Got Fleas? Dish Soap Kills Them!

[kuntrygirl]

Got Fleas? Dish Soap Kills Them!
by Helen Fazio, Travel Dog Blogger, www.traveldogbooks.com

Fleas are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Equipped with spiny hairs to anchor in a dog's coat, they are armored and resistant to crushing or scratching. They serve no purpose in the great chain of being, except to cause discomfort and spread disease.

One safe way to remove a sudden infestation is to shampoo your dog well with Lemon Joy or Dawn dish soap. These grease-cutting shampoos will kill existing fleas by swiftly destroying the cuticle on their exoskeletons, but you will have to act proactively to prevent further attacks in the immediate area. Special thanks to Buttercup and Miss Dixie Monroe for this great tip!​

 

[pinkfoxfarm]

i use dawn on pups too young for topicals.

my 5 week old rescue pup came to me covered in fleas and i only had generic dish soap..still worked though!, you have to put it on good and thick and make sure every last drop of soap is completly washed away as its drying, but its excelent for pupies and kittens

 

[kuntrygirl]

I agree. I use it when I find stray kittens that someone has dropped off. Works great.

 

[LotsaChicken]

There are only certain dish soaps that will work. Original, blue Dawn is what is most widely used. Rescues and shelters use this alot as a cheap alternative to other products. The way it works is that the oil that is in the Dawn suffocates the fleas. You have to soap the dog up and let him sit with it on for SEVERAL minutes. If you just wash and rinse the fleas will look dead, because they do when they are wet, but they won't really be. You don't want to use this too often on most dogs either...it will cause their skin to get really dry.