Flea Problems have EVERYTHING to do with DIET & HEALTH

[Deleted by Admins]

I have  not found a flea on any of my 3 in a couple of months.  About 3 months ago, back in Oct. I started sprijnling garlic powder on their food at night and also giving them a Brewer's Yeast tablet.  I had read on several forums this worked to keep fleas away, some swore by it, others said it didn't work.  I do not know if that i s why my 3 h ave not had fleas in a couple of m onths, or if the fleas just went away for some reason.  We live on a curve with pie slice shaped lot and have two back yards up against ours.  One has 2 dogs, the other has 9 i think (she fosters).  The yard on one side has one dog, on the other side has 5.  I have 3.  We are loaded with live oak trees, we have a couple of sycamores and a couple of pines in our yard and lots of squirrels around.Also being on the coast our yard is pure sand.  Perfect, ideal setting for fleas.  So is it the garlic & brewer's yeast that is keeping fleas off my dogs?  or did they all hitch a ride out of the yard on squirrels.  I h ave no idea, but i am just glad they are all gone.   I have not pipcked up any flea dirt at all on any of them with my flea comb so not only am I not seeing any on them, i can't even find a trace that the suckers have been on them.

All I have to say is that some people should get off their soapbox and not generalize.  There are many factors that contribute to all things in life.   Most times it is more than just one thing that causes something to happen.  You can't say one thing works for every situation or that one thing causes all of something.  The world does not work that way. Sorry.

Perhaps my experience is a fluke, but if so I'm not going to risk a change and needing to use chemicals again.

I was not referring to you glenmar.  Your post was fine.  It was just your experience and that is fine.  You're not preaching.  Some others are and it is not nice.  That's all I meant.  Sorry to offend.

I've never, ever used one single flea product like Frontline or Advantage and Gingerbread has had very few fleas. I can probably count on both hands the number that he's had. I don't think it's because of his diet as much as the fact that he hasn't spent much time in tall grass or the usual areas that fleas lurk.

This Spring I don't want to deal with any fleas if I can help it, so I've decided to try Neem Oil. It's supposed to be a natural insectide, bug repellant, and has many other health uses also from what I've read- including treating cancer, diabetes, arthritis, etc for humans and animals. Here's a link:

http://www.neemfoundation.org/health.htm

I've seen several different companies that sell Neem products. I'm probably going to try Botanical dog since they have a complete line of products.

Ark Naturals (they make a shampoo and a spray)
http://www.arknaturals.com/products/index.cfm?fuseaction=DisplayProductPage&Product_ID=11

Tropiclean (they make a shampoo and a dip)
http://www.tropiclean.net/tropiclean_page.html#neem

Botanical Dog (shampoo, conditioner, spray and ear cleaner)
http://www.botanicaldog.com/products.php?cat=7

No offense taken...don't give it another thot!

Here is another thread that confuses the crap out of me because people are talking about how good it is to feed garlic again but then you go and read some other threads and its filled with people saying that garlic is a toxin and should not be fed to dogs so does anyone know the truth? 
And how much garlic and brewers yeast can you give to a ten pound dog?

Hallelujah!  I agree 100%! 

I have two 8-year old American Eskimoes with white fur.   No fleas.
I have lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas (3 years directly on the beach) for all of those eight years and the fleas can be terrible here.  Still no fleas!
My dogs have always been fed Pro Plan dog food.  No fleas!
I have used Advantage as their primary source of flea control, sometimes I forget to give it to them-my bad. No Fleas!
My Eskies have never had any medical issues.  Even fleas!

Why have they never had fleas?  I'm just plain old lucky in my opinion.

I, however, happened to get bitten by several because a student I taught at school kept bringing them in from his house and they were in the carpet of my classroom!  Oh, the irony of it![sm=lol.gif]  And no, I didn't give them to my dogs either!  Now, my diet can be pretty bad at times, but I haven't had fleas since!

What's my point?  I don't know...Just trying to lighten up the board  a little[].......