Holistic Flea Control

20 Aug 2006

20 Aug, 2006 Cat Worms, Fleas, Parasites, Dog Worms, Fleas, Parasites

Now that summer is nearly here, many of us will spend some of our spare time outdoors. Unfortunately, the Summer also means ticks and fleas, the heavy shedding, irritating scratching and coughed up hairballs.

Lets not despair, if we use some proactive planning, the toils of Summer pet care, especially the irritating ticks and fleas, can be greatly reduced.

Holistic approach to flea control

When we try to control ticks and fleas, we should remember that effective flea control does not begin with our efforts to kill these blood thirsty insects, it should begin with an assessment of our pet, the host, namely the animal’s diet, we need a better understanding of how ticks and fleas behave, how they reproduce and adapt to the environment.

It is also important to know that what we perceive as a ticka and flea problem could really involve several inter related health issues. From a holistic perspective, ticks and fleas do not represent the whole of an animal’s Summer time misery.

Ticks and fleas are parasites and, like most other blood sucking creatures that feed on the body of others, thrive best on a weaker host. Animals that are not receiving their nutritional sustinance needed for healthy skin, fur and their immune systems will be more susceptible to tick and flea bite allergies.

You may have noticed that some animals appear to be more immune to ticks and fleas, whilst others suffer constantly.

This could be attributable to nutritional deficiency or a food allergies. You could try switching your pet from beef or lamb to chicken, fish or venison food. Or you could prepare your pet’s meals yourself. This is not as expensive or inconvenient as you might think, and you could see some dramatic improvements in your pet’s health.

The old saying “You are what you eat” could also hold true for your pet

Your pet may also have a systemic inability to assimilate certain nutrients. Poor digestion is a common problem in dogs and cats, and they don’t always digest much needed nutrients. This can be because some foods do no break down quickly and completely in the animals digestive tract, leading to malnutrition, some allergies, arthritis, and excessive hair loss.

You should be wary of foods that contain meat meal, certain by products may include diseased animals rejected from the slaughter house, or even animals that have been killed on the road.

You should also consider the possibility of preservatives in the pet food you may be using. Using diet as an active flea control may help your pet to deal with ticks and fleas naturally by keeping it in a healthy condition through diet.

Essential Fatty Acids

Essential Fatty Acids are known as EFAs and can be missing from many of our pets diets, whether their food has been pre-prepared or prepared yourself at home. EFAs are fat based nutrients which can be found in fish oils, the most commonly know is omega 3 fatty acid, they can also be found in the seeds of some types of plants, again the most commonly know is omega 6 fatty acid.

EFAs play a strong role in the maintenance of keeping our pets healthy and therefore enabling them to cope better than under nurished pets in their plight against ticks and fleas. Other chemicals also play an important role in the fight against ticks and fleas.

This is when nature needs a helping hand and where pets who do not receive enough EFAs in their diets could benefit from topical flea control products which are placed directly onto the animals skin, two of the most popular known flea control products are Frontline and Advantage.

Because cats and dogs tend to enjoy fish flavoured foods, EFA supplements are easily placed into your pets feed, just add around half a teaspoon of omega 3 and 6 into your cats food and one teaspoon of the same into your dogs, (always follow manufacturer’s recommendations).

Digestive Enzymes for natural flea control

There are many digestive enzymes available which can be easily added to the food at each mealtime, just a small pinch of these powders will increase the availability of nutrients in the food. You should always follow the manufactuer’s dosage recommendations.

The Next Process

Once you have addressed your cat/dogs nutritional needs to help it’s resistance against ticks and fleas, you can begin to wager a wider flea control war against the parasites.

On understanding the life cycle of the tick and flea, will help you deal with with task of eliminating them. The adult flea spends most of its time in the environment, rather than on the actual host. It is therefore important to treat the areas that are frequented by your pet and not just the pet itself.

Here are just a few ideas. One of the best approaches is to launch an attack against the tick and flea from several different angles at the same time:

Always wash your pet’s bedding in hot soapy water as often as possible, vacuum every day. These are just 2 simple ways of naturally helping to control ticks an fleas in the environment. Using certain herbs may repel ticks an fleas, namely, juniper, citronella, euclyptus and cedar.

These can be purchased in powder form and used naturally in the home just be sprinkling into carpets, soft furnishing and any other places where ticks and fleas may hang out.

Bathe your pet’s with herbal shampoos that are designed specifically for flea control on animals. Program is a flea control product that can be administereed orally and inhibits the development of the flea. Frontline and Advantage are topical products which are placed directly onto the skin, these prevent and kill fleas.

You could try adding apple cider vinegar to your pet’s water dish. The theory being is that it can add special nutrients that will help your pets deal with ticks and fleas.

You could also try adding a small pinch of garlic powder to your pet’s food which will help to repel ticks and fleas. Positive results have been reported from some pet owners who have tried this.

There have also been positive results from peet owners using B complex (minerals and zinc), a mineral/vitamin supplement available to aid your pets against problems with ticks and fleas.

Herbs that are thought to improve the digestion and liver efficiency of dogs and cats may be helpful to those animals experiencing problems with ticks and fleas or allergies and skin problems. One of the best herbs available in the fight against flea control is dandelion and burdock root, which can be grated onto your pet’s food each meal time, the root can be used for both dogs and cats.

To help relieve itching, and go someway in aiding the healing of tick and flea bites, you may want to consider giving your pet a herbal skin and fur rinse.

A simple solution can be made up by using 1 tablespoon of each of the following, dried peppermint, dried chamomile flowers and dried calendula flowers, place into a suitable container and pour over about 1 quart of boiling water. Allow this to stand until cooled, this can then be used to pour over your pet, which will also help to soothe any irritations. Don’t dry your pet, let him/her dry naturally.

About the author

http://www.1fleacontrol.com

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