my son has a small little dog he is just the cutest but he has a terrible problem with fleas I think its because he is so low to the ground the liquid from the vet gives him some relief. does anyone know of a plant or anything I can put around the house that repels fleas or float in the puppys bath that will give him some help I can hardly stand to see him scratch any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. p.s. the dog is a long haired chauhauha named kenny.

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), September 08, 2000

Answers

Garlic! My cats and dog get it daily in their food, they love it and it tastes aweful to the fleas. We found two fleas on our animals when we first got the puppy, gave them a flea bath, continued with the garlic and there are no more fleas.

-- Epona (staceyb@myway.com), September 08, 2000.

I try to get my dogs to take the garlic and brewers yeast. Sometimes they'll eat them right out of my hand, other times I gotta disguise 'em. But we haven't had flea or tick problems this year, knock on wood!

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), September 08, 2000.

I work in a pet store. A customer once commented that her sister's dog who was a litter mate to hers, would get numberous ticks while her dog, who roamed in the same areas, wouldn't get any. I simply asked, "Do you give your dog brewer's yeast with garlic?" Stunned, she replyed, "Yes." It does work. For fleas, too. I guess you could give people brewers yeast and garlic but the pet stores sell it already in a combo.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), September 08, 2000.

Once you have gotten rid of the the fleas on the dog attack its bedding and any place it likes to nap with FLEA FIX. It is a hormone (not a poison) for fleas that stops the reproductive cycle. You can spray it on carpets, bedding, furniture, etc. When I'm done I pour the extra liquid on the spot outside where our dog likes to lay in the shade all day. (Be sure to keep the dog away from that spot till it dries) Haven't had a flea in the house since we started using it. The directions say to mix up a gallon but I only spray our back porch so that was way too much and very wasteful so I quessamated a smaller batch and it worked fine. FLEA FIX along with Frontline has solved our flea problem.

It is sold by Gardens Alive www.gardens-alive.com

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), September 08, 2000.

Since the fleas are only on Kenny to feed but live in carpeting, his bed, etc., treat those areas as well. You can use food grade DE, bags of cedar chips in inconspicuous places and in his bed or treat with borax from the laundry products shelf at your grocer. The borax lasts 3-6 months depending on how humid your area is. Remove furniture and vacuum carpeting well. Sprinkle on borax and work into the nap of the carpets. Allow to set an hour or so then vacuum up the excess. It is toxic in quantity so remove fish and birds and keep Son and pup out until you finish the process. The borax kills the eggs and you should see results in 6 weeks, time for current populations of fleas to hatch and die. We bought a pricey product from our vet because of its safety as opposed to persistent chemicals for just this purpose but later read the contents label closely. It was borax and so much cheaper at the grocery! Good luck. Kenny sounds like a lucky pup!

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), September 08, 2000.

I just noticed that the word "quessamated" is suppose to be "guesstamated".

You know your a red-neck when.....

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), September 08, 2000.

We feed each of our dogs, ranging in size from 11 to 40 pounds, a heaping teaspoon of brewer's yeast on their kibble each day. No fleas in over a year. Plus the oldest dog can't go more than two weeks without it or he starts screaming from arthritis, which is why we started giving it to the dogs in the first place. The fleas being gone was sort of accidental. The best deal on brewer's yeast that I've found is in Jeffers Equine catalog. 15 pounds for $21.95 plus shipping (shipping for Washington State was about $11. That's still just over $2 per pound. At that price, you can afford to be generous with the stuff. Our dogs really like it, and lick their bowls clean. I've seen the pet store stuff, but it was so expensive!

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), September 09, 2000.

This doesn't help with the animals but, pour vinegar in a cake pan or something similar, set where fleas are. They'll jump in and die.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 09, 2000.

garlic and brewers yeast works on fleas and ticks on our two little dogs (a rat terrier and a mixed ) we have been giving them tablets from walmart that has garlic and brewers yeast with biotin and zinc.the directions say one tablet for each ten pounds of body weight but i feed them each three a day after their dinner along with a doggy vitamin tablet (they weigh 13 to 15 pounds each)they really love them and will beg for hours if i forget their "desert" the pills are only $3 a bottle of 250 so it is pretty cheap. Our olderdog is very alergic to flea collars and dips .she will be 14 yrs this december and still plays like she is 2 so i think it helps.

-- carla s (hillsidefarm@texoma.net), September 10, 2000.

I second the motion for Fleafix. Been using it to spray my house every year for 3+ and let me tell you the results are fabulous. Let it go a bit long this year before we bought (the mild winter brought them out early), but within 1-2 weeks after spraying, no fleas worth speaking about - the cats do still bring a handful in from the yard, but they quickly die off and their offspring never mature in the house. The directions say that you can spray the yard as well, but the 35 acres we rent on is just not feasibly sprayable, and the cats wander at will, so we don't bother.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 10, 2000.