What Do I Care About Fleas and Ticks?

It is almost summer and that is a reason to care about fleas and ticks. If you are a pet owner, then you also care about the comfort and health of your pet. Fleas and ticks can enter your home in various ways even if you do not own a pet. This article is more for the pet owner since it discusses natural flea remedies, flea control and natural pet products.

Why should you care about fleas and ticks? The most important reason could be that fleas and ticks are disease transmitters with ticks being a close second to mosquitoes in transmitting human diseases. A second reason for pet owners is fleas can make the life of your pet and yours as well very uncomfortable. Many pets and people are allergic to flea-bites and people can get Lyme disease from Ticks.

What can you do about fleas and ticks? Most sources on the web recommend multiple methods of getting rid of or staying free of fleas because no one method works all the time. You have to assess your situation and decide on the set of approaches that works the best for you. For example, you will need one set of resources for outdoor pets and another for indoor pets. You may even have a combination of pets that are in or out and remember, fleas can come into the house on you! You will want to check with your local veterinarian to see what they say.

Another reason it may take a while to get rid of fleas and ticks is you have to break their lifecycle. That is since fleas and ticks grow from eggs to larvae and adult (different for fleas and ticks) you have to kill them at the various stages.

Because this is not really a simple issue, you should find out about natural flea remedies and some of the various ways to get rid of or keep fleas and ticks. This is a list of five natural methods:

• Buy cedar shampoos, cedar oil, and cedar-filled sleeping mats as cedar repells many insects.
• Prevent dry skin on your pet with Linatone (or any vegetable oil) with its food and avoiding excessive shampooing.
• Garlic and Brewer's yeast (available at health-food stores) is a natural anti-flea remedy. Check with your vet as the amount to give them can vary with the size and weight of your pet.
• 60 ml of lavendar oil mixed with 2.8 liters of rock salt can be placed under furniture and rugs.
• You can plant marigolds outside in your garden. This has the additional benefit of repelling a variety of other bugs.

One way is to get a natural flea repellent that comes in a size and quantity you need based on the infestation of your pet. That is your pet may have a mild, moderate, or sever infestation. Don't buy a stronger solution than you really need.

For example, the some sources recommend:

• MILD - 1-2 fleas seen in last few days, cat or dog just starting to scratch
• MODERATE - a few fleas seen on cat or dog in past 1-2 weeks, cat itching a week or less, no fleas seen off the cat
• SEVERE - many visible fleas, cat or dog itching for weeks, fleas seen on floors / furniture, fleas are biting humans

You can find natural flea remedies in many places but look for chemicals that could be poison to your pets. A report issued in November 2000 report, Poisons on Pets, issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council said to look out for "Organophosphates, as well as carbamates, are the insecticides most likely to cause adverse reactions in pets."

One of the ingredients that should be in natural flea remedies are brewer's yeast and garlic (see list above). These are the same ingredients found in articles on natural flea control. You could follow instructions to make your own, but you may not want the hassle of the process.

The good news is as the fleas are killed, your pet will get better and better with their general health. With the spot on treatments (not recommended), the fleas may die but your pet may develop skin problems. This will not happen with the treatments recommended above. It is possible that your pet's skin will heal while using the natural flea remedies. In short, don't wait until your pet has problems. You don't want fleas in your home either so get a treatment plan that will help your pet, keep them comfortable, and help your home as well.

Take time to learn about these natural pet products along with other ideas to help your pet live a better life and for you to still be green.

Keep It Green Ideas is an online business dedicated to helping people make easy, simple, choices for a sustainable life.

Follow Keep It Green Ideas on Facebook or for more information on getting rid of fleas and ticks go to Natural Pet Care.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6323661

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