Mostly Natural: We Got Rid of Fleas 2 Weeks After Our Dog & Home Got Infested
We got a flea infestation in our home from our dog, and we got rid of fleas in 2 weeks with natural products. Only one flea product listed isn’t natural, and I’ll elaborate on why below. We do give our dog medications too, per the below. The flea treatment and remedy for our home was completely natural, from all my research.
I admit, I was totally one of those people that thought it could never happen to us. Our home is only three years old, we have wood floors, our dog is small with short hair and he gets a bath every 2-3 weeks. He’s mostly an indoor dog, with daily walks and the occasional hike to Lake Anza in Berkeley or Bernal Hill in San Francisco.
Our pup is a little over 3 years old, and I distinctly remember having a talk with a few men at work that convinced me that flea medication was a total scam in the San Francisco Bay Area and I should just get my dog the flea vaccination. We never did that because our vet didn’t recommend it or provide it.
Our dog, Tyrion, was prescribed Trifexis which is an oral medication that prevents fleas and heartworm infestations, as well as other parasites. Trifexis, however, does not protect against ticks. We also had to do tricks to get our dog to take it. He would always eat the treats encasing the pill and spit the pill out. We would grind it up, and put it in peanut butter. He wasn’t about it.
On top of that, Trifexis is really expensive at $120 to $150 for a 6-month supply, and we still needed to protect against ticks. My dog has seen three vets (SFSPCA, Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital & Mt Diablo) by necessity for his annual check-ups, and for some reason, the Veterinarians in the San Francisco Bay Area are totally in bed with the Trifexis manufacturer. You DO have options. Tyrion was my first dog in my adult life, and it took me time to realize that we had options.
My Husband and I decided to try another medication and we went with Heartgard. My Mom uses it on her two dogs. Heartgard is just intended to prevent heartworm in dogs, so we knew we still needed something to help with flea and tick prevention. The nice thing is that Heartgard runs around $40 for 6-months and my dog gets excited to eat it. He thinks of Heartgard like a treat!
Ok, so now onto flea medication and prevention. What to do? We went with Pet Armor Plus from Costco. Pet Armor Plus is also sold at places like Chewy. We could have it delivered to our house for free for the great price of $34.99 for 6-months. I just revisited the Costco website and and it looks like Pet Armor Plus is now selling the product for $54.99 but now for 12-months supply. We purchased at the lower supply and price and used it for a year when we started Heartgard. The overall review score is 4.5 out of 5.0 on Costco.com… but before you get too excited, you have to delve into the reviews to see that Pet Armor Plus doesn’t work for a lot of folks and their pets. It’s so interesting because the reviews are all over the place for Pet Armor with 1-star reviews mixed in with 5-star reviews. I’ve included a couple screenshots from the reviews pages on Costco.com for Pet Armor Plus.
Eventually, the protective barrier that we thought we had against fleas broke and we were quickly battling fleas. I was picking fleas off my dog’s bottom a few times a day, and on the hunt on the internet for a solution to our problem.
Because quarantine has us locked inside, and I also care about my furry friend, I wanted to make sure we weren’t poisoning everyone in the home. Just the fleas. They had to go, but the rest of us wanted to breathe fresh air and not saturate ourselves in chemicals.
After a lot of research, this is the plan we came up with, and I’m happy to say, our fleas were gone in two-weeks! We did the sock test where we walked around with long white tube socks, and we legitimately had a flea infestation. We also got rid of it in two week with the following plan.
First, Clean and Launder Everything!
While you’re waiting for your items to get delivered via Amazon, launder everything and vacuum and sweep everywhere. Make sure to take your vacuumed material to your outdoor garbage can immediately. Seal everything up in a tight plastic bag so you don’t infest your yard! Fleas come from outdoors after all!
Wash your sheets at least once a week until the flea infestation goes away. You may want to wash your smaller rugs and your comforters, as well as any couch throw pillows. Treat the laundering as if the fleas were lice, and you’ll get the idea. Hot water and dry what you can on hot. Vacuum upholstery and couches and steam if you can. Those little flea eggs can hide everywhere!
What to Treat Your House With for a Flea Infestation:
Boric Acid to Kill Fleas - We purchased Richard’s Organics Premise Treatment. Once you get this, sprinkle it lightly everywhere! On your floors, rugs and carpets. Let it sit for two weeks. It’ll be a little annoying because the grains are the size of small sand grains, but it’s way less annoying than fleas, and it works. Two weeks later, vacuum it up when you no longer see live fleas. If you need a mid-vacuum. Just re-treat after. You can purchase Richard’s Organics Premise Treatment Boric Acid on Amazon Prime.
Wondercide Flea, Tick and Mosquito Spray - We used this spray for the places that were more difficult to keep boric acid. The couch, our mattress, larger rungs got a dose of this and boric acid, and we even sprayed it on our dogs bum-bum a couple times before taking him to the park so he didn’t pick up new fleas while we were treating. We purchased the Lemongrass Wondercide and it smelled good, but very strong. Our dog does have a sensitive nose and he did sneeze a few times when around items treated with Wondercide. I think the 16oz is plenty enough for one flea treatment of a home, if you catch it early enough and use it at the rate we did (which was sparingly due to the strength of the smell). You can purchase Wondercide Flea, Tick and Mosquito Spray on Amazon Prime.
Aunt Fannie’s Pest Control - I usually buy the bundle because the price is better and we use the Fly Traps when we drink wine in the Summer. I actually always have Aunt Fannies Pest Control in my home because in Berkeley, CA we tend to have ants year round and this stuff skills them on the spot with one pump. It’s not harmful to humans or pets. I used this around windows and doors to help prevent fleas from coming from the outside. Not sure if this helped or not, but I did do this too and we got rid of our fleas in 2-weeks so I didn’t want to leave any part of my regime out of this post! You can purchase Aunt Fannie’s Pest Control on Amazon Prime. I’ve also purchased it in my local Target in Emeryville, CA.
What to Treat Your Dog With After a Flea Infestation:
A Good Flea Shampoo - We really liked Richard’s Organics Flea and Tick Shampoo for Dogs. It smells really really good and it lathered really well. It wasn’t too overwhelming on the nostrils for the humans or the doggo and the ingredients seemed high quality. The price was nice too at around $7 for the 12oz bottle. It should last for around 10-12 baths for our 15lb puppy. You can purchase Richard’s Organics Flea and Tick Shampoo on Amazon Prime.
Flea Comb - These are pretty cheap on Amazon, and I would not have gotten all the fleas from my dog’s coat without a proper flea comb. You can get one for $4-$6 bucks and your puppy will be so grateful. Plus, killing the fleas before they can lay more eggs does help, and your dog is their favorite place to hide and feed. Here’s the flea collar we purchased and it worked great for $4.
Seresto Dog Flea and Tick Collar - This isn’t a natural solution. I have looked into natural remedies, and there’s nothing natural that will prevent fleas and ticks and I’m too busy to manage a daily routine of natural products to only slightly prevent fleas and ticks. The price is $45.99 for 8-months at Costco. My Dad uses the Seresto Dog Flea and Tick Collar on his large labrador retriever in the Eugene, Oregon area where humidity can cause horrible flea infestations. In fact, my Dad and Step-Mom have experienced a very bad flea infestation of their yard a long time ago, and they know what works. The flea infestation they had was the worst of the worst and they overcame it. You can too! (Soresto on Costco and Soresto on Chewy.com). I know a lot of people use Frontline Plus (Costco and Chewy) as well as Advantage II (Chewy) but I’ve never used them so I can’t attest to their quality personally. I have to note that there has been some negative news in 2021 regarding Soresto. We’ve decided to continue use and we just remove it for 2-3 days every week so our dog isn’t getting over medicated.
Final Thoughts…
My only mistake was trusting in Pet Armor Plus and being excited about the price. I went with the overall score of 4.5 out of 5.0 and I failed to read the actual reviews. They must have had a better product in the past to have achieved a great score, because recent reviews aren’t as good. Also, fleas can become immune to certain medications so nothing you use is forever. We may need to try something besides the Seresto Flea Collar in the future like Frontline Plus (Costco and Chewy) or Advantage II (Chewy).
If you see fleas, get on it immediately! Don’t neglect it and think you’ll take care of it later. Fleas lay hundreds of eggs per day, and fleas can cause tapeworms in your dog! Yup, it’s not just a flea problem, but it can turn into a worm problem… Super yuck!
I understand cost conscious for sure! I think Trifexis isn’t great for the price, but the luster of something on the complete opposite side of the price spectrum was so appealing that I failed to do my research and it ultimately cost me more money, effort, and our dog discomfort. All is good now though. Our price for quality balance came out to Heartgard and Soresto as a powerhouse duo (Soresto on Costco and Soresto on Chewy.com). This is a lesson learned. If you’re reading this post, you may be on your own path of lessons learned, and that’s ok. All parents and puppy-parents have lessons to learn along the way. Hang in there. You got this!
Tyrion is Back to Enjoying the Great Outdoors in NorCal with Us!
