Safe Alternatives to “Spot-On” Flea and Tick Pesticides That Can Harm or Kill Your Dog

Chemical Agents That Kill Bug Pests
Can Also Poison and Kill Beloved Pets

What do chemical spot-applied flea and tick killers all have in common besides deceptively safe-sounding names? The answer is that they may be incapacitating our dogs by turning them into living chemical reservoirs of insecticide.

And if you wonder if the manufacturers knew this when they brought them to market, the answer is probably yes—it’s likely just another case of ‘follow the money’.

Advertising of commercial pet product companies for their chemical-based insecticides is increasingly ubiquitous on TV and the internet, especially insect killer / repellents that ‘go everywhere with your dog’ (in their bodies). They are played up as the convenient answer to today’s busy lifestyles – it’s a major sales strategy. But the convenience is all yours, the profits are all the company’s, and the side-effects these chemicals cause must be suffered by the dog.

Even the product names, like Advantage and Guardian, are designed to make you think they are completely safe for your dog to absorb and carry around in their blood attacking their nervous systems. But don’t be fooled; a quick internet search will turn up hundreds of horror stories of cat and dog owners who used many of these spot-applied brands (Advantage, Frontline, Guardian, Advantix, etc.) and of the pets who suffered severely as a result. Just type in Guardian Flea Killer (or other brand) in an internet search engine.

Spot-on Pesticides Act as Neurotoxins

Spot-on pet products used against fleas and ticks are neurotoxins designed to be absorbed through your dog's skin into their blood stream. Thus the flea or tick bites a dog, ingests the poisoned blood, goes into its death throes, and eventually dies. The product is designed to kill biting insects using a mechanism that supposedly has a maximum impact on the bugs, and a minimal health impact on the host animal. But anything that poisons the entire blood stream has to have far-reaching effects on the host animal. A minimal impact dose for one animal could be lethal to another, even adjusting for weight - the usage tolerances are just too close for real safety.  ‘Nervous’ or high-strung breeds are particularly susceptible to neurotoxin adverse side-effects, convulsions, and death.

Who Knew These Products Were Dangerous?

Well, let’s start with the EPA.  In April 2009, the Washington office of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) announced that they were increasing their investigations of the strong pesticides used for flea and tick control of our nation’s cats and dogs and widely advertised as ‘safe when applied as directed’. The problem, however, is that American pet owners must be very stupid or very contrary, because if this “use as directed” statement is true, thousands of them are NOT applying these products as directed.  With the results they have been getting, who really believes this?

One month afterward, Boston’s Channel 5 Investigative Team (the Boston Channel.com I-Team) reported on this stating that the EPA admitted that they had received 44,000 complaints about the spot-on flea and tick killing products in 2008. All in one year – and they said nothing about what they knew and provided no early warning while pets were dying?

Marketing people are quick to point out that one complaint is generally equal to 300 or more people that did not complain because they did not know how, or to whom. One might be led to ponder if this were purposeful action--or inaction--designed to protect big business at the cost of our dogs' lives.

These chemical pet products are intended to address a huge market of pet owners who hate that their poor dogs and cats are scratching at fleas all the time. They don’t want fleas and ticks on their pets, on their kids, or in their homes. Product makers must have thought that the sick dogs and cats wouldn’t be noticed or their nearly instant symptoms or fatalities wouldn’t be traced back to them. So how many pets were deemed to be expendable so that these companies could make their annual profits?

What Safely Kills Biting Insects Effectively?

Have you ever tried to kill a tick without squashing it underfoot?  And if they aren’t full of blood, they are even more resistant. Ticks can’t be drowned because they breathe only once every five hours. Flush them down the toilet and they are gone, but likely pop to the surface elsewhere to continue their blight-propagating lives.

Ticks are incredibly hardy, cannot be suffocated, and are resistant to many chemicals. After removing one from an animal, try placing it in jar cover, spray it with alcohol, and notice it barely slows it down. Dousing it in insect spray does little more; the insecticide contaminates its surroundings, but may kill the tick (hours later) only by smothering it in oil, as much as due to its poison.

Fleas are relatively easy to kill – and individual ones can be dispatched with a well-placed fingernail on their exterior shell. But their numbers make them impossible to deal with one-on-one.  Owners need more than a Russian roulette trade-off, sacrificing their dogs as ‘insect magnets’ using one-drop neurotoxin treatments while the dog grows sick, tormented, and might die from the chemical poisons in these ‘spot-on’ pet products. What is needed is a broad spectrum flea and tick killer and a way to use it without contaminating homes and children, or harming pets with pesticides that are classified as ‘toxic waste’ (as all pesticides are). An effective solution must also deal with pest eggs and larvae that come to life even long after adult bugs are dead.

Treating only your dog with insecticide in an effort to keep fleas and ticks out of your home is both futile and cruel, sacrificing the dog for the sake of its environment. The little biting buggers may already have left their time-bomb eggs in the house, set to go off whether the adults get to lunch on Fido or not. Their blood-sucking progeny are ready to hatch in the right temperatures and humidity to torment you and your dog even years later—unless you can treat your yard and your home as well as your dog, with a safe natural product in the meantime.

What Types of Natural Flea / Tick
Killers Are Safe Inside the Home?

Pet owners have several choices besides forcing their dogs to absorb insecticide to keep them safe from blood-sucking fleas and ticks that prey on them and may infect them with any number of infections such as Lyme disease:

–       keep their pets indoors constantly, reducing their quality of life
–       allow pets outside briefly,  but constantly wash and groom them afterward to remove such pests
–       use safe pest repellants to keep bugs off pets while not harming the pets themselves

One new type of technology being offered against biting pests is magnetic tags that attach to a dog collar or a farm animal’s harness.  Magnetic tags have been found to be very effective at repelling biting insects for humans, pets, and farm animals.

For natural products, pure Pine oil in a spray bottle does a great job as an insect repellent and treats the pain of insect bites and stings almost instantly. Pine pitch has been used for centuries by Native Americans and outdoorsmen for antiseptic purposes on humans, but is very high in turpines and there are better products for dogs and cats. Cats should not be treated with high turpine products because they will lick it off their body, causing salivatiing, upset stomach, and malaise.

Another natural substance, and one of the best against biting insects is Cedar oil, which is lower in turpines and has always been used as a general-purpose repellent and killer for biting insects. Made from the oil of Texas cedar trees, it is safe to use inside the home and out, and on and around people and pets. When used as an insect killer, it is called cedarcide, and is used to stop fleas, ticks, lice, termites, and bed bug infestations. Various forms of it are available, including cedar oil sprays, cedar powders, and cedar granules.

Cedarcide was developed for the U.S. Army to protect our soldiers and their service dogs against sand fleas, scorpions, biting flies and other insect pests, and even venomous snakes in the Middle East; a hefty task at best – and one that previously had never been satisfactorily accomplished. A long drawn out government paperwork cycle causing delays in bulk shipping has resulted in the Cedarcide web site posting information enabling anyone to purchase cedarcide to send care packages overseas to soldiers, and family members, to preclude them becoming innocent victims of governmental red tape.

Cedarcide has proven to be one of the most effective biting parasite controls ever created, and is made without chemicals from completely natural ingredients, primarily food grade Red Cedar oil and melted quartz rock. It is completely bio-degradable and safe around humans, infants, pregnant women, wildlife, frogs, birds, honey bees, and beneficial insect predators such as praying mantises, ladybugs, and dragonflies. At the same time it repels (or kills on contact) biting insects such as mosquitoes, chiggers, fleas, ticks, head lice, bed bugs, and deer flies, as well as repelling wasps, yellow jackets, and most spiders. (It is important to take usual cautions spraying any oil, even something as benign as vegetable oil, as a sprayed oil coats the exterior of bugs and other living creatures, potentially clogging pores and resulting in incapacitation or suffocation.)

As a yard spray, cedarcide oil was found to be extremely efficient at repelling and killing all pheromone-driven biting insects, including mosquitoes, deer flies, and black flies, and kills even most ticks within 45 seconds. Cedarcide spray can be used to clear yards completely of all fleas and ticks dropped by animals and birds, and makes the job of keeping these pests off family members a whole lot easier.

Chemical Sensitivities Are Nothing
New For Dogs or Humans

Many breeds of dogs have been tested to be extremely sensitive to chemicals and neurotoxins, including sheepdogs, St. Bernards, Dalmatians, retrievers, spaniels, collies, and many individual dogs of other species. Purebred dogs are often more sensitive than mongrels and mutts whose bloodlines provide stronger resistance because of their diversity.

The 1960’s brought in some new lawn pesticides and herbicides that were in broad use shortly after reaching the market. Soon tales began to circulate of dogs and puppies ‘having fits’ after playing on treated lawns, but it took a long time for information to get out to the public as to what was causing it. It wasn’t until parents realized their children were also becoming victims of chemical poisoning and its side effects that it began to get more attention and was isolated to lawn products.

Likewise, it has been years of animals suddenly ‘behaving badly’ when exposed to ‘spot-on’ flea and tick killers before investigations began in earnest to determine toxicity that contradicted manufacturer safety advertising. Buyers want so badly to trust manufacturers and believe that they really have our and our pets’ best interests at heart. But with owners’ busy lifestyles and economic stresses, our loyal little friends who cannot speak for themselves have taken the brunt of dishonest or ignorant business practices involving incomplete or unproven safety testing behind currently marketed pet insecticides, which have proved a problem for almost ten years.

Big chemical companies are really only concerned about their product side effects to the extent that it negatively impacts their sales. If our children are permitted to be targets, as in the case of topical sprays of DEET, it’s clear that our pets have even less protection from such things. These businesses provide deep discounts to retailers and bulk buyers, including veterinary practices, so we can’t even depend on veterinarians to be the first line of defense for our dogs. It’s really all about the profits, and the loss of a few dogs and cats here and there is not an issue to “Corporate Chemical Company, Inc.,” as long as their bottom line is favorably advanced.

How to De-Flea Your Dog

The following steps explain how to use Cedarcide to get rid of ticks, fleas, and their eggs in your house and your yard, and effectively de-flea your pet for everyone’s comfort and safety.

Step 1 is to treat the dog with cedar oil spray.  A dog’s sense of smell is many times that of a human’s. Pure Cedar oil has a strong smell whose odor, but not effectiveness, evaporates in a short time. While safer than chemicals, a dog may initially find it objectionable fresh out of the bottle, and the spraying sound may also be frightening as well. It may help to have two people, with one to hold and calm the dog, and the other to accomplish a safe application.  Performing this procedure outside or on a cement or linoleum surface will enable you to see the fleas and ticks dropping off.

When spraying the dog’s head, point the spray toward the back of the dog and away from the eyes and ears. Then do the body by brushing the coat backward to expose the roots of the fur and spray straight down to the skin, never toward the head or face, starting with the neck and working backward toward the tail. Use a clean rag sprayed with cedarcide to gently wipe behind and inside the ears, and under the jaw, leaving a light oil coating, and wipe into the fur under the collar.

Spray or wipe the belly, armpits, and over and under the tail near the rectum. Last, wipe down the legs and feet. You can watch the fleas and ticks fall to the floor. Unlike the burning of spot-on chemicals, cedarcide soothes the skin and itching stops immediately. The dog’s skin will begin to heal quickly from bites because cedar oil is anti-bacterial and promotes moisturizing of sore or dry skin. Using a flea comb gently afterward will distribute the spray and pick up ticks that died but hadn’t released yet.

Once the dog is treated, the spray will act as a natural insect repellent. It does not wash off with water so one treatment should last several weeks, and rain even refreshes its activity – check by the fresh smell of cedar on the dog’s coat. Cedarcide can also be used to bathe horses and farm animals to repel fleas and ticks.

How to De-Flea Your Home

Step 2 involves de-fleaing the home. This can be done one room at a time, using cedarcide spray to cover the floor all along the walls – moving furniture as necessary--as well as the floor surface and rugs. It should be sprayed up walls and woodwork for two feet, on the legs of furniture, and under bureaus and desks. It can be applied to box springs and mattresses, and works in kitchen cabinets against cereal beetles and flour moths. Once a room is sprayed thoroughly, close it off for 2-3 hours until the odor dissipates. The initial strong smell changes to a fresh natural cedar smell.

How to De-Flea Your Yard, Barn, or Kennel

Step 3 is to de-bug the yard, outbuildings, or other areas by spraying cedarcide over the yard, barn areas, or kennels.This  concentrated natural oil can be applied with a garden hose and sprayer. It is safe and effective and used by many serious green exterminators.

Spray soaking the lawn and yard with cedar oil spray literally dissolves bugs along with their eggs and larvae. It should be sprayed on and under decks, along building foundations, on the outside walls of homes, on any wood, brick, or stucco surface up to the soffits. This washes away insects living around or under siding and trim. Heavily spraying the house allows the residue to drain into the soil to kill bugs near the house and deters termite infestations. Flower beds, shrubbery, patios, stairways, tool sheds, swing sets, sandboxes, compost piles, and outbuildings can be sprayed without harming them. It will, however, eliminate the food supply of any insect eating birds, so you will not see them as often.

Cedar oil can also be beneficial and protective sprayed on trees to repel Asian Longhorned beetles (which do not like conifers). Tree trunks should be sprayed up to the first branch to dispose of any clinging pests, and are lethal to gypsy moths and protect fruit trees. Rain actually revives earlier uses. Using cedarcide as a yard spray has no adverse effect on beneficial insects, which are sight-driven rather than pheromone-driven, nor does it harm pollinating insects.

One Initial Outdoor Treatment
Provides Long Term Benefits

Once the dog, the house, and the yard are treated, there is a safe environment without biting insects. Nothing new will hatch when the seasons change. Using cedar oil yard spray kills adult fleas and ticks on contact or if they ‘inhale’ it, as well as immediately deactivating larval and egg stages. This spray can also be used in attics or barns where rats or squirrels may have brought fleas or ticks, without harming barn animals.

The cedarcide spray contains silanes spiked with cedar oil instead of chemicals. Silanes are commonly used in human personal care products like shaving gels, deodorants, fabric softeners, hair conditioners, and many home products. Unlike strong chemical insecticides, cedar oil products are the only ones, natural or otherwise, that instantly kill fleas, ticks, mites, lice and bedbugs, most of which are generally resistant to household chemicals and insecticides.

Cedar Oil is a Safe Insect
Repellent for Humans Too

Cedarcide is completely non-toxic. It can be used when camping or just working outdoors, on clothing and on the skin, to repel mosquitoes and other biting insects, unlike toxic products containing DEET. It is not a neurotoxin and can be safely applied to the skin of babies, children, adults, and pets.

Other forms of cedar can be used to repel biting insects including Cedar powder, which can be obtained in small bags and used under pet bedding. Cedar granules can be sprinkled on lawn borders to prevent fleas, ticks and even snakes from yard entry. Once bugs are dealt with, many insect eating rodents like possums and skunks will find other areas to forage. Dogs will be happier without parasitic biting insects on them or in their bedding, or  suffering the side effects of neurotoxin products that can bring misery, moodiness, or fatality.  Cedar oil was long-used as a bug repellent by pioneer families and it works just as well today.

Natural products are always a safer option to use about people and animals, and there is never an excuse to risk harming our pets by neglecting to find out the side effects of products we intend to use for their good.