Read with a Lot of interest the articles on
DE and its effect on
fleas. I live in a hot, Humid part of the country, which is ideal for
fleas, although this summer has been hotter than many in recent years and wetter. The humidity is ideal for fleas, but maybe the heat is a deterrent. Who knows with fleas? Anyway, I have 2 cats, on which I put a flea product called Cheristin (made exclusively for cats, which doesn't make it any less toxic) on June 20th, because they both had some fleas. Haven't used any since and a flea combing yesterday revealed no evidence of the critters - "dirt" (aka flea
poop), adults - nothing. But the heavy, double coated one has dandruff and the smooth, single coated one is scratching around his head, neck and ears; seems like allergies, for which I was giving him the equivalent of children's Benadryl (the only antihistamine that doesn't have aspirin - lethal to cats) and that seemed to work for a while, although because it is flavored - bubble gum or cherry, take your pick - it is difficult to dose After I read about the DE, I bought some at my
local feed store (they only carry Codex - food grade) and I rubbed some (no clue how much) into both their coats yesterday, with the idea that if it works for chincillas' coats, it might just work for cats. And, I don't have to worry about them licking it off. I also went around to all the huge ant hills in my
yard (mostly fire
ants, which nothing kills - just pisses them off and they move to another location in my yard), chanting: "die, die you little bastards!" Sorry about the language, I just HATE ants! They bite - for no reason and destroy my garden at the
roots, including things I plant in containers - nothing seems to deter ants!. Well, I was chuckling to myself while sprinkling DE all over them and late yesterday it rained for the first time in 2 weeks. Now, I'll have to go back out and disturb the hills again and re-sprinkle. Tomorrow - it's going to rain again. And, I bought 40 lbs. of DE for $28.95. Have paid 3x that amount for poison. Anyway, loved the article about DE. Another word on fleas: I used to live in Torrance, California, where I raised Scottish Terriers (very double coated breed) and the fleas were terrible! That could be an argument against the humidity angle because the humidity was very low. I then moved to Big Bear
City, CA, in the San Bernardino Mts. to an elevation of about 6500 ft. No fleas! Apparently, they can't breed in the altitude. Didn't have any effect on ticks, though, which were a real nuisance but easier to control. Just thought that might be of interest.
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