My husband and I recently got a new puppy. Her name is Tag, short for Tag-a-Long. She’s a husky/shepherd mix. We haven’t done the puppy thing in many years and it’s kinda fun getting to know her personality and watching her bond to us and make us ‘her’ people. There’s drawbacks, to be sure (House training. Yay.), but overall it’s nice. : )
Well, with new puppies come flea and tick issues. Not really a fan of the chemical-laden sprays, powders, and collars tho’ I will admit, when there’s been a bad infestation we’ve resorted to these routes in the past with other animals. But generally speaking, these chemicals are pesticides and it’s well documented that pesticides are harmful to animals and people. So in our case, with little, vunerable puppies, and young grandchildren playing with the puppy I’d prefer a much more natural, non-toxic alternative.
I had no farther to look than our own front pasture. There’s an abundant amount of little white flowers growing everywhere on tall leafy stalks! They’re all along the roadsides too. You can’t miss it this time of year. It’s called Fleabane, and it’s what it says: a bane to fleas. And turns out it’s a very effective bane to fleas. The little boogers don’t like it at all.
We’ve been picking large amounts of it and drying it and making pillows stuffed with it. We keep a fleabane pillow in Tag’s crate, and have dried fleabane strewn in her caged, play area. She loves to lay on the pillow and we play with her with the pillow and rub it all over her in the process. When we take her for a walk, we make sure she runs, jumps, and frolics through patches of it as we journey along. We have yet to see a flea on her.
Ticks on the other hand…. sigh.. we’ve picked off quite a few. They’re really bad this year. 😛 So, to our fleabane pillows, we’ve added dried lavender to help deter the ticks. We’ve also strewn this in Tag’s sleep and play areas, and while it’s not conquered all of the ticks, we’ve been picking less and less of them from her coat.
We’ve also been keeping our Flea and Tick Pillows on the floor in our home in various places to keep the little pesky critters away. No one suspects what the pillows are or what their job is- they just look like decorations.
If you have a puppy or an older dog and want to help prevent fleas, we encourage you to go and pick bundles of fleabane. Lay the fresh stalks on newspaper and let them dry out for a week, and you’re good to go. Barring that, come to the Bartlesville Farmer’s Market this Saturday and we’ll have Flea and Tick pillows for you there. : )
God’s blessing to you…
A couple good articles on using Fleabane:
http://www.moplants.com/fleabane-plants-really-do-repel-dog-fleas/
http://myfolia.com/groups/270-wild-medicinals-and-edibles/topics/2404-fleabane-fleas-and-flea-beetles/posts
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The purpose of Jordan’s Crossing Herbal Connections is to promote the sharing of information about healthy, natural products and dietary supplements. JCHC’s views and opinions are INFORMATIONAL ONLY and are not intended to constitute medical advice. If you are sick, injured or pregnant, please consult a licensed health care professional.