Question from Deanna
Hi!
I was wondering if you, or anyone out there has heard of this or has used it, and if so, what kind of results did you get with it?
I am including the web site where I purchased this (see below) because it has lots of information that seemed in line with all the other info I found on other sites. They all said the same thing: it was a natural product, it kills all kinds of pests, is safe for humans & pets, can even be used as a cleanser for internal parasites in humans.
I purchased the food grade DE & also the DE with pyrethins to use on my dog for fleas. I sprinkled the food grade on all the carpeting in my entire house, working it into the nap & left it there for over a week. I also dusted my dog with the DE with pyrethrins. It is supposed to kill the “pests” by drying them up from the inside.
In theory, this all sounds great, but in all honesty, the fleas on my dog (who, by the way, has never had fleas before) got much worse. After about 3-4 days of his constant scratching & agony, I broke down & purchased the old stand-by poison in the vial that is absorbed into his bloodstream.
The powder is extremely fine & dusty & I spent an entire week cleaning dust off of every surface in my house after this. I believe the part about drying the pests up because it really dried my hands & also my dog’s skin.
Debra’s Answer
I personally used to use DE to control fleas on my cat. It did work for that purpose, without pyrethrins, because, as you said, it dries up the flea bodies.
I no longer use it because someone wrote to me and said the dust caused lung problems in cats. How true that is, I don’t know, but, as you said, it is a very fine powder and that made sense to me.
I’d like to hear the experience and thoughts of others regarding DE. It is a natural, nontoxic product. Readers?
Hi, always appreciate Debra’s blog and books, of which I own several. You might want to look on this website in the library or forums for information on DE and on flea issues; the author has written a number of books on organics. DirtDoctor.com. When we had an issue last Spring, and this was unusual for us, we bathed the dog every week with Dr. Bronner’s Eucalyptus Soap, vacuumed nearly daily and changed bags frequently (after vacuuming some borax into the bags), washed dog bedding frequently and dried on high heat, and sprinkled some borax around her areas in the house (let sit for several hours and vacuumed excess). We used orange oil spray outside and also dusted DE in her primary areas outside.
How do you apply it to the cat’s fur, and in what quantity? I’m willing to try anything at this point. I vacuum the entire house every 1-3 days, and have sprayed enough alcohol and vinegar on my floors and furniture to pickle us all in a boozy mix! Enough. The fleas seem to react almost instantly to citrus smells, so I have switched to a lemon oil-vinegar spray. Hopefully, after spreading food-grade DT around the floors and dusting the furniture with it, then spraying the citrus, the fleas will start jumping around in earnest and cut themselves to ribbons. Next is a nematode drench for the yards. Too expensive right now, but we’re working on it.
Many farmers use food-grade DT in chicken yards to keep down mites and fleas without any ill effects, so I decided to dust it in and on my favorite cloth shoes and socks (which fleas seem to love) as a test, and within about a half-hour the crawly feeling I’d had for days is now gone. It’s been about 3 hours and no ankle or leg bites so far. My poor cat and I have lesions all over our skin from these flea bites. If this doesn’t work, I’ll be at wits end with non-toxic solutions.
Our neighborhood is loaded with feral cats which repeatedly infest my indoor/outdoor cat, and now my home. The animal shelters in the area refuse to come and trap these feral cats, as they are all overloaded with feral cats now and have no more room. People getting rid of their unwanted animals see a farm, and think, Oh, Fluffy (who was never neutered) will be safe on a farm–then dump the poor things. It’s terrible! These poor house cats don’t know how to survive outside. They cry at my door, attack my own cat, infest my farm with fleas, and breed more feral cats! I feel so bad for them, but can no longer afford to feed them. So please do not dump your unwanted animals at farms. We don’t need them, nor will we take care of them. In fact, they more often become road kill or meals for Fisher cats. Bring them to an animal shelter and beg if you must. Please!
You don’t need to use a lot. I would just put a couple of tablespoons in your hand, sprinkle it all over the cat and rub in in so it gets well distributed. It will work.