Need flea advice for my 3 pups :(

Hey all...

I will preface this by letting you know that I have a 3-year-old who is home with me during the day, so I need organic and safe information. For his health (and that of my pets), I don't want to use chemicals if necessary.

The nitty gritty: I have 3 dogs, 2 small and one large. I also have a cat who thinks he's a dog. These critters have fleas, and unfortunately I canNOT get rid of them. We moved to NC from MA about 2.5 years ago, and this is the first time I've ever had to deal with fleas. Needless to say, two of my pups have a severe flea allergy and are basically bald from mid-back down to their tail, and they scratch incessantly. Luckily, Frankie and the cat haven't gone bald. Yet.

I have tried just about everything, with the exception of chemical flea control. Apple cider vinegar baths (and spraying the carpets, bedding and upholstery), cedar oil, Dawn soap...I can't kick the fleas. I just sprinked DE on my carpets today so I'm hoping that helps to break the cycle...but what do I do to PREVENT the fleas in the first place? Our yard has very short grass and full sun all day, so I don't know that it's infested with fleas. I just know that every time I think I've got them beat, Frank or Pickles shows up with 5-6 fleas on them. I feel completely defeated and helpless at this point.

Can someone please tell me how to get ahead of the game? The DE is on the carpets against baseboards and under beds/couches/toys, and I'm going to let it sit til tomorrow before I vacuum. In the meantime, what do I do about my babies? They're miserable

Thanks in advance!!!

Meredith Foley : Here is a good starter link to some More information on DE, unfortunately you need to plan on days and days of use of DE to break the Cycle.

I actually think that Bed bugs are easier to get rid of than Fleas ! See Link below :

http://richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

- As an aside, you may be in a part of the south where the local mosquitos are the vector for heart worms, This is much scarier too me than fleas !

Good Luck , Big AL

One woman told me she used 2 teaspoons daily of brewer's yeast for her 15-20 pound beagle, and that protected him from fleas and mosquitos.

Hi Meredith and welcome!

Maybe you can research feeding your dogs a raw meat diet. I don't have hard facts on this (though there might be some out there), but my own limited experience: we switched to raw meat (including raw organs and raw bones) for our own older dog, and though it didn't stop the fleas, her fur grew back and she scratched less. Incidently, she also had a few more improvements in her health, particularly her arthritis.

I'll admit, it's not cheap, especially if you have large dogs, but we thought it was worth it when we saw the benefits for her. Our dog died a couple years ago, aged 14, and it took us another six months after her death before our house was flea-free. It was awful. Though it's mainly because of the pain of losing her, I'll admit that the flea infestation is part of the reason I don't want another dog