Nobody
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Herbs used for tick and flea repellent for pets

I was wondering if any of you use any herbs for tick and flea repellent for your pets, and if so how many plants would it take for a rather large area. I've read that catnip is probable the best for this?
Thank you

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applestar
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I don’t plant to repel from an area. I do use lavender filled bandanna collars for our indoor kitties when they go out in the garden on supervised outings.

I have been maintaining a chemical-free yard and garden so I do believe there are microscopic and macroscopic natural predators out there that control some of the flea and tick population — everything from nematodes to birds.

Also, more with some hopes of repelling mosquitoes, I grow patches of various kinds of mints including peppermint, spearmint, applemint (added chocolate mint and orange mint last year), monarda, lemon balm. They surround the patio and surrounding areas. I also have creeping charley growing everywhere, though not intentionally.

I don’t know about Catnip repelling ticks and fleas — what they do is attract cats — ours and stray ... they eat them and roll in them until the catnip is barely alive. I’ve moved my catnip patches to inside of 4 ft fenced garden beds and containers in raised inaccessible areas.

Fleas and ticks still make their way onto our indoor cats. Sometimes, they have encounters with mice, moles, voles, etc. during their outdoor forays. There are wild rabbits that “visit” the garden and sometimes even come up on the patio to help with the weeds growing between the bricks. I suspect that sometimes I’m the one bringing in eggs, larvae, and adults from them on my gardening boots. (our kitties sometimes sleep in my boot tray and sometimes just rub up against the boots for whatever reason).

Flea combing is a regular activity here. After trying to set various traps (only caught few to maybe a dozen at most), and scattering DE “flea powder” in the house (which tends to clog the vacuum cleaner), and thinking that best flea trap design would generate heat and self propel around the house to attract the pests, and then I would only have to periodically empty the trap.... It occurred to me that I DO have TWO OF THOSE — 4-legged, furry, warm, travel throughout the house, get into corners and under the couch sometimes, attracting and collecting fleas ... I just have to empty those traps twice a day during the worst infestation (by combing them thoroughly), and activate the bait-and-kill feature by DE-powdering the chin, neck, back, and leg-pits. :wink:

Nobody
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Thank you Applestar. The only cats around here have gone feral where people just drop them off. I only see them at night. My dogs really don't like cats.

I'll try to experiment some with different plants. I was thinking about a mint ground cover until I read that it could have adverse affects for my dogs if they ate it.

On the mosquitos use marigolds. They don't like them. There also good for your garden. You probable already know that since you've been doing this longer than me. :)

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rainbowgardener
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Pennyroyal is the strongest of the mints and is used for flea and tick control. You can also put it in your cupboards to keep moths and other stuff out of them.

Nobody
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Thank you rainbow I'll see if I can find some.

imafan26
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My cats are indoors, but if the neighbors are letting their pets out, my cats can get fleas too. I have not had to treat them for years, but when I do, it is easier for me to use Advantage on them. I do not use it regularly since I don't want to treat them if they don't really need it.

I have lavender, rosemary, citronella, lemon grass, lemon thyme and coleus canina. Coleus canina actually repels cats and dogs. I don't know if it is really working, but I have to tell you that plant stinks. Especially when there are multiple ones on the perimeter.

Goodnight spray works well indoors, it contains permethrin. Outdoors, I do use pine sol on the the hard surfaces and malathion but only if I have to and I have not had to do that in many years.

Nobody
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Thank you imafan I'll keep those in mind, even if they don't keep all of them away I need to do something. There are so many fleas and ticks around here it's not funny. We can't even walk out the door without getting ticks.

No hard freezes in the last couple of years to help kill them off. Even advantage doesn't seem to be help very much.

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applestar
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I’m Not endorsing this company specifically, but I like the way they thoroughly explain their products. I’ve bought some things from them (that do work) during ideal weather conditions, but I have to shop around since this company is in Arizona which is geographically iffy / far for live organism shipping to my area. You might be close enough.

Flea Control For Home & Pets
https://www.arbico-organics.com/categor ... leas-ticks

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rainbowgardener
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You could consider getting yourself a pet oppossum. They can eat thousands of ticks in a season and will virtually clear your yard of them. We have chickens and they do a pretty good job of bug control in the yard. Before we had chickens, we used to have palmetto bugs (like big cockroaches), a lot in the yard and occasional ones that made it into the house (maybe seeing them once or twice a month in the house). Since the chickens, we haven't seen a single one in a couple years....

Possums do make decent pets. We had one for awhile when I was a kid. It was tame and could be picked up and petted.

Nobody
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Applestar thank you for the website. I took a quick look at it. Might be something I can use.

Rainbow I have chickens. Did have about 10 down to 5 now. They can't even keep up with all the bugs around here.
You have to be the only one I've ever heard of that would think of a opossum for bug control. :) Most people consider them disease ridden pest. Not sure how a opossum would fit in around here with the chickens, dogs and horses. Thank you for the idea though.

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applestar
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If you have horses, you must have enough land for guinea hens. They do say they are great for tick and bug control and make wonderful intruder alarm/guard. When DDs and I were trying to learn to ride and leasing a horse for a while, the stable had guinea hens running around in the horse enclosures.

Only issue was they suffered significant losses to vultures and eagles — mostly since their only cover was a small adjoining woods, and these ones refused to go in a coop. I did hear later that they lost the entire flock when coyotes started raiding the area farms.

I know someone else who has “trained” hers to live in the barn with the chickens (in separate enclosures with roosts built to suit them).

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Gary350
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My father always kept Gennie birds in the yard they eat fleas & ticks in yard & garden but will not eat garden plants. Ginnie is a small bird about 1/2 the size of a chicken they run very fast about 20 mph dogs & cats can not catch them. My father never feed them and we never had fleas or ticks. This time of the year baby Ginnies are 50 cents each at Farmers Co-op and $2 each at Tractor supply store.

There are no fleas or ticks in Arizona soil and water are both 8 ph that kills them.

Ticks are bad this year in TN I put baking soda on our cats and dogs they have no ticks or fleas as long as we continue to put baking soda on them.

We had a house cat 15 years ago it got the house infested with fleas VET told us to sprinkle baking soda ever where in the house do not clean it up for about 2 weeks. I bought 2 large 5 lb boxes of baking soda the floors in the house were white color from all the baking soda fleas were soon gone then wife sucked up all the baking soda with the vacuum cleaner.



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