think the reason I find a heap more outside than in is because all the inside fleas are actually on the dog and not bothering me. Because there is no dog outside, they are going for whatever they can get, ie, me!

Thanks guys.
 
For your dog you can get a tablet directly from the vet which will automatically drop any fleas which are on him instantly. (the vet uses it on all dogs when staying at surgery so as to prevent infestation)
then you can use a tablet called sentinel it is fantastic it treats all worms inc heartworm and fleas and is just a once a month thing have used it for 2yrs now n never had a flea prob till now (of which i'll add we have missed last 2 months of treatment) as for your house good luck i am no help with that as my boys live downstairs sorry.
 
Ivermectin works in the same way as Revolution, but is not marketted towards dog and cat people (it's used on cattle), so costs only a small fraction what Revolution does. Being used on cattle might make it sound scarey, but I've used it on animals as small as pink mice. Any new rats or mice I get in are given a precautionary treatment with Ivermectin at the start of quarantine. I'm sure revolution is just as good, you'll just have to pay a great deal more for it.

A lot of people do use this on their dogs, and seem to achieve success with it, so if you're willing, give it a shot! just make sure you use the right dose (not sure what that is, however). If you do go to one of the labelled brands for dogs, personally I'd recommend advantage or advocate (advantage is cheaper), as its the only one I've had luck with to control fleas.

And just so you know, I was just typing some of the info we've been given at uni, during the parasitology and pharmacology lectures, and from my own personal experiences (textbooks are helpful, but often don't seem to help 100% in every-day, real situations- life doesn't follow books!)

I apologize if I went into too much detail for you, I just like to have more info, so thought I'd give it to you if you wanted it :) though, google could tell you the same things! lol. Everyone has they're own methods of doing things, but it can be tough to make the decision of which one you want to try :D
 
Sdaji, do you happen to know the correct dose for flea control on a 25kg dog?
 
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The flea drop tablets can be bought at a supermarket for half the price a vet would charge ..they are called CAPSTAR ...if you know your dog weight or rough est as you have to make sure you get the right dosage ....
and sdaji thanks for the tip on the cattle dip for dogs ..as dog based flea control is as expensive as a bloody house mortgage...costing us a fortune every month to do four dogs ....
 
Sdaji, do you happen to know the correct dose for flea control on a 25kg dog?

You can get it in different concentrations, so the dosage will vary. The stuff I use on rodents would work out too...

2.5ml, which you would put on the skin (between the fur) on the back of the dog's neck.

You'll usually get a guideline along the lines of 0.1ml per kg of animal you're treating. Most stock feed suppliers should be able to help you out.
 
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