Natural flea treatments - are they effective?

When you first think about natural flea treatments for your pet dog or cat, you probably think about the 'usual suspects.' If you've done a quick internet search, you'll have come across information about natural treatments for fleas including; garlic, diatomaceous earth, pyrethrum and natural oils such as eucalyptus or penny royal oils. Often the attraction of a natural treatment for fleas is because, well, it's obvious - it is natural! Most people's underlying assumption is that a natural treatment is somehow safer than using nasty chemical to treat fleas on their pet dog or cat. After all, it's natural!

A 'natural' flea treatment - the word natural is loaded. It is full of positive connotations. 'Natural' control for fleas has a good vibe about it.

The counter side to this argument is that 'chemical' treatment of fleas is somehow dangerous, and you may hear comments pet owners make, such as, "I don't want to treat him too often with 'nasty' chemicals."

Sometimes it's good to stop and test your assumptions. Is the natural treatment option better and safer than their chemical cousins. Is the natural alternative more or less effective than the chemical options.

When you do your web search looking for information you may come across a family of flea treatments called synthetic pyrethroids. A synthetic pyrethroid is the synthetic version of the active ingredient pyrethrum from the chrysanthemum daisy. Synthetic pyrethroids and found in flea killers such as flea shampoos, flea powders and also some spot-on type of products such K9-Advantix. In other words, these flea control ingredients were originally developed from natural compounds. Another example is a family of flea treatments called the neonicotinoids. Examples of a flea treatment with these ingredients are the Advantage family of products which are spot-on treatments and Capstar which is an oral liquid treatment to kill fleas. The phrase 'neo' in the chemical name gives it away - neonicotinoids are a new chemical based on the plant derived nicotine insecticide.

Many years ago, nicotine was one of the main insecticides in use from controlling insect pests and other parasites. While I admit these chemical treatments are some generations removed from their natural forebears, there is no doubt the fact that they are from the same family, that it is quite possible for chemicals derived in the first instance from plant based compounds to be highly effective. However, I have to admit that they are no longer 'natural' in the sense that most people understand them.

Interestingly, you don't have to search for long to find out that many people have tried so called, natural flea treatments only to find that they were not as safe as they were hoping. Garlic is an item which often appears as a component in natural flea treatments - yet you will find articles that in which vets warn that garlic (and onion) have the ability to cause anemia in dogs, and that cats can be even more susceptible

So before you discount all modern flea treatments as nasty chemicals stop and examine what is actually in them. You may be surprised how many actually had their origins in a natural flea treatment.

So this brings us back to the question posed in the title. Natural flea treatments - are they effective? I hope you see from the tone of the article that I'm trying to lead you in a different direction. Perhaps, it's the wrong question to ask. Now that we know that so many modern flea treatments are actually based on natural flea control chemicals in the first place, perhaps the better question would be: a natural flea treatment - is it safe and is it effective? However, that same question can equally be asked of a chemical treatment. I would argue that whether natural or 'chemical,' the most important criteria for choosing a flea treatment for your pet, is whether the flea control product is safe and effective.