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There are so many products advertised now for pets: foods of infinite brand and variety, teeth cleaning toys and chews, ongoing medication for prevention of parasites and vaccinations for many diseases. It can be very hard to choose which ones are good for your pet, or, indeed, could they even be bad for your pet? Are the most expensive ones better? How do I stop from feeling guilty if I decide not to use them? Will I feel guilty if I find they may have been harming my pet’s health? Which web site is correct? Whose advice do I take?
This series of articles will help guide you to making a well-informed choice for your well loved member of the family.In this first issue, I will discuss flea control products and their alternatives. In future issues I will discuss worm and heartworm products, the vaccination question, which herbs can be used for your pet’s minor ailments, and also how to use basic homoeopathy for conditions such as abscesses and wounds in cats, dogs and horses.
There are five basic types of flea prevention commonly sold for dogs and cats.
1. The first type is in the form of a monthly tablet, and is often combined with heartworm prevention. This product is useful if your property is heavily contaminated with fleas, or you have just moved to a house where there were many animals and many fleas. This type of product sterilizes the fleas, so will take a couple of months to start working, as you will need to wait two flea life cycles for this to happen. In general, this chemical appears to have fewer toxic effects than the next 3 types discussed below, however it may be more effective and quicker to use the next (type 2) for a limited time instead.
2. This second type is squeezed from a small vial onto the back of the head/neck in the case of cats (so they can’t lick it off) or the shoulder blade area in dogs. It is usually possible to kill all the fleas on your property by using two doses of the ‘spot on the back of the neck’ products which will kill any fleas contacting the dog or cat within 24 hours. I generally recommend this type if clients want a quick fix for flea problems in adult dogs/cats. Usually only two doses, a month apart, are sufficient to wipe out all the fleas, if it is used on all animals in the household. It is seldom necessary to use this type of product every month continually for months or years. If this tends to be needed, then it is preferable to use the first type of flea sterilizer, especially for dogs who are highly allergic to one flea, but for most dogs this type of product for 2 months is enough. Another option is to use the alternative natural program discussed below. I see many dogs with signs of liver toxicity when these spot on products are used monthly for long periods of time, such as itchiness, especially around the face and head or repeated ear infections. They can have high liver enzyme levels on blood tests with ‘no known cause’. Some may even develop emotional irritability or aggression. They may drink more water than usual. All these symptoms are called “liver fire” or “liver stagnation” in Chinese medicine and some types of dog and cat are more likely to get this chemical sensitivity than others.
It is VERY important to only use products with flea control ONLY. Using expensive products that cover fleas, heartworm, mange and intestinal worms all in one can be more toxic than the single parasite ones. They can be useful to use for a limited time if mites are suspected, but this is not such a likely problem as fleas. (Intestinal worms and heartworm can be controlled by dosing with separate products – see the article in next issue of ‘Glow’).
3. The third type of chemical flea control is a tablet given twice weekly, even up to daily, which I would not prefer as it is regular dosing of a chemical which needs to be metabolized by the liver and or kidneys, and can be quite toxic in some individual animals. It can be bought from the supermarket, pet shops or vets.
4. Flea shampoos are the best way to control fleas on a new pup or kitten, before they have had time to contaminate your house, or for adult cats. If necessary combined with the natural protocol below. Use shampoos containing pyrethrum or at the most a synthetic pyrithrin, although there are some very effective herbal flea shampoos that are effective against fleas. See the ‘natural’ section below.
5. Flea bombs that vaporize whole rooms are NOT recommended. The chemicals are often quite toxic, the fleas are often resistant to them, they are bad for the humans and animals in the house, and the same (or usually better) effect can be gained from type 2 spot-on products above, or type 1 if you really need to.
There are two points to make here in reference to all the above types of product.
A. One is that any combination product is likely to encourage over-use of a chemical. It is always better to use a product that has one purpose only, ie to control only one parasite, in this case either fleas or heartworm, but not both. That way, as soon as the fleas are controlled, you can stop giving that drug and continue on only with the heartworm prevention. It is important to use only the minimum amount of chemical needed to give your pet cover for that particular parasite you wish to control.
B. In general, any products, tablet or spot-on, bought from a supermarket are likely to be more toxic than those from a vet clinic. The old-fashioned, cheap chemicals in some supermarket products have been banned in the USA due to potential cancer-causing and other serious effects, so Australia can buy them at a bargain price! Most vets sell modern, safer and better chemicals. Although these veterinary products can have their problems, they are a better option than the supermarket ones! Such toxic active constituents to NEVER buy are: lindane, dichlorvos, dieldren and malathion. (Watch what you use on your children for head lice, too.)
For those animals who have been found to be intolerant to these chemical products, or for those clients who are keen to put a bit more effort in to avoid using chemicals, combine the following steps for chemical-free flea control.
1.Homoeopathic flea prevention drops can be obtained by post from me, or your own holistic vet or homoeopath may stock them. Either a few drops twice daily into the mouth or 20 drops once daily into the water bowl, for about a month. Depending on the homoeopath, they may be made from flea nosode, possibly together with other remedies. They may or may not be strong enough by themselves, so combine them with the following steps.
2.Shampoo monthly with good herbal flea shampoo, or normal shampoo mixed with neem tree extract 5:1.
3.Rinse afterwards with 1:50 neem extract mixed with water or lemon water with a dash of vinegar (to emulsify oil with water), towel pet dry, flushing any stunned fleas down the sink before they wake up! To make up lemon water, cut up lemons into chunks, pour boiling water onto them and leave to soak for 2 days, then strain liquid off. Greenpet make a very good lemon dog rinse to use for this step.
4.Spray daily with 1:50 neem mixture, especially on rump but ideally the whole animal. Neem is safe even if licked off by the animal, in fact it is therapeutic if taken internally. (This is NOT the case with most other essential oils which can be toxic). Lavender oil is flea repellent and safe, but not quite as effective as Neem, although if used daily on a flea comb, it can be effective with a patient owner!
5.Rinse all bedding (after routine laundering) with a strong dilution of eucalyptus or tea tree oil (cheaper to buy in larger amounts than neem) and hang up on the line to dry without rinsing, repeating at least monthly.
6.Vacuum carpets well and frequently.
7.Use a strong eucalyptus or tea tree dilution in the watering can to soak pet’s kennel and favourite sleeping patches on sand, paving or doormats etc. (DO NOT use eucalyptus or tea tree or citronella directly onto animals, ESPECIALLY NOT ON CATS, as insecticidal dilutions of these oils are likely to be toxic to animals). Salt can be sprinkled between paving stones to repel fleas.
8.The flea life cycle is about a month in the summer, so keep up intensive treatment for at least a month.
Any animal on a natural diet is far less likely to be burdened with fleas, and is likely to be easier to treat in this natural manner.
This generally means feeding raw meat and raw bones, lots of veges/fruit and fish or fish oil capsules. Some research has shown that yeast and garlic in the food can reduce fleas. This seems to work in some animals, but be careful to not feed more than a half a raw clove of garlic a day, as garlic in excess and onions even in small amounts, are poisonous to some dogs and cats, causing a sudden anaemia.
For more information on diet see the last edition of ‘Glow’ or my website article “Natural Diet for Dogs and Cats” at www.claremiddle.com.
In the next issue I will discuss worm and heartworm products.
This article may not be representative of any products
linked or showcased with this article. Please review the product ingredients before
considering purchase
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considering purchase
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