by Catie

Created on: July 15, 2008   Last Updated: September 18, 2009

Using non-toxic flea control for my cats and their environment has been a quest of mine for years. Living in Florida we have an extensive flea problem that is almost impossible to deal with.

My first cat was exposed to toxic flea treatments during his bi-weekly trips to the vet for a flea bath and dip while I used flea bombs in our apartment. These things contain massive amounts of pesticide, and while I knew it was bad for both of us, I knew of no other options.

Then one day, while at lunch, a group of my friends and I were discussing our mutual flea problems. A very nice woman who was sitting nearby, interrupted us and explained that she had worked for years with a local pest control service and could give us a safe and easy alternative to deal with the fleas While leery and unsure of the validity of her statement, I decided to try her suggestion.

So on my next day off I sent my cat to the vet for his final flea bath and dip. While he was gone I put into effect her suggestion. For the next few weeks I watched and checked for fleas, but try as I might No Fleas Were Ever found again.

Her secret you ask. 20 Mule Team Borax Powder. After an intense vacuuming of my carpet per her instructions, I generously poured the powder onto my carpet and worked it into the fiber with a broom until it became invisible to the naked eye. She also suggested that I sprinkle it on my upholstered furniture and bedding, and work it into those fabrics

The only issue I had with this process, however, was that she recommended I should not vacuum the carpet for the next 3 weeks while the flea cycle was broken.

Well, I must say that much to my amazement, I never saw another flea, and my cat never scratched again until one day a friend came to visit with her dog.

A couple of days later, my cat began to scratch and sure enough we had fleas again!

So with my new found knowledge in hand, I applied more Borax to the carpet. This woman had also told me that Dawn Dish washing Liquid killed fleas on contact and was harmless to my cat. So as instructed, I bathed my cat in Original Dawn Dish Washing Liquid. I was completely amazed because the fleas were killed on contact.

I do however have one very valuable tidbit of advice. Please, do be careful about the amount of Dawn you use. I discovered the hard way that your cat can get extremely soapy and very slippery real quick. Holding on to a slippery cat while trying to rinse out too much soap is not an easy thing to do, so do be careful with the amount of soap you use.

That was in l995. I lived in that apartment until 2003 and never saw another flea.
To date our life has been completely flea-less.

If for any reason we get fleas in our new apartment, I will repeat this process with no worry about the health of myself or my cats. I have proven to myself that this is a safe and effective treatment for a flea infestation.

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