Have your pets been hosts to fleas lately? You don't need to resort to harsh chemical that damage our environment. Regular practice of green flea control can solve the problem. Here's a short list of tips to help get rid of fleas the natural way.
1. Vacuum or sweep carpeting, furniture and floors at least every week. Then don't let the fleas live and reproduce in that vacuum bag. Take it out and burn it. Regularly wash all bedding where your pet sleeps. (A good reason to have cotton, washable rugs.)
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2. Comb your pet with a fine-toothed, metal flea comb. When the comb catches critters, drown them in soapy water. Try for doing this every day if fleas are a bad problem.
3. At night, put a dish of soapy water under a light near your pet's bed to trap fleas.
4. Spray or rub your pet with a homemade repellent after a bath. Put a sliced lemon, peel and all, in a pint jar and cover it with boiling water. Let the mixture sit overnight, then strain out the pulp. Sponge the lemon mixture on your pet until its fur is moist and let it air dry (no towel, please). The lemon rinse will tone the clean skin and leave a citrus odor that will help repel fleas.
Herbs that repel fleas are pennyroyal, citronella, rosemary and wormwood. You can find herbal flea collars at pet and health food stores. Or simply buy the dried herbs and make your own flea repellents by making an infusion with the herb, then using it to soak an organic cotton collar. After it dries, the collar is ready for your pet. IF you make your own pet beds, you can put these herbs inside, too.
Beware - after you treat your pet with any flea repellant, be sure to put it outside for a few hours, so the fleas abandon ship there instead of in your home!
Besides taking care of the outside of your pet, the inside needs attention, too. Part of your flea fighting regime should also be dietary supplements that when eaten, cause an odor that fleas would rather not be around to develop on your pets skin. Brewer's yeast and zinc are the two most common. But be aware that dietary supplements take close to a month to build up to flea-fighting levels in a pet's skin.
The important flea-control ingredient in brewer's yeast is thiamine (vitamin B). One milligram a day for each five pounds of your pet's weight is ideal. That's one teaspoon of brewer's yeast for an average-size cat. You might give a large dog one tablespoon of brewer's yeast along with a B-complex vitamin pill. Brewer's yeast can also be dusted on your pet's fur as a flea powder. (If your pet licks some off, there's no harm done.)
Zinc is essential for healthy skin, essential to fight flea infestations, but is lacking in many pets' diets. Use 10 milligram (mg) a day for cats and small dogs; 20 mg for larger dogs
Unfortunately, nothing can completely get rid of fleas forever. But these ideas can help keep your pet happy and healthy while being kind to the environment at the same time.
To learn more green ideas to lower our impact on the environment visit http://greentipsforyou.com/
Joshua Vadney has always been interested in "being green" and has started his own web page with tips for saving money while having a lower impact on the environment. Visit http://greentipsforyou.com/ to learn about useful ways you can be green.
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