Fleas, which are tiny brown insects, feed on a dog's blood to survive. When a dog becomes infested with fleas, it can be hard to treat, as one female flea can lay up to 20,000 eggs within three months. The fleas will bite the dog's skin, drinking its blood. The saliva produced by the fleas causes an allergic reaction in the dog, making the dog's skin itchy and swollen. According to Earth Clinic, even though veterinary treatment is the surest way to kill fleas, home remedies work just as well.
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Bathing
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Bathing helps eliminate fleas because the shampoo, when left on the dog's skin for a few minutes, smothers the fleas. An herbal shampoo containing pine cedar or citronella will help kill the fleas due to their natural low resistance to these herbs. The dog should be lathered thoroughly, allowing the lather to rest on the skin for five to 10 minutes before rinsing. The process should be repeated three times to ensure all fleas are killed. The dog should be bathed in the bath tub so that any fleas removed from its body will be washed down the drain. Fleas do not drown in water.
Diet
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Adding garlic to the dog's food will help rid it of fleas. Fleas find the dog's blood undesirable once it has a high amount of garlic in its system. The addition of sulphur pills to the dog's diet once weekly will also deter the fleas from feeding on the dog.
Skin Rubs
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According to Earth Clinic, rubbing a mixture of 10 parts olive oil and 1 part rubbing alcohol on the dog's coat and skin will help kill fleas. The oil smothers the fleas while the rubbing alcohol adversely affects their soft bodies. The rubbing alcohol also helps kill the bacteria that the fleas leave behind on the dog's skin.
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