Cheap, easy home remedy for fleas

This week I got an unexpected new member of the family: 

We’ve named him Fred Lewis. I wanted to call him Lewis and my roommate wanted Fred, so he has two names. It’s an odd combination, but it works. 

Here in the North, there are so many stray dogs, with new stray puppies being born all the time. The unfortunate truth is that come winter time most of them die from exposure or get eaten by bigger wildlife. To combat this slow, painful way of dying, many Northern communities participate in “Dog Day,” a day on which it is legal (and encouraged) to shoot as many dogs as possible that are not tied up in someone’s yard or inside someone’s house. 

It sounds terrible, but having lived here for a month and seeing how many dogs there really are, I’ve come to accept Dog Day as a necessity of the North. 

This face, however, is not the face of a Dog Day victim. 

One unfortunate part of taking in a stray puppy is the health concerns involved. Fred Lewis was absolutely coated, head to toe, in fleas. There were thousands of them. Their tiny disgusting bodies were numerous enough to create a second skin on poor Fred Lewis. 

This had to be addressed immediately. But up North, our one store does not stock any flea medication, so I hit Google for home remedies. 

This was what I found: 

Did you know that one of Dawn Dish Soap’s key ingredients is formaldehyde? As in the chemical used for embalming. Sounds delicious. 

Well, turns out formaldehyde works wonders for killing fleas really fast. 

So off I went to the bathtub, armed with Dawn, Fred Lewis, and a head lice comb. Starting with his head and working towards his tail, I lathered up Fred Lewis, rinsed him off, and repeated about 3 times. Within minutes the fleas were turning dark brown and falling from Fred Lewis’ body by the handful. 

The only thing to be extra cautious about is Fred Lewis’ poor eyes. Doggy eyes are very sensitive to water, and even more sensitive to soaps, so please, please, please be careful not to get the eyes. I scrubbed the top of his head, his ears, his chin, and his cheeks. For his face and snout, I simply picked off any fleas I could see with my fingers. 

After soaping him up about four times, I ran a lice comb through his fur, paying extra attention to his underarms and neck. This simply removed all of the flea carcasses. For a mild case of fleas, this step could easily be left out. 

He was not impressed with the whole process:

I repeated this whole process the following day, and more flea bodies washed down the drain. Today was the third day, and when I washed him, I did not see any flea bodies floating by, so I think he’s clear for now. I will wash him once a day for the next four or five days to make sure any eggs have hatched and been killed. 

As of today, the only scratching I’ve seen him do is directed at his scabs (of which there are a lot due to the intensity of his infestation). With time those will heal. I’ve ordered a worm medication online since fleas carry worms and often infect our doggy friends. 

He seems much happier now, all for the cost of a bottle of Dawn. Hey, now maybe I should wash up those dishes in the sink…