PetnBlog Animal and Human Wellness

Diatomaceous Earth for Flea Control, Really?

Really.  I’m not easily impressed with much of anything related to pets.  Always have my doubts and my questions.  Well, the good news is, I’m impressed with Diatomaceous Earth.

I’ve been battling fleas for a couple of months now.  Nothing bad, but they have been persistent.  I refuse to use commercial topical flea treatments – no way, no how.  But, here I was combing my two dogs and two cats several times a day (time consuming) and bathing them in a natural flea shampoo once a week (interesting, especially the cats), and vacuuming the house several times a week (unheard of).  And the little buggers kept coming.

I’ve been told about Diatomaceous Earth (DE) for a couple of years; I hate to admit I’ve neglected to investigate until now.  After I wrote a recent article about flea treatments, an online friend offered to send me some DE.  I decided I could no longer put this off.  Here’s what I discovered about diatomaceous earth…

So…what is this stuff and how can it help to control fleas and ticks?

Wikipedia states “Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae.”

When your look at DE, it looks similar to flour.  It kills insects by “physical action, not chemical.”  It is physically abrasive to insects’ exoskeleton and absorbs its body fluids (yuck) – “thus posing no harm to warm-blooded life.”

Just about every information I found on DE led me to one distributor/manufacturer… Perma-Guard.

Perma-Guard offers a DE flour and a DE insecticide specific for use on pets.  DE flour is considered safe for use in animal feed – for consumption.  DE Insecticide for pets is not for consumption, however is safe for use on dogs and cats.  DE Insecticide is DE flour with added “pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide (PBO) added.  Pyrthrins are derived from a type of Chrysanthemum flower and is considered an insecticide in its own right. PBO is derived from Sasafrass but is highly processed and therefore not considered natural.  We call our insecticides an alternative to conventional chemicals.”

The results I’ve seen in five days with DE (as opposed to two months of other natural alternatives) – I’m sold.

I purchased the DE insecticide for pets.  When the people at Perma-Guard tell you a little goes a long way, they are not kidding.  I’ll probably never use up the product that I have (however I am going to sprinkle the yard with it).  In three days, flea combing everyone only once a day, the number of total fleas from all four of my pets is down to single digits.  Amazing.  The product suggested dusting the animal, however I chose to dip the flea comb into the DE powder and comb it in, one section at a time.

Now that I’m all caught up in DE, I have as well recently ordered the DE flour and have intentions of taking it daily and well as giving it to my pets (yes, consuming it).  If you do a Google search for ‘Health benefits of diatomaceous earth” you’ll find a multitude of websites and testimonials claiming improvements from a natural parasite control, lower cholesterol, less pain of arthritis, to even stronger hair and nails.

So…the best I can tell you is that I’ll let you know how we all fair taking DE; let’s give it a couple of months.

If I had to do it over, I would only purchase the DE flour and not the insecticide version.  I don’t believe the DE insecticide is a risk, however all reading material shows that the DE flour is completely safe with basically the same benefits for flea and bug control.

Important note:  Large hardware stores do sell a diatomaceous earth product.  It is for use in swimming pools and it is NOT suitable for consumption and/or use on pets.  Only use a DE that is considered ‘food grade’.

learn all about Diatomaceous Earth for Pets, Humans and Household Uses  »

Written By and Published with Permission by Susan Thixton

March 11th, 2010 Posted by Bree | Holistic Pet Products, Animal and Pet Health, Human Health | 2 comments