🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 28 Jul 1996, Matt wrote:

> Some friends of mine and I are interested to hear from anybody who has 
> successfully managed to rid their house and cats of fleas, without using 
> industrial chemical pesticides. 
> 
> We are looking for some sort of herbal solution that could be prepared at 
> home. One clue so far is that Geraniums (I think...) naturally contain 
> pyrethrins, ie. chemicals toxic to insect nervous systems.
> 
> Surely mama nature's got the answer?
	
	Eucalyptus extract!  I saw it once a number of years ago at a pet
store.  I haven't seen it since... but you might want to try your local
Health food stores (especialy the larger onces with cruelty free
make-ups). 

Nyla Melcher		-	nmelcher@slonet.org
___________________________________________________________________________
|   Color customized Trading Cards and Post Cards. Great Announcements!   |
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For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar Store. 
Apply to all floor surfaces, broom into carpet and or cracks in wooden 
floors. Also apply to all cloth furniture work in with broom. Do NOT 
Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1 yr appx. 
Bathe your cat in Dr. Bonners Peppermint Soap to kill fleas on your cat. 
I have a kennel of 13 long haired dogs and 1 cat and have been using this 
method for 6 yrs and have been flea free.

Teri at firesidedogs@earthlink.net

Cedar chips,  Garlic,  Borax baths,  brewers yeast.  Keep the dirt wet.  
Give the dog a bath once a week.  If all else fails, shoot the dog.  d8->

In article <838597950.1516.0@spherica.demon.co.uk>,
mrr@spherica.demon.co.uk (Matt) wrote:

*^*Some friends of mine and I are interested to hear from anybody who has 
*^*successfully managed to rid their house and cats of fleas, without using 
*^*industrial chemical pesticides. 
*^*
*^*We are looking for some sort of herbal solution that could be prepared at 
*^*home. One clue so far is that Geraniums (I think...) naturally contain 
*^*pyrethrins, ie. chemicals toxic to insect nervous systems.
*^*
*^*Surely mama nature's got the answer?

I have all hardwood and tile floors - that helps. I can't advise you on
the indoor part of things, but here is what I did on the lawn. I saw DE
earth for sale in an environmental gardening catalog. The catalog stated
that if you spread this on your lawn the DE will scrape the shells of
fleas and they will dehydrate to death. We use DE earth (which is
teeny-tiny exo-skeletons from teeny-tiney pre-historic creatures[so they
say]) in our pool filter. You can pick up a bag at any pool store. So, we
put some on our lawn with a garden spreader- so far no fleas. Everything's
been late this year (garden-flower-insect wise) so maybe they just haven't
shown up yet. Flea season here (South Jersey) is usually July-Oct. Rhonda

-- 
Rhonda /\_/\
            ( ' ^  ' )//////////"""""
                ^     \\\\\\\\\
                   _/ _/     _\ _\
                       """"""""" 

I have some Boric Acid here...Is it safe for the cats to walk around on 
it and clean themselves etc. for the 3 days?  We are having a terrible 
time with fleas right now.
Please email me?  My news server has been really bad the lst week.  
Thanks :)

jenifer  d14wab@taurus.sfsu.edu

Teri Johnston (firesidedogs@earthlink.net) wrote: (snipped)
: For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar Store. 
: Do NOT  Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1 yr 

> NO No NO.  Not Boric Acid - Borax which is okay.  Boric Acid is *not*
> safe for cats.  Borax has never hurt any of my kitties.

Borox is a detergent and mild antiseptic. It is used to produce boric acid. 
I don't know the toxicity. 

> In <4tke60$1gh@news.csus.edu> d14wab@sfsu.edu (Dennis Schwab) writes: 
> >
> >I have some Boric Acid here...Is it safe for the cats to walk around
> on 
> >it and clean themselves etc. for the 3 days?  We are having a terrible
> 
> >time with fleas right now.
> >Please email me?  My news server has been really bad the lst week.  
> >Thanks :)
> >
> >jenifer  d14wab@taurus.sfsu.edu
> >
> >Teri Johnston (firesidedogs@earthlink.net) wrote: (snipped)
> >: For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar
> Store. 
> >: Do NOT  Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1
> yr 
> 
> 
> 

NO No NO.  Not Boric Acid - Borax which is okay.  Boric Acid is *not*
safe for cats.  Borax has never hurt any of my kitties.

Diana

In <4tke60$1gh@news.csus.edu> d14wab@sfsu.edu (Dennis Schwab) writes: 
>
>I have some Boric Acid here...Is it safe for the cats to walk around
on 
>it and clean themselves etc. for the 3 days?  We are having a terrible

>time with fleas right now.
>Please email me?  My news server has been really bad the lst week.  
>Thanks :)
>
>jenifer  d14wab@taurus.sfsu.edu
>
>Teri Johnston (firesidedogs@earthlink.net) wrote: (snipped)
>: For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar
Store. 
>: Do NOT  Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1
yr 

In article <4tiqtv$keh@argentina.it.earthlink.net>, Teri Johnston
<firesidedogs@earthlink.net> writes:
:For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar Store. 
:Apply to all floor surfaces, broom into carpet and or cracks in wooden 
:floors. Also apply to all cloth furniture work in with broom. Do NOT 
:Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1 yr appx. 

Well, one old, old joke on the subject is as follows...

Old [insert minority here] way of killing fleas...

Take 1 bottle of really poor whisky and rub this into the dog's coat.

Wait five minutes.

Rub two handfuls of sand into dog's coat.

What happens is that the whisky gets the fleas drunk, and since it is such
poor stuff, they get a bit angry. Once they get the sand, it gives them 
something to throw at each other; the ensuing fight kills most of the fleas
and the hangover gets the rest...

As I say, a joke. (And not a very good one, but I couldn't resist it!)

Dan H.

> I have some Boric Acid here...Is it safe for the cats to walk around on 
> it and clean themselves etc. for the 3 days?  We are having a terrible 
> time with fleas right now.
> Please email me?  My news server has been really bad the lst week.  
> Thanks :)
> 
> Teri Johnston (firesidedogs@earthlink.net) wrote: (snipped)
> : For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar Store. 
> : Do NOT  Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1 yr 

I'll tell you what I think. I've used the boric acid powder. The 
instructions I have say to sprinkle over the carpet, brush it into the 
carpet then vacum to remove the powder from the surface. I wouldn't want 
to leave the stuff on the surface for 3 days! I wouldn't want my cats to 
be ingesting the stuff either. The method I used worked great. One 
difference is that I used a comercially prepared version made for flea 
control. I don't know the concentration of boric acid ve. inactive 
ingredients. I believe the boric acid kills the larvae not the adult 
fleas so leaving it on top wouldn't help. It also takes a couple weeks 
for it to show some results.

It just means that the fleas won't become adults in your house. You still 
have to de-flea the cats

Matt wrote:
> 
> Some friends of mine and I are interested to hear from anybody who has
> successfully managed to rid their house and cats of fleas, without using
> industrial chemical pesticides.
> 
> We are looking for some sort of herbal solution that could be prepared at
> home. One clue so far is that Geraniums (I think...) naturally contain
> pyrethrins, ie. chemicals toxic to insect nervous systems.
> 
> Surely mama nature's got the answer?

Boric acid, or pennyroyal. I'm not sure about boric acid, but keep
kids/pets away
from the pennyroyal plants.

-M

In article <4tj1di$r5h@ccnet2.ccnet.com>, T E I X E I R A <teixeira@ccnet.com>
writes:
:Cedar chips,  Garlic,  Borax baths,  brewers yeast.  Keep the dirt wet.  
:Give the dog a bath once a week.  If all else fails, shoot the dog.  d8->

Feed the dog a Juvenile Hormone mimic in it's food. Juvenile hormone really
fouls up the life cycles of insects; flea larvae feed on the droppings of the 
adults.

So, feed the dog juvenile hormone, and spray the stuff all over the house. Once
you've done that, no insect will be able to grow from a larval form to adult
breeding status in that house, including cockroaches.

Apart from that, you could try rotenone based flea killers, like derris dust. 
this isn't all that toxic to dogs, and decays away rapidly. (For that reason
it is the pesticide of choice when I have to destroy a wasp nest; you can be 
very generous with the stuff and know it will not pollute the environment.)

Finally, if all else fails, use standard non-organohalogen flea killers.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       *  *		It's:   	"SPLAT - MY CAT!"
     -//-//-_ 		
   +>\        --__	Slower than a speeding Landrover 110.   Much slower.
   +>/       _------__  Mortally slower, one might say.    Rest in Pieces.
     -\\-\\--		drh92@aber.ac.uk  (Dan Holdsworth)
       *  *		Old Chinese Curse: May you live in Interesting Times
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm writing this to Greg and the newsgroups as RE.  I just brought home a 
kitten from the Humane Society on Sunday.  His name is Checkers and he's 
of the mix of the usual tiger-type cat that's black, gray, and brown 
(except mine is much cuter, of course).  I took him to the vet for his 
checkup the very next day since I had the day off as vacation and the vet 
had an opening.  The vet found flea dirt and I left later with a special 
shampoo.  The vet had shown my daughter and me a vial of fleas so we'd 
know what to watch for but he thought we'd catch it right away.  He told 
me to wash Checkers and my other cat, and older, all-white male (named 
Fluffy--and no, we didn't name him but were told Fluffy was a female).  
Before going home, my daughter and I also went to the store to buy that 
metal comb that would find fleas when combing the cat if there were any. 
 After Checkers and Fluff got their baths, we saw a flea on Fluff's all 
white fur.  It was right above the eyes, almost on his nose.  Of course, 
the shampoo said to avoid the cat's eyes so I figured this was a lucky 
little flea that lived through the bath.  Fluff is an indoor cat and has 
never had fleas so I'm sure that Checkers brought it in.  However, now in 
this message I'm learning about Borax.  I've never had to deal with fleas 
 (and today I went out and bought flea spray for the cats and flea powder 
to sprinkle on the carpets of the house).  I've just got to this 
newsgroup but this is a problem that I have now so please, if you have 
anything to tell me, please e-mail me at jplus@execpc.com    1) The cats 
have had baths with the vet flea shampoo (but one flea lived through it 
anyway), 2) I sprayed just the back of each cat (so they couldn't lick 
the chemical) and 3) I bought flea powder for the rugs.  Please share 
your knowledge with me.  One more question: how long do I have to wait 
this thing through before I know we've beat the problem and no eggs will 
hatch to bring the problem about again?  Is Borax really good or is the 
flea powder the same and do I not vacumn that for 3 days?  Another note, 
my cat Fluffy sometimes hides out (when he wants to be alone) under our 
king size bed.  I think I vacumned pretty good but not sure.  I know that 
putting flea powder there by me though, is out of the question.  Help?  
Joyce

Greg Mast wrote:
> 
> > NO No NO.  Not Boric Acid - Borax which is okay.  Boric Acid is *not*
> > safe for cats.  Borax has never hurt any of my kitties.
> 
> Borox is a detergent and mild antiseptic. It is used to produce boric acid.
> I don't know the toxicity.
> 
> > In <4tke60$1gh@news.csus.edu> d14wab@sfsu.edu (Dennis Schwab) writes:
> > >
> > >I have some Boric Acid here...Is it safe for the cats to walk around
> > on
> > >it and clean themselves etc. for the 3 days?  We are having a terrible
> >
> > >time with fleas right now.
> > >Please email me?  My news server has been really bad the lst week.
> > >Thanks :)
> > >
> > >jenifer  d14wab@taurus.sfsu.edu
> > >
> > >Teri Johnston (firesidedogs@earthlink.net) wrote: (snipped)
> > >: For getting rid of fleas get Boric Acid from your local Dollar
> > Store.
> > >: Do NOT  Vacum for 3 days. This will keep your house flea free for 1
> > yr
> >
> >
> >

drh92@aber.ac.uk (DANIEL ROBERT HOLDSWORTH) wrote:


>In article <4tj1di$r5h@ccnet2.ccnet.com>, T E I X E I R A <teixeira@ccnet.com>
>writes:
>:Cedar chips,  Garlic,  Borax baths,  brewers yeast.  Keep the dirt wet.  
>:Give the dog a bath once a week.  If all else fails, shoot the dog.  d8->

>Feed the dog a Juvenile Hormone mimic in it's food. Juvenile hormone really
>fouls up the life cycles of insects; flea larvae feed on the droppings of the 
>adults.

Where do you find this hormone product and what is it's brand name?
Thxs

Cap'n Buckwheat
>So, feed the dog juvenile hormone, and spray the stuff all over the house. Once
>you've done that, no insect will be able to grow from a larval form to adult
>breeding status in that house, including cockroaches.

>Apart from that, you could try rotenone based flea killers, like derris dust. 
>this isn't all that toxic to dogs, and decays away rapidly. (For that reason
>it is the pesticide of choice when I have to destroy a wasp nest; you can be 
>very generous with the stuff and know it will not pollute the environment.)

>Finally, if all else fails, use standard non-organohalogen flea killers.


>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>       *  *		It's:   	"SPLAT - MY CAT!"
>     -//-//-_ 		
>   +>\        --__	Slower than a speeding Landrover 110.   Much slower.
>   +>/       _------__  Mortally slower, one might say.    Rest in Pieces.
>     -\\-\\--		drh92@aber.ac.uk  (Dan Holdsworth)
>       *  *		Old Chinese Curse: May you live in Interesting Times
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know where to get juvenile hormone, nor do I know of any brand
names. The topic was discussed on the ENTOMO-L listserv a few years ago;
as juvenile hormone seems to be such a marvelous way of controlling insects
I would think that information will still be available on the topic.

I leave the trivial matter of finding ENTOMO-L to you.

Juvenile hormone (JH) is probably not the best flea killer going. It only 
disrupts insect life cycles, so it can only prevent breeding; it doesn't 
kill fleas. JH is one of the ways people are using to control cockroaches; 
JH mimics can be made that have a very long half-life in the environment, such 
that the material could be encorporated into the fabric of a building, 
thus preventing cockroaches ever managing to breed there.

As I say, I'm not an expert. My field is Agricultural Nematology, specifically
Nematode pheromones.

Dan H.

The most important aspect in any sort of herbal systemic flea controll 
system is to not wash the animal often if at all!

Jim:)

> 
> Boric acid, or pennyroyal. I'm not sure about boric acid, but keep
> kids/pets away
> from the pennyroyal plants.
> 
> -M
> 
Isn't that backwards?  I know that you should keep pets and kids away 
from boric acid, but Pennyroyal plants?  How is this harmful?

We make up a solution of pennyroyal essential oil heavily diluted with 
water and spray around the patio or camp site to keep down insects.  It's 
fairly effective, but have never heard of it being harmful.

Peace, and Hope,

Donna Frances
> 

Lavender and mint leaves in the dog bed, lavender in ranse water of bath 
helps. Terebinth (essential oil)  good luck, Jan
In article <4tj1di$r5h@ccnet2.ccnet.com>, teixeira@ccnet.com says...
>
>Cedar chips,  Garlic,  Borax baths,  brewers yeast.  Keep the dirt wet.  
>Give the dog a bath once a week.  If all else fails, shoot the dog.  d8->
>
>

Are you sure about keeping cats away from pennyroyal?  Some of my cats
take naps in the pennyroyal plants I have been letting them to help keep
the fleas away. I-d hate to think I've hurt them in any way.

> Donna Whitty <donnaf@oscar.teclink.net> wrote in article
<Pine.SOL.3.91.960808131415.29429A-100000@oscar.teclink.net>...
> > 
> > Boric acid, or pennyroyal. I'm not sure about boric acid, but keep
> > kids/pets away
> > from the pennyroyal plants.
> > 
> > -M
> > 
> Isn't that backwards?  I know that you should keep pets and kids away 
> from boric acid, but Pennyroyal plants?  How is this harmful?
> 
> We make up a solution of pennyroyal essential oil heavily diluted with 
> water and spray around the patio or camp site to keep down insects. 
It's 
> fairly effective, but have never heard of it being harmful.
> 
> Peace, and Hope,
> 
> Donna Frances
> > 
> 
>