Prevent Flea Infestations in the Home
Our last post talked about how to make a flea repellant spray with lemon and various essential oils.
Today, we are looking at a few other natural items with which you can make natural flea repellents, not to mention different ways you can make fleabite remedies using natural ingredients.
Keeping your home free of fleas…
Because this is the easiest way to prevent fleabites.
While there are a number of preventative measures you can take that use natural ingredients, you also have other options that are probably already part of your naturally occurring household routine.
Bathing: you probably already bathe your pets regularly (not frequently). While flea eggs and some varieties of fleas can survive the washing process, they might not survive the process, or at the very least will be repelled – if you wash using certain natural ingredients.
Vacuum by mfcstotler
For example, mixing some lavender and lemon oils into the rinse water can help repel new fleas after bathing your dog.
Vacuuming: Another thing you likely do regularly is vacuum using a carpet powder or spray.
Fleas cannot survive the suction power of a good vacuum, so the more you vacuum, the fewer fleas you will have in the home.
Then, after vacuuming, sprinkle a light dusting of diatomaceous earth or spritz with a solution of water and 50 drops of citronella essential oil to keep fleas from wanting to live in your carpet or in your furniture.
Prevent Fleas from Biting You or Your Pets
Some essential oils you can use to prevent fleas from biting your pets or you include:
- Lemongrass
- Peppermint
- Pennyroyal
- Rosemary
Mixing a few drops of one of the above essential oils into a few teaspoons of olive or canola oil and then rubbing the oil on your pets in strategic places can prevent fleas from wanting to live on your pets, and even prevents them from biting them.
Essential oils by How to be Sustainable
The strategic places to rub the oil include on the back of the neck, and the base of the tail just as you would a chemical flea treatment. However, be careful not to use too much of the essential oil on their skin because many of the oils can irritate your pets if they ingest it while trying to lick it off.
As an effective flea bite preventative measure, add lavender essential oil to your soap or body wash while you shower. The lavender scent will refresh your senses and prevent fleas from biting you as if you had the plague.
You could choose to use the other listed essential oils as well, varying the amount you use based on whether you like a strong or a light scent.
Whichever method you choose, always ensure the safety of your pets health. Never, ever use anything on your pets or yourself that you or your pets might be particularly sensitive to, no matter how well it works to prevent fleas and fleabites.
Having to scratch at bites is nothing compared to being hospitalized for a seizure as a result of an attempted repellant because you or your pet might have been irritated or allergic to it.