Feline Flea Control - Quick, Safer, Inexpensive Alternatives

First of all, if you are keeping your cat or cats indoors, fleas shouldn't really be a problem for you - unless you have moved to a new place that has fleas, your cat sits outside on a screened-in, ground floor patio, or your cat shares a home with a dog or dogs. I am a dog lover; however, after what I have recently encountered here with my Precious Girl, Gemini (cat who is 17 years old!), I deeply regret my decision to ever have had a dog while I have her. The war on fleas is a constant battle since the dog is in and out and will either A) Get fleas; or B) Bring fleas in.

With veterinarians, vet techs, and pet stores pushing flea control, it is difficult not to fall under the spell of it being a "must have" or feeling like a bad pet parent if you do not use flea control; however, if you have a cat or cats - especially older ones or you wish to have cats (or even dogs, for that matter) who live well into their later years - you need to consider what it is you are actually doing when you apply a chemical in and around your pet's environment, notwithstanding applying flea control chemicals directly to your pet. First of all, since topical monthly flea control is applied to the animal's bare skin, you need to realize that the chemical is entering your beloved's bloodstream. Your pet's body doesn't know it for anything other than what it is: A toxin or poison. The fact that this toxin or poison kills and prevents fleas doesn't make it healthier or any less harmful to your pet's kidneys, etc., not to mention that exposure to flea control chemicals puts your pet at risk for squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth, face, you name it. Wherever your pet regularly comes into contact with the toxins is fair game.

If I had not had an incessant need to have a dog, even though I already had the best cat - best pet - ever, My Girl would have never had any fleas, and therefore, she would not have ever needed flea control or tapeworm treatment. At her age (17 years), anything additional of a chemical or medicinal nature is risky so I have not appreciated this predicament. I am sharing it with you so that you can consider the cost (not just financial) of keeping dogs with cats.

I did speak with my trusted vet who on repeated occasions told me not to worry about tapeworms, that they are harmless. True enough; however, here is the other thing to know and consider - - while a tapeworm will not directly hurt your pet, it does take much-needed nutrition away from your pet so if your pet gets tapeworms (which will mean you have fleas), do treat the tapeworm. Don't leave it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that your flea problem is completely gone for at least 30 days prior to treating the tapeworms to minimize the risks of additional medication to kill the tapeworms. You do not want to have to give your pet "poison" medicine more than you need to to kill tapeworms - - because you treated the tapeworm too soon. If the flea problem is not gone, your pet will get another tapeworm. So, treat the fleas. Then the tapeworm.

I have done quite a bit of research looking for safer and more effective flea control methods. What I found will surprise you: Salt. 20 Mule Team Borax. DO NOT PUT EITHER OF THESE ON YOUR PETS EVER! They are for use on the carpeting only.

Both of those are safe for dogs; however, I did run across some things that indicated that Borax is toxic to cats.

But that does not matter because here is what you do. Pick up all of your pets' food and water and dump and place dishes/bowls in sink. Do not take any chances. You lock your pets up in one room while you treat the other room or rooms. First, sprinkle your carpets with salt and/or 20 Mule Team Borax. You can use one or the other or both. Use it like you would carpet freshener for your vacuum. Don't walk through it, though, as you do not want to distribute the mix throughout the rest of your home. Let the salt and / or 20 Mule Team Borax sit for at least 30 minutes and then vacuum. Thoroughly! Vacuum every area more than once and in various directions to make certain that you have vacuumed all of it up.

As soon as you have finished doing all of the rooms - move furniture and pet beds to get under them - take the vacuum bag outside to the trash can immediately to avoid fleas escaping back into your home. I have a bagless vacuum cleaner, and I examined the receptable after doing each room so that I could get a better understanding of where the largest infestation is. This is important to know because that is the area that you want to be the most aggressive with. In any event, do not let what you vacuumed up sit inside your house for any length of time. Get it outside, and get those fleas out of your home!

Do this in each and every room weekly, and for at least the first week, vacuum every single day to disrupt fleas. After just 24 hours, we have seen a huge decrease in flea activity here, and the cat has stopped scratching.

At a minimum, you will need to do the heavy room treatments at least once per week for a month due to the flea reproductive / life cycle. But get in the habit of vacuuming daily to keep the fleas out - - at least during flea season!