At home Flea treatment - Homemade Lemon Flea Treatment -Trial-

Hey everyone.

I decided to go ahead and try some safe and natural flea repellent for my cats... I am not ready to give in to the drops from the vets as 1 cat is "to large" and they all need equal treatment in my eyes...

Im going to make this a "Diary Style" and I am open to advice etc. I want to make it clear that I will be doing any research before I start any kind of

treatment and if anything bad happens my cats will be seeing the vets then.

Flea Treatment day 1.

05.09.2013

Went out and purchased 4 flea collars and put them on each cat. I cut off the extra of the collars and placed them in my couches. I am aware these are not natural.

Brand:

Type: Cat AND kItten

Picture


Flea Treatment day 2.
06.09.2013

Found no dead fleas on any of the cats the flea collars say they take 4 days to start working properly.

Started the Lemon Flea treatment.

Directions: Take a pot of water and boil it until the water boils rapid

                   Cut up 1 lemon leaving on the outside and place in the bowl.

                   Poor 2 cups of water for 1 lemon and leave to sit over night in a bowl the next day its ready for use.

                   The next day you want to have it in a spray bottle or you can use a sponge. You want to work it into the fur down to the roots

                   keeping away from their eyes, ears and mouths.

                   Start with a little and build up with their tolerance.

                   This can be done as often as once and day and used on places that they hang out like under the bed... It can stain.

Pictures

Bowl Open.jpg

• paws4life
• Sep 6, 2013

In the Boiling water soaking 1 full lemon for 2 cups of water

      

Sealed Lemons.jpg

• paws4life
• Sep 6, 2013

I sealed mine because I don't want my curious kitten to spill this

Next I decided to go at the cats with the flea comb, I take a dish that's meant just for the water and sunlight soap that I use to make sure any live fleas I find drown. I went through and did 1 cat so far. It takes a lot of time a patients as I have 3 long haired cats and 1 short hair. I started with Artemis an will go to Smokey. Amaya and then Nala making sure to get the tail and the base, around the neck and tummy the most. I will post my flea water before and then mid way.

Pictures


Before, Just after setting up.


Mid job. I use the paper towel to clean off the water when I clean the comb from flea dirt

Then I went ahead and made a few home made flea trap. For this I used a mixture of two of the sunlight's I had here. I found better luck with the

cucumber melon vs the lemon. To make these I use plastic plates that I wont be needing again as it needs to be thin so they can get into the dish the dish soap keeps them from getting back out and they die. I place my plates in a dark area under a nightlight as they will go to a light and heat source. Under the tv also works.

Pictures


This is as far as I have gotten I will be doing the flea treatment with the lemons tomorrow (07.09.2013)

I hope this is useful for some people.

Until tomorrow enjoy

Please be VERY careful using those flea collars. Seargents, Hartz, etc are not regulated like medications you can get via a licensed vet. I have seen first hand cats who have suffered neurotoxicity due to these products (though it is more common in kittens and small cats.) Nevertheless, I would remove the collars from the cats.

I will keep a very close eye for any changes the cats.. It said to remove with rash etc. Our vet said their not recommended but do work.

Please do more research on flea collars. They are not recommended here at all due to known dangers. By the time you notice a problem, it may be too late.

Flea Treatment
06.09.2013

Removed flea collars and placed in sealed bag.... Bathing the cats tonight and applying lemon Juice tomorrow...
Possibly placing flea collars in the spare room and laundry room where the is no access and under the couches (Maybe) will use the rest for the vacuum.

As of now there are no allergic reactions or side effects to the collars.

Paws4life,  I am also concerned about the proposed lemon treatment.  Cats don't like citrus.  And it could be because the essential oils are POISONOUS to cats.  It is not well known, but I discovered this from a vet toxicologist.  All essential oils are toxic to cats - you cannot treat them to resolve the poisoning.  They are one of the few animals that lack the whatever processes in the liver to detoxify these chemicals, and thus the load builds up and up...until death.  I don't know the quantity needed for death (and I wouldn t want to experiment).  As you are processing the lemon complete with skin, you will undoubtedly have some load of essential oil in your concoction.  Again, if you wait for 'symptoms', you are too late.  And the toxins enter via breathing, THROUGH skin contact, and ingesting.

The one safe alternative that I know of is Diatomaceous Earth: http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

The problem you will encounter with 'natural' treatments is that it will take a LONG time, with lots of effort to completely eradicate the fleas due to their cycle.  I would suggest it may be better to go with a vet recommended spot on treatment until the cycle is broken (the fleas and flea eggs will be in your house, so you need to 'starve' them til all the eggs are hatched, and no more fleas are laid), and then go with a more 'natural' alternative?

At all costs, only get CAT flea treatments, from your VET, as we also have a problem with other avenues selling toxic stuff - and DOG stuff can have toxins to cats.

I am aware that dog stuff is toxic to cats.
I can treat with revolution but only 3 out 4 cats my vet wont sell any for my 20 pound cat and when I asked for a solution we were not given much at this time we cant afford to switch vets and take them all in for a "pre" flea medication exam like they all seem to require. I will call my vets about the Lemons before I use them. Thankfully my vets are open on Saturdays.

Just a warning about asking your vet---many regular vets may not have a full knowledge of toxicology and might not be aware of the essential oil problem with cats. I don't think it's a thing regularly covered in vet school. A pet poison control center may be a better resource.

Can you get Advantage or Frontline? They're available OTC now, but are still "vet quality". Or just insist to your vet that you need some kind of flea control. I can't imagine he intends to leave your cats without any protection at all.

My local pet stores don't sell those brands... I was pretty let down when they didn't sell them when others do.. We deal with PetValue...

I am still calling my vets. I find it hard that vets wont know when people who surf the internet know for now its on hold but something has to be done because this is crazy that I cant buy it from my vets or use anything else... Ive already tried submerging all my cats under water (Other then their heads) with their heads wet and that wasn't a very good task and I cant get though the thick hair that 3 have on my own with the darn flea combs.

and the worst is the one that's 20 pounds has them the worst and he's the one they wont sell the product to due to weight.

There are other TCS members with cats that weigh around 20 lbs.. Why don't you start a thread asking what flea treatments their vets have recommended, instead of experimenting?

Because I didn't see the lemon spray as experimenting when I was told about it by someone who has been using it for over a year with good results and then when I looked it up it was all over the internet with no negative comments from what I seen at least? the flea collars my father told me to use because he said he always used them on our cats while I was growing up and he said they never did any damage to our cats and when I said flea collars to my vets they didn't seem overly concerned just saying not to use the spot on treatments from the stores wich I'll admit I used for 3 years on a old cat and dog not knowing they were bad either intill recently. Everything's new with fleas for us we have had the cats for about 2 years and never had fleas so we haven't been having to use treatment intill now.


id like to personally hear from someone on here that's tried the lemon spray..... Considering the girl that told me if its certian its bad id like the proof to show her so she stops using it on her cats.... Atm they had original dawn dish soap baths because I'm to afraid to use anything else and at the moment after just paying for vet bills for stones were strapped for cash and have to pay hydro and heat and the vets is $400 for 3 to get the pre exams and the 6 tubes (1 month basically) of the treatment and if it was next month we would have it. We didn't even have the fleas intill we started taking the cat to the vets for his stones and we got them after the 1st appointment. I will make the suggested thread and see and ask my vet and hopefully they will be open to the ideas or im going to need to find a new vet and get 4 pre exams and move all the medical historys over from the stone we just disolved and I feel bad leaving them when they helped us by cutting down the prices for us and giving us a free ultrasound etc lol!

I have posted the thread and I'm hoping I can find a solution. I can't stand knowing their itchy and everything being bad and having him to big for vet to be confortable selling us him flea drops. I'm not even opening my windows anymore because I know they can come in that way.

that you get some good advice soon.

Thanks one lady said their vet applied more then 1 tube. I'll be making a vet appt just for the over weight one and making her look at how bad his fleas are... He actually lets me bath him now because he knows hr will feel better its been breaking my heart to see them all have them and become so itchy if my vet won't help then I'll tell them I'm taking my cats elsewhere so they can get that oral pill and drops and not returning if that's how its going to be. Just because he's fat doesn't mean he needs to suffer intill he looses 10 pounds.

Hi Paws4life, I really hope you guys can get some relief soon! It's heartbreaking watching the little itchy ones and coming up with all sorts of 'roadblocks' to your ideas to help them.

The info on essential oil toxicity is pretty scarce on the net, but I have this site which is informed by chemists and vet toxicologists.  The language in certain sections can get a bit complicated, even though they try for more lay than chemical! http://www.thelavendercat.com/images/PDF-TheLavenderCat_temp_use.pdf

Now I'm not a chemist, so I can't tell you for sure that that recipe has essential oils from the lemon.  But, I know from cooking, that the oils are in the skin (peel).  So I tend toward not taking any chances.

Best wishes, and for sure try another vet if your current one can't give you immediate solutions....there HAS to be something for your big cat.  It might be worth investigating the diatomaceous earth I mentioned - sorry I can't be more specific on how to use it for fleas (I've not had to go that path, but I have heard others have a good experience).

I have personally made the lemon spray. It does not work

Bathing the cat in dish soap does help a lot. so does leaving out small dishes of dish soap.

But you would be MUCH better off to invest in Revolution. It's my experience that it clears fleas in about 24-48 hours

Yes I am aware of the revolution and I am working on a solution for my vet to sell to my over weight cat.

Alright, I'm finding a HUGE difference with just bathing and vacuming. I've been using dawn original. What's more reccomended? Dawn or a WalMart bough cat flea shampoo? Are the flea shampoos also bad? I thought the bathing would be horrible with 3 long haired cats bur after a few minutes of the cat yelling at me the first time now they just take the bath with out a fight thankfully. I think they know they feel better. I also dry the towels so their warm when they get them and use the shower head agisnt them so they don't see or hear the water. No ones been itcy, rashy or anything sence I've been bathing them... When bathing them it helped me find their fleas trouble spots one guys is under his arms and his brothers is his tail area and his tummy... When combing them I only found dead fleas and no live ones and removed them all from their fur.. How often is safe for bathing a cat like once a week? I am currently looking into new vets and getting some prices and trying to pick what one is best for us but were being picky as our one guy had bkadderstones so we want to make sure we can do after hour visits of he blocked and their prices vs our current vet... One guy may be transferred to his own more "obese" accepting vets. We just really want to be sure before we pick a new vet as anyone should be.

When I was a kid (no spot-on products back then!) we bathed and flea combed our cats to get rid of fleas, and it worked pretty well (we didn't have carpets so no vacuuming). We bathed them once a week and flea combed them once or twice a day. I'm glad we have spot-ons now, but obviously the old-fashioned methods work just fine, although more inconvenient :tongue2:.

As for shampoo, flea shampoos do have pesticides in them. Probably most get rinsed out, but, as you've found, just bathing does kill most of the fleas so there's really no reason to risk pesticide exposure. You could just stick with what you've been using, but if the dish soap seems to be drying their skin/fur, you could switch to a milder cat shampoo with moisturizers. We always used Johnson's Baby Shampoo but that's probably just because we had it in the house :lol3:.