Top Tips For Natural Flea and Tick Prevention

Flea and Tick Prevention. Fleas and ticks. Just the words can make you shudder, and not without good reason. A flea infestation in your home can be an absolute nightmare to deal with, and finding a tick on your beloved furry family member can make your heart skip a beat. In 2024 we’re seeing more ticks than ever before – across the country, and especially in the Midwest – that are also carrying more diseases with them.

Why You Don’t Want Fleas & Ticks

Ticks are not only gross, but they do carry a host of diseases, which appear to be increasingly prevalent further north- and westward. Some of the most common ones include Lyme disease, babeiosis, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and ehrlichiosis. These diseases can be debilitating to the point of being life-altering.

Fleas are also disgusting, disease-carrying, parasitic pests. Among the infections they can cause are: cat scratch disease, and various parasites, most commonly tapeworms. While not generally considered life-threatening, tapeworms block nutrient absorption and can cause digestive issues, neurological problems, and depressed organ function.

Options for Prevention

Now that you have an idea of why you want to keep these pesky beasts off your pets and out of your life, just how does one accomplish that? Luckily, there are quite a few options out there; but unfortunately, they can become overwhelming all vying for your purchase with marketing tactics. Here are your main options:

● Flea collars
● Spot-on chemical treatments
● Dips
● Sprays
● Diatomaceous earth
● Oral chemicals
● Natural oral products
● Garlic
● Homemade topicals

Problems with Chemicals

The most commonly used option is the spot-on chemical. These are products such as Frontline, Advantage, Sentry, etc. Most of us are familiar with these products, as well as flea & tick collars, and some people have also used chemical dips or oral products (i.e. Bravecto, NexGard).

While the chemicals commonly used in these chemicals have come a long way in lowering toxicity for the pet in the last 30 or so years, there are still some potential issues. The first one is immunity. We see this with fleas and the chemicals that have been around the longest, such as fipronil. Just like bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics, fleas develop resistance to these chemicals.

Here is a very simplified version of how that works, but it’s enough to get the idea: If just one flea in a population of thousands has a genetic mutation that enables it to survive the chemical in use, it can go on to reproduce thousands more fleas that are more likely to be carriers of this resistance gene.

Ticks are likely becoming just as resistant to these chemicals, but it’s not as obvious because ticks don’t “infest” the way fleas do.

The second major concern is how these chemicals affect your pet. Veterinarians generally share the consensus that the chemicals used in these products today are pretty safe, compared to the ones used 4-plus decades ago. However, many integrative veterinarians still have their doubts, and a recent study really validated them. I highly encourage you to go read it for yourself at the embedded link above, but I’ll give you a breakdown of the big numbers.

It is based on products that use isoxazolines, a fairly reactive chemical group that was just introduced for use as a pesticide on pets about 10 years ago. It showed the European Medicines Agency reporting almost 23 percent of pets died who had received isoxazoline-based flea and tick products. If that’s not scary enough, seizures were the single most-reported adverse effect, at over 30 percent of the study population. Other severe adverse effects included ataxia, loss of motor function, aggression, anxiety, respiratory issues, and more.

Based on this, I recommend, at minimum, having a serious discussion with your veterinarian about switching products if you are using any that contain an isoxazoline. The main companies who use chemicals implicated in this study are NexGard, Bravecto, Simparica, Credelio, and Comfortis. The reason I say to talk to your vet before switching, is that some of these products may also be your dog’s only heartworm preventative. While there are better options out there for heartworms prevention as well, that’s a whole new conversation! Keeping mosquitos off of your pet with my recommendations below will be the best step you can take to protect them from a heartworm infection.

Alex’s Recommendations

As a pet nutritionist with over 18 years of experience, I’ve done a lot of trial and error with about every product out there. So what do I use on my own pets? I use my favorite natural brand of flea and tick preventative, Wondercide. I literally use it on my dogs, cats, horses, and human children. There are a lot of natural flea and tick products out there, so don’t get overwhelmed by their marketing tactics in your excitement to switch from chemicals to something more gentle. I have used them all, and unfortunately, not all of them are particularly effective. I have found Wondercide to be the only brand that does a great job in both preventing and killing any of these pests that end up on your pet.

What are some other great options? I’m glad you asked! While Wondercide is pretty easy to come by these days, and not any more expensive than chemical products, it could still be cost-prohibitive, or maybe you are just the creative type. So here are some homemade options, created by Gregory Tilford and Mary Wulff, that I have found to be effective:

Powder:
1 part diatomaceous earth
2 parts feverfew flowers
2 parts mullein flowers
2 parts yarrow (flowers, leaves, stem)
1 part sage or thyme
-Combine all ingredients. Brush into coat daily.

Rinse:
1 part feverfew flowers
1 part mullein flowers
1 part yarrow (flowers, leaves, stem)
1 part freshly ground celery seeds
3 parts calendula flowers 8 drops bitter orange oil, added per 8 oz of rinse -Cover all dry ingredients with boiling water and let stand until cooled. Add bitter orange after cooled.

Flea and Tick Prevention. What if I Have a Flea Infestation, or Found a Tick?

First, let’s address fleas. Here are the steps to take, in order:

● Flea comb your pet thoroughly. Especially around ears, head, genitals and belly. You’re not necessarily looking for adult fleas, as they don’t indicate the severity of the infestation; what you are looking for is “flea dirt”. Flea dirt is flea feces (ew). It will appear as tiny black specks to the naked eye, floating around in your pet’s fur. Take the fur from the flea comb and place it on white paper (paper towel, paper napkin, etc). This will allow you to see the black flea dirt, especially if your pet has a dark coat.

● Assuming you find either dirt or live fleas, your next step is starting treatment. A bath with a natural flea dip, such as the rinse recipe above, or Halo Herbal Dip, is a good first step. It is safe to assume that if one dog or cat has fleas, all of the others will too; so bathe everyone you can – prioritize your safety over bathing cats!

● While your pet is drying from their bath, it is equally as important to address your house as it is your pets. Every rug, bed, blanket, towel, pillow, sheet that you can pick up and wash, pick up and wash in hot water immediately.

● Back to your pets now; it’s time for the Wondercide! When it comes to a flea infestation, I really recommend Wondercide over any homemade treatment. Spray lightly all over their body, legs and tail, using your hand to pull the fur backwards, which allows the product to reach the skin. Use your hands to apply it to the face and other sensitive areas.

● Lastly, buy some diatomaceous earth. I recommend using only food-safe varieties, even though it is not being ingested in this case. You will sprinkle this in every single carpet, couch, or other upholstery that can’t be picked up and washed, as well as all along the edges of every wall in your house. After letting it sit for a while, vacuum it up. You need to do this every day. It’s a lot, but I promise it’s worth it. I usually recommend applying in the morning, and vacuuming in the afternoon.

A final note on this is that Wondercide also makes home and garden spray, that is excellent for both flea prevention, and in the case of an infestation. Now for ticks. Here’s what to do:

● Check the body all over for ticks, looking especially carefully around the ears, genitals, face/head and belly. Ticks are large and slow compared to fleas, so relatively easy to spot.

● If you find one walking through your pet’s fur, this is great! You just remove it and smash it – make sure it is actually smooshed and dead, they are tough little buggers. Book a mobile vet through Petworks, if you need to.

● If you find one embedded in the skin, it’s not so great. You will need to break out a tick key/remover – if you don’t have one, I highly recommend investing in one. If you don’t have one, tweezers will usually do, but it is essential that you dig the head of the tick out of the skin. It is easy to remove the body, but have the head pop off and remain stuck under the skin.

● Now is the time to apply Wondercide or your homemade treatment.

● Finally, if the tick was embedded in the skin, and blood came out when you popped it, it never hurts to go to your veterinarian for a Lyme test.

Closing Note

I believe the most crucial factor in preventing fleas and ticks is the diet. I know that sounds crazy, but my pets eat only raw food, and I have yet to find a single flea or tick on them, even as they become bigger and bigger problems in my area. This is my specialty as a nutritionist, so please contact me if you’d like to learn more about not only improving your pet’s diet, but boosting your chances of avoiding fleas and ticks altogether! I’m Alex Roberts, clinical pet nutritionist, and thank you for reading my article.