If your pets are like my pets, they want to spend more time outside during the summer. Moose likes to spend the days in the yard, alternately sprawled out in the sunshine and curled up in a shallow hole underneath the bushes. I do keep Moose and Lally on a monthly flea and tick preventative, but sometimes they need a little extra help.
There are lots of herbs that are naturally good at repelling fleas from pets and people. If you’re planning a camping trip or a nature walk… or just don’t want to subject your pets to the harsh insecticides of some flea repellants, you can keep the bugs away naturally.
These herbs are great for sending fleas packing: bay laurel, camphor, chamomile, citronella, clove, eucalyptus, lavender, lemon, lemongrass, and pennyroyal. In essential oil form, you can quickly and easily give your pet’s collar flea-fighting power.
Take a cloth or nylon weave collar (or an absorbent, thick string if your dog has a metal collar). Drop a total of eight drops of essential oil along the string or collar — try four of eucalyptus and four of lemon, for example, or four of lavender and four of citronella. Slip the collar into a large Zip-loc bag and let it sit for about a half hour. Place the collar on your pet — the flea-fighting scent will last for about a week before you need to refresh the essential oils.
A collar is the best place for a flea repellant of any sort, because the little biting bugs like to gather in the warm, thick fur of a dog or cat’s neck. And it’s next to impossible for your pet to bite the fleas away!
If your pet already has fleas, don’t despair. A shampoo containing orange essential oil kills fleas and other buggies. And something as simple as lavender can help clear the fleas out of your house — mix a cup of table salt with twenty drops of lavender essential oil. The salt will soak up the essential oil. Sprinkle the mix around the places where fleas may be hiding — under the furniture or in forgotten corners. Just make sure your pets don’t have too much access to the mix; they don’t need the extra salt in their diets.
Here’s a recipe for an all-natural bug repellant spray for people and pets!