I have a question about flea prevention and treatment of animals that have fleas.
I was wondering what you use for your clients.
Thanks
Steve
Question Details
Fleas
by
steros
-
August 24, 2009
I have a question about flea prevention and treatment of animals that have fleas.
I was wondering what you use for your clients.
Thanks
Steve
Replies
by
naturevet
August 24, 2009
Hi Steve,
We use the naturally arid environment of the province of Alberta to control our fleas. Hopefully others will weigh in on products they find work but are 'holistic'.
When in Oregon I did use the borate powders for good environmental control and was happy. For desparate cases, I would use the occasional dose of Advantage to institute control. Otherwise, my main thrust was to treat the patient. By de-inflamming the skin, it seemed to me I was removing easy access to a blood meal for the fleas, and limiting the amount of food from which to lay eggs and support a population. The formulas that do that are often anti-inflammatory, like Si Miao San. So back in the day, in Oregon, it was a combination of these three methods I relied upon.
I really hope others weigh in here, though, and let you know what is definitely working for them.
All the best,
Steve
We use the naturally arid environment of the province of Alberta to control our fleas. Hopefully others will weigh in on products they find work but are 'holistic'.
When in Oregon I did use the borate powders for good environmental control and was happy. For desparate cases, I would use the occasional dose of Advantage to institute control. Otherwise, my main thrust was to treat the patient. By de-inflamming the skin, it seemed to me I was removing easy access to a blood meal for the fleas, and limiting the amount of food from which to lay eggs and support a population. The formulas that do that are often anti-inflammatory, like Si Miao San. So back in the day, in Oregon, it was a combination of these three methods I relied upon.
I really hope others weigh in here, though, and let you know what is definitely working for them.
All the best,
Steve
by
August 24, 2009
I find that if an animal is balanced and on a whole-food based diet, I do not see the flea infestation that I have historically seen dogs fed dry food with greasy skin and ears. In California, fleas can be a significant problem, so I do use Advantage or Frontline only if I see fleas. Many of my clients are trained to use these products, so I try to minimize their use to "as indicated". I try to educate clients to the fact that the flea infestation is an outward manifestation of an internal imbalance. I have not found an essential oil product that is reliable, although tea tree oil diluted 1:100 with water used as a spray is sometimes helpful and smells good. Most of my patients are either on TCVM-herbs, nutritional therapy and don't have fleas- or are more "conventional" and use topical products.
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