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Home Remedies to Kill Fleas on Dogs

Variety of bowls and bottles with dried flowers and essential oils

Fighting the Good Fight

When you live in a region that has a lot of fleas, you need to find the right remedies to kill them off. One drawback to using top chemical options is that those chemical ingredients may be too harsh for your dog to handle.

They also take some time to work. You could go natural but most natural remedies take even longer to work. There are some exceptions to the rule though and you can get good results quickly when you find them.

To learn more about these options just continue to read our article. It explores the topic so you have the information you need to fight the good fight.

How do flea collars work? Check out our post “Do flea collars kill fleas already on dogs?” to learn more.

What is the Best Homemade Flea Killer?

Brown glass spray bottle full of liquid against a white background

There are too many homemade remedies to effectively describe which one is the best. Most of them are all good and handle fleas as an exterminator would. Then like the commercial chemical options, not all homemade flea remedies work on all dogs.

What is best for one pet owner may not work for another. It will depend on your dog, its size, and other factors if the homemade option will work or not. One of the easiest and best to use would be the soap dish option.

This home remedy only requires some Dawn dishwashing liquid, a small bowl, and some water. The soapy water attracts those fleas and drowns them once they step foot in the mixture.

The good part about this option is that you can place several bowls around your house to capture and kill fleas. It will take as long as attracting the fleas to kill them. Another good home remedy would be baking soda and salt mixed together.

Both these ingredients dehydrate the flea, and they also kill the eggs and larvae. This is an all-around flea killer. But the killing time takes anywhere between 4 and 12 hours. It is slow but it gets every stage of flea life.

Many of the home remedies listed on other websites are only flea repellent. That means you are not killing any fleas, just moving them away from your pet. You can still get bit and you will not kill those eggs and larvae.

This means that you will have fleas around your home for a long time. One more good home remedy would be your vacuum cleaner. Fleas are not that strong and can be sucked up by the vacuum and killed in the process.

The drawback to this method is that not all those fleas and eggs will be killed.

What Kills Fleas on Dogs Instantly Naturally?

Dog getting a bath

The only option you may have here is a bath. Fleas cannot swim and they cannot walk on water. That means giving your dog a bath should kill those fleas faster than Capstone can.

Capstone can kill fleas that land on your dog’s body within 30 minutes, but it is a chemical treatment and not a natural one. A bath is a natural one that has no chemicals in it. The water will get rid of adult fleas, eggs, and larvae.

Plus, you do not have to clean up the dead fleas. You can wash them down the drain. You can also use flea shampoo if you want but water is the quickest method. Or you can try some hydrogen peroxide on your garden to kill fleas fast.

There is no word on how fast this product works but it is supposed to be toxic to fleas. Many of these products are trial and error. You have to see which one works the best for your pet. This will take some time to figure out.

It never hurts to use more than one remedy as flea repellent helps keep fleas away from your home.

Other Flea Options

Human hand holding a box of Hot Shot Bedbug and Flea fogger

These other options are not natural, but they should work on all flea life stages. The drawback is that you will have to leave your home and cover a lot of items to use them.

A good flea bomb will make sure to get those fleas no matter where they are hiding. That is the drawback of natural remedies. They do not all get into those dark nooks and cracks to kill or repel those fleas.

A good flea bomb will, and you can clear your house of fleas in a day. Just follow all the instructions correctly.

Some Final Words

Portrait of a black, tan, and white dog against a pink background.

Getting rid of fleas naturally is a healthy method to use. However, not all-natural remedies work quickly, nor do they all kill fleas. Repelling them is good only if you do it outside your home.

If you try to do it inside, they will just run and hide. Find the best ways to kill those fleas and stick with them.

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