Fleas, bicarb of soda Options

[collies r best]

Yesterday Izzie stuck her nose into a newly dead rabbit and as a result had her own herd of tiny fleas. Vets were closed so went to petshop but was horrified at their flea treatments as cats weren't allowed near the dog for 72 hours as its so poisnous to cats . Last night i remembered something about bicarb of soda so googled it and found you can rub it through their coats and it kills fleas. Firstly i put tiny blobs of sudocream on her bites as wasnt sure if the bicarb would irritate them then i rubbed the bicarb throughout her coat starting at her ears and neck and working down. I'm pleased to say this morning i have a non scratchy dog and found dead fleas on her bed [she slept in her bed rather than mine as she was sulking big time at my 'attack' on her ]. Some sites said to brush the bicarb out after 10 mins others said to leave it on, i left Iz's on but the downside was theres bicarb everwhere on the floors Another one was to bath them in washing up liquid preferably citrus one and rub into into thick soap suds as its this that kills the fleas.
Now i'm rounding up the cats, its their turn for bicarb

[Samara]

Never used it, but all for natural alternative to flea prevention/treatment. Hate all the chemicals they try and persuade us to use on our poor dogs! Vile

[collies r best]

I fully agree Samara, i wanted to look into natural alternatives as 2 of my cats have had bad reactions to veterinary flea treatments and as i said i was horrified at pet shop ones so this has been a push in the right direction. I was so chuffed that it seems to have worked

[Lyntown]

[Heather and Benjy]

I use bicarb on the sofa and dog's beds too

Sprinkle it on, leave for an hour or two and then hoover off. Not only is it great for 'visitors' but it helps to remove any doggy odour from the furniture too.

[dottzie]

oh great i shall be buying some bicard when im out later, Jess suffers awfully from flea allergy so if she does get them anything to get them off as quick as is gonna be great

[Penninepoodlewelfare]

Garlic tablets give to the dog on a regular basis is supposeed tp prevent fleas

[Mystyfyed]

I use bicarb a lot around the house but never on the dogs or cats so thanks for that tip.

I used to give my dogs garlic until I heard that it can be toxic to dogs and they can develope hemolytic anemia, if you do a search on google for "garlic toxic for dogs" you will get plenty of Vets and experts warning of this, so please take care using it

[Barb]

I may try this on my dogs, but unsure on how it would affect cats, as they groom themselves a lot. Has anyone tried bicarb with cats?

[doggroomer]

I use bi-carb for lots of things too but didn't know about this. Like Barb, I'd be interested in how it would affect cats too.

Chris

[KarenP]

I'm sure that I've read somewhere that rabbit fleas are specific to rabbits, so they shouldn't stick around long on a dog. Fingers crossed anyway!

[Inca's Mum]

This is interesting - I might try bicarb as well, I hate using chemicals on my babies

Would it be possible to get it through Inca's thick coat, though?