The question of how to kill fleas is at the forefront of dozens of calls and emails I get each month, and with good reason.
There are over a million species of insect on the planet. With all that buzz, the common flea emerges as one of the most wily and successful.
It’s no wonder that companies selling flea killer products are topping $9 billion a year in sales and climbing.
But are all flea controls created equal? Do some work better than others? An even better question is, among the flea treatments that do the job equally well, are there some that harm more than just fleas?
Responsible dog and cat lovers want to know not only how to kill fleas, but also how to kill fleas without endangering the themselves, their children, their pets or their planet.
So I researched five popular flea remedies for dogs and cats, and uncovered some revealing information. Laboratory test results conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show most name-brand flea treatments kill fleas dead as dead can be. But a whopping four out of five products cause adverse health effects in laboratory dogs and cats. Here are the findings.
How To Kill Fleas:
5 Different Products (Actually there are 8 different products, but still only 1 responsible choice)
Frontline Top Spot and Frontline Plus, made by multi-national drug company Merial Limited, uses Fipronel as its active ingredient. EPA test results show Fipronil is a neurotoxin and suspected human cancer agent. Fipronil can cause liver toxicity, thyroid cancer, kidney damage, raised cholesterol, lack of coordination, labored breathing, miscarriages and stunted offspring.
Advantage, made by drug giant Bayer, uses the insecticide Imidacloprid. When tested on dogs, Imidacloprid was shown to be neurotoxic, also causing a breakdown of coordination, labored breathing, lesions of the thyroid, reduced birth weight, and increased birth defects in all laboratory animals tested.
New to the flea scene is ProMeris, made by Fort Dodge, a division of giant drug maker Wyeth. Active ingredients include metaflumizone and amitraz. Ever since EPA approval in mid-2007, ProMeris has been plagued with complaints from users. Severe adverse symptoms in both owners and their pets include lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, disorientation, depression, nervous twitching, and hyper salivation.
Four popular flea products use the active ingredients Permethrin, Methoprene, or Pyriproxyfen. These toxic chemicals cause a variety of complications ranging from enlarged livers and degradation of the kidneys to lung cancer, liver tumors, and endocrine disruption in laboratory animals. These popular flea killer brands are Adams Spot-On Flea & Tick Control; BioSpot Flea & Tick Control; Defend EXspot Treatment; and Zodiac FleaTrol Spot On.
Finally, our how-to-kill-fleas quest brings us to TripleSure Natural Flea and Tick Spray for Dogs and Cats. Active ingredients in TripleSure include natural cedar oil and peppermint oil, both of which have been tested and proven to be 100% safe and harmless to humans, animals, fish and birds. In fact, the EPA classifies TripleSure’s active ingredients as posing “insignificant risk to humans, animals and the environment.”
Yet TripleSure natural flea control works three ways: 1. it KILLS fleas and ticks on contact; 2. it REPELS fleas, ticks, flies, mosquitoes and stinging insects, and 3. it RETARDS new insect infestations.
So, the question of how to kill fleas has never been simpler. The responsible choice is a natural flea killer that does its job as well as the toxic poisons, if not better, but leaves you, your loved ones, and your planet happy, healthy, and free of those pesky fleas.
And that, my friend, is how to kill fleas.