Author of Keep Fleas Away
Are you still using all the chemicals you can find to fight those fleas? Have you done anything besides trying to get the fleas off the dog? You’re not alone, it’s estimated that there are over 50 million households with pets, and yes, most are not only fighting the war against these pesky parasites, they’re losing the war. Most people don’t realize how devastating losses are. If only 10 percent of these pet owners are treating their yard for fleas, can you imagine the number of harmful chemicals that seep into the groundwater? These chemicals find their way into the sea, where they have been found in fish and seabirds that eat fish. Clean water is a precious resource, we cannot afford to destroy it. Think of all the chemicals that are put into our water now just to make it “safe to drink”; if you want to believe that it is.
Bathing your pet with so-called flea shampoo will leave behind a petrochemical residue that can be dangerous to the pet and the home. If that’s not bad enough, the pet will lick it off and yes, it will take an oral dose. Go to any grocery store and head down the pet care aisle. If you smell the flea products at the store, you are experiencing a nose full of your fumes. Face it, chemicals are released from gases.
You may think that flea powder is a better option. Guess again! After holding your poor animal long enough to sift this nasty substance into his fur, he’ll shake off as much of it as possible, and who could blame him. This fine dust will migrate to anything around you, the carpet, the furniture, and maybe even your own hair. It sure turns your nose up. Maybe this is the universe trying to get you to stop this harmful practice. In either case, the flea powder now goes deeper into the pet’s coat, clearing the way for fleas to continue to travel through the pet’s skin, biting and leaving residue. At the very least, you’ve cluttered up the environment and probably cleaned up the dust inside your house. As we probably all have, don’t give up, at least not the first time.
Flea collars are another dangerous choice we’ve all made. The poison is right there on the collar for the purpose of rubbing it on the pet. Will it spread to anything else, like a small child’s hands, or even your own? Bet! Does your pet sleep on its collar? In your bed? What do you think is happening here? Essentially, we’re just rubbing God knows what kinds of chemicals on us when we sleep with a pet wearing a poison collar. Should you stop interacting with your pet? Absolutely not! Pets are a valuable part of our lives. They offer company and also teach us a lot.
Show them more respect and stop wearing those horrible flea collars.
Continuing your journey through the jungle of parasites, the vet’s office will probably be your next stop. Oh! The flea bath. It has to work! Well why not, it contains a contact killer, and since you got it from the vet, you’ll assume it’s safe. Maybe it will kill the fleas that appeared on the pet today. Of course, dipping in this poison means that some of it will be absorbed into the pet’s skin. Cats are especially sensitive, and baths have been known to kill some. It makes many sick. If you poisoned or debilitated your pet, would you know what to look for? How many hours would you need to watch over your pet? When you pour the sauce, where does the poison go? So many questions, so many weird answers. This should keep you away from flea baths.
The average pet owner is pretty sure a flea spray to spray on the pet on a regular basis will not only work, but is a really easy fix. Coating the outside of the hair doesn’t work because the fleas will travel under it along the skin where they can reach the blood cells. Use this method only if you want a toxic cloud to float over the pet for you to breathe in, or perhaps reach the air conditioning ducts and spread well throughout the house. Remember that these sprays contain poisons. If we inhale them, our body can store them. Many people will think that this is just the price that must be paid, after all this is a war against fleas! The most important question here is, “Do you really want your home to become a toxic waste site?” Residue thrown into your environment will stay there until someone cleans it up. And depending on how you clean, it could make things worse, especially if you’re using chemicals for cleaning. Unless you’re a chemist, don’t assume it’s safe to mix one chemical with another.
Of course, you could always use pet meds, that is, flea medicine that the pet should take. That doesn’t seem fair! Would you be able to tell how bad your pet feels about the side effects? At one time or another, we have all taken a drug that was unpleasant for us. The problem here is communication. The pet cannot tell you that the drug does not suit him.
So, now you’re ready for the “great destruction” weapons. You go for the big guns. You will start using the poison on the nape of the neck. That should fix them, if the fleas show up first, before the trotters. Of course, the liquid can be absorbed through the pet’s skin, entering its bloodstream and going to all parts of its body. Most hearts and livers don’t actually require poisons. And you, did you absorb any? Did you breathe any steam? Does the product still emit vapors? If you can smell it, you may already know the fumes are there. Be aware that many of the spot treatments contain chemicals known to be neurotoxins. Like most of the population, he did not read the label nor would he recognize the names of the neurotoxins. And you probably wouldn’t know that neurotoxins can affect the brain. Your pet may develop a twitch from a neurotoxin. Don’t you wonder if the same thing could happen to you? While the pet is in greater danger from this, the person applying it is not off the hook! This material can be rubbed off and distributed anywhere in the pet’s environment, affecting any life form in this environment. It is important to realize that the difference between flea killing poisons and higher life form killing poisons is simply the size of the dose. Since our bodies can store and accumulate poisons from the environment, we have no way of knowing what may be in store for us as a result of exposure to these poisons.
Recently, there were more than 28,000 sites, on a single search engine, on the Internet related to pesticide poisoning from flea products. Regardless of the reasons, the poisoning occurred because the products were available and a reasonably logical person thought their use was safe. We easily accept everything we are used to seeing. Harmful flea products are in the mainstream of our lives. Just go to any big box feed store, home improvement store, pharmacy, pet food store, and yes, even Walmart, and you can find a flea-fighting arsenal.
Until 1990, I used everything available for flea control. After many bad experiences, I realized that I was waging chemical warfare on my pets, my house, my garden, the environment, and myself as well. Knowing that this had to stop, if I was to survive, I set out to find a pesticide-free way to keep my cats away from fleas. My first step was to eliminate everything that had not worked for me in my war against fleas. So, I had to forget about all the flea products I knew about. Living in Florida meant brushing fleas every hour if the cats went out on the porch, but I did it, plus I spent a good vacuum. After a couple of years of trial and error, I developed a simple, cheap, and safe method that is so effective that cats appear to be “invisible to fleas.” Not only am I happy that I can keep my cats away from fleas, but I feel good about giving up my life of crime against the environment.
There are many sites on the Internet where you can find all the names of the harmful chemicals used in flea products. Anti-pesticide groups offer a lot of valuable information, as do the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Even some animal rescue organizations post warnings against certain products. Personally, I think the terms KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN and WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER HANDLING should give us the clues we need. Plain and simple, don’t use these products, there is something unsafe about them. Trust me, the manufacturer doesn’t just add this information to make the label bigger. There had to be a law somewhere that required them to put up these warnings. The restrictions of this spell do not come to light until damage has been done and until much action has been taken by environmental groups. Your best course of action is to do the research yourself. Don’t wait for the mainstream (corporate) media to tell you what to use to keep your pet away from fleas. The information they decide it should have is influenced by the advertising dollars of the chemical industry.
Visit NRDC flea product information sites and some anti-pesticide group sites. They can be real eye openers. As you look through their sites, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to visit the KEEP FLEAS OFF site at: http://www.liquorman.net/keepfleasoff/.
I suggest you download information on flea poisons and use it as a guide to help protect your environment. After all, we are not only what we eat, but what we absorb through our skin and what we breathe into our lungs. Once a substance enters your bloodstream, it has access to every cell in your bloodstream. One of the few powers, that you still have, is the power to control the environment in your home, USE IT!
