Choosing a natural flea repellent for cats just makes sense. After all, preventing fleas is much easier than getting rid of flea infestation. In addition, cats are smaller and more sensitive to traditional flea pesticides than dogs, which makes it even more difficult to scare fleas on cats with traditional pesticides.
Natural Flea Treatments For Cats
With natural flea repellents, you can avoid toxic problems without getting away from fleas. Victory is victory, right? It depends. You see, natural doesn’t always mean harmless, especially when it comes to cats. As cat owners already know well – cats, of course, are different from dogs. And nowhere is this more obvious than in the case of natural flea remedies.
Natural Remedies for Fleas That Are No Toxic to Cats
Since the bodies of cats are built in different ways, our feline friends are more prone to adverse reactions, even when we are dealing with completely natural products. That is why many of the natural remedies for fleas that work for dogs are not recommended for cats.
Here is a review of popular natural flea remedies that you should not use on your cat:
Lemon Juice
There is a good reason why lemon juice is used as a repellent for cats and a teaching aid – it is very offended for cats. Just the smell of it is that cats will try their best to avoid. This is not in vain, as eating citrus fruits of any kind – not just lemon – can cause nausea in cats, causing gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Therefore, the use of lemon juice or any citrus products, especially the concentrated variant, such as d-limonene, is not only cruel but can also cause poisoning if ingested. And knowing how much cats like to care for themselves, the likelihood that they will be swallowed is quite high. Avoid this natural “medicine.”
Essential Oils
Most natural flea products use a combination of potent essential oils, such as cinnamon, clove, rosemary, mint, and cedar, instead of pesticides. These essential oils are composed of compounds that are generally harmless to humans and dogs but can accumulate in the cat’s body, causing problems with toxicity, damage to the liver, and even death.
Note that these are not all essential oils – these are mainly those that contain a lot of phenols and hydrocarbons, which you need to avoid. But this in itself is a fairly comprehensive list, which includes some of the most popular essential oils that kill fleas, such as mint, tea tree, cedar, clove, pine, orange oil, and more.
Garlic
A popular natural remedy for fleas includes mixing garlic with the gifts of pets to make their blood unattractive to fleas. It sounds like a good idea until you remember that garlic can be toxic to cats.
In fact, all members of the onion family can cause problems when consumed in large quantities. It can be quite safe in small quantities for a healthy cat, but we do not recommend taking risks, especially because it can cause life-threatening anemia in cats.
Natural Flea Remedies, Safe for Cats
Well, now that you know what kind of natural flea repellents you should avoid using on your cat, here is a summary of natural flea products that can be safely used on your cat to keep fleas!
Apple Vinegar
Vinegar has a high concentration of acetic acid, which fleas do not like. In fact, it does not kill fleas, so it will not bring much benefit if your cat is already experiencing a strong infection with fleas, but it serves as a good natural remedy for fleas.
You can use it locally on your cat as a flea. Again, it is not as effective as real flea shampoo, but it has the advantage that it is all-natural. To use as a bath, mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 pint of water and gently pour into your cat’s fur. Rinse the vinegar thoroughly.
If your cat hates baths as much as a flea hates, another option is to make a natural flea spray using apple cider vinegar. To use ACV in an aerosol, mix equal amounts of apple cider vinegar and water in an aerosol can and use as needed – i.e. before your cat goes outside – to prevent fleas.
Another option for using apple cider vinegar as a natural flea repellent is to add it to your cat’s drinking water, although it can be difficult because your cat may simply not drink water!
So start very, very little with half a teaspoon of ACV per day mixed with drinking water. The maximum dose for ACV should be one teaspoon per day.
Herbal Home Flea Spray for Cats
Essential oils can be toxic to cats, but there is a list of insect repellent herbs that are perfectly safe to use on cats in the form of grass.
Here is a list of herbs that check:
- Catmint;
- Basil leaf;
- Lemon balm;
- Hyssop;
- Lavender buds;
- Lemon Verbena;
- Neem sheet;
- Rosemary Leaf;
- Thyme Leaves.
Using a combination of these herbs, you can prepare your homemade flea spray or drop it for your cat.
Here are two ways to do this:
- Boil water and add insect decoction. Twist until the water has cooled, and then either spray it on your cat as a remedy for fleas or use as a dipping to pour all of her cat (your cat may prefer the first one). Let it air dry without washing it off.
- Mix apple cider vinegar with herbal preparations of your choice and leave in a tightly closed jar for the mason for 2 weeks, shaking daily to mix. Strain the mixture with cheesecloth or a coffee filter and use as a flea spray.
Neem Shampoo or Spray
Neem is a medicinal plant that has been used in Ayurveda for thousands of years. In the west, it is best known as a natural insecticide and insect repellent, but its use goes far beyond its limits, and it also has anti-ulcer and fungicidal properties.
It also offers a form of natural protection against fleas. Neem can be found in many forms – oil, shampoo, and spray, but we recommend shampoo, as it can be washed off, and a lingering aroma may be enough to scare off fleas. Neem oil is concentrated and can be licked by your cat so that you can avoid it.
The spray is also good, but your cat may hate it. Use a spray from Neem to repel fleas from your cat’s bedding, bedding, furniture and places where your cat likes to rest. Just be careful when buying products from him to make sure that they do not have essential oils that can be problematic for cats!
Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
We love the diatomaceous earth (de). This is all-natural, very affordable and very effective against all pests with exoskeletons, which include everything from fleas to bed bugs. Curious how it works? Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a fine white powder consisting of fossilized diatoms, such as ancient algae.
This works when the powder is attached to the outer shells of fleas, cutting flea exoskeletons and causing small bloodsuckers to dry out and eventually die from dehydration (basically, it sucks them dry, absorbing their natural fluids).
And it does it all without pesticides or toxicity problems. The only disadvantage is that DE requires consistency and patience. You see, diatomaceous earth is very effective at killing fleas, but they must come into direct contact with the substance, and even then dehydration takes some time to die.
To use, simply apply it to your cat like a dry shampoo and be sure to avoid your cat’s face when you apply so that it does not breathe it. You can also use it on the carpet and around the house to kill all the fleas that come into contact with it. Scatter it evenly over the surface, leave for at least a week, vacuum clean (together with dead fleas), and then repeat if necessary.
Brewer’s Yeast
While garlic can be dangerous, no, there is another supplement that is useful for scaring fleas and for your cat’s overall health: brewer’s yeast. Fleas hate the taste and smell of this substance, so a stable supplement will help your cat stay away from fleas.
It also has several additional benefits, such as improved skin condition and hair loss. Today, our favorite brand is Pro-Sense chewing beer yeast tablets, as they do not contain garlic and lots of vitamins that are useful for cats and beer yeast!
Flea Traps
Here is a completely non-toxic natural flea repellent that does not include what you put on your cat or something in it: set a flea trap.
Cat fleas are so attracted to light sources that when placed in a dark place more than 90% of them move to a lighted place in less than an hour. This is why flea traps are so convenient.
Install these traps in places where fleas like to hide – that is, where your cat hangs out, as well as in dark, closed rooms in the house, for example, under a bed and a sofa – and just plug them into the nearest outlet. In this way, fleas trapped in your home will be detected and killed – before you have a complete infection in your hands.
Good Health
Sometimes the simplest things do the best defense. In the case of fleas, this is good health. The best protection against fleas – and other unwanted invaders such as heartworms – is good overall health. A strong immune system and high levels of nutrients can help your cat repel fleas.
Therefore, before contacting any fleas or remedies, the best thing you can do for your cat is to make sure that she is on a balanced diet, properly cares and regularly plays sports. This can go a long way in strengthening your flea’s cat’s protection!
