by Louise Mclean, LCCH.
My beautiful tabby cat died last August 2016, aged nearly 19 years! Sadly she was struggling with end stage kidney disease, a frequent problem with elderly cats. She was dearly loved by the family and it was terribly sad for us to lose her.
However, throughout her life she battled with fleas every summer, as did we! Various veterinary options were tried but usually they seemed to worsen her health, sometimes appearing to cause mats all over her coat, which were obviously very difficult to remove but generally dropped off over time.
I was always looking for a safe natural option to remove the fleas but only during the last years of her life did I find it.
Diatomaceous Earth is a white volcanic ash full of healthy minerals. It is also death to a flea, as the second the flea touches this white powder, its skeleton cracks and it dies.
As Diatomaceous Earth is healthy for a cat to eat in small quantities, it can be brushed through their fur and this will kill the fleas. In fact if the cat eats a little of it when grooming her fur, it will kill any worms in their body as well!
With regard to your carpets, the best way I found is to take a sieve and gently sieve the powder all over at least one of your carpets where the cat tends to go. You need to leave it for about 2 or 3 weeks to make sure that all of the fleas, which hop from room to room, will end up touching it.
I chose the front room carpet which is a pale grey colour, so that the white powder would not be a problem (rather than for example a red carpet).
After a couple of weeks, when I wanted to hoover up the powder, I used my old hoover. I have an old hoover as well as a new one. I used the old hoover to eventually hoover up all the white powder when I was quite sure all the fleas were gone. The powder will block up your hoover a bit, so you will need to be prepared to perhaps throw out an old one. Otherwise of course you can brush up the powder but that obviously means it is a little more difficult, perhaps blowing in your face and being breathed in, unlikely to be good for the lungs.
Sacrificing an old hoover was well worth 19 years of suffering from fleas in the home, sometimes on a small scale, sometimes more widespread but I can confirm that the Diatomaceous Earth really does remove them all.
However, throughout her life she battled with fleas every summer, as did we! Various veterinary options were tried but usually they seemed to worsen her health, sometimes appearing to cause mats all over her coat, which were obviously very difficult to remove but generally dropped off over time.
I was always looking for a safe natural option to remove the fleas but only during the last years of her life did I find it.
Diatomaceous Earth is a white volcanic ash full of healthy minerals. It is also death to a flea, as the second the flea touches this white powder, its skeleton cracks and it dies.
As Diatomaceous Earth is healthy for a cat to eat in small quantities, it can be brushed through their fur and this will kill the fleas. In fact if the cat eats a little of it when grooming her fur, it will kill any worms in their body as well!
With regard to your carpets, the best way I found is to take a sieve and gently sieve the powder all over at least one of your carpets where the cat tends to go. You need to leave it for about 2 or 3 weeks to make sure that all of the fleas, which hop from room to room, will end up touching it.
I chose the front room carpet which is a pale grey colour, so that the white powder would not be a problem (rather than for example a red carpet).
After a couple of weeks, when I wanted to hoover up the powder, I used my old hoover. I have an old hoover as well as a new one. I used the old hoover to eventually hoover up all the white powder when I was quite sure all the fleas were gone. The powder will block up your hoover a bit, so you will need to be prepared to perhaps throw out an old one. Otherwise of course you can brush up the powder but that obviously means it is a little more difficult, perhaps blowing in your face and being breathed in, unlikely to be good for the lungs.
Sacrificing an old hoover was well worth 19 years of suffering from fleas in the home, sometimes on a small scale, sometimes more widespread but I can confirm that the Diatomaceous Earth really does remove them all.
Make sure you buy the Food Grade, Fresh Water Source Diatomaceous Earth. I get mine from Health Leads UK.
