The degree to which people have been trained to freak out about fleas is in direct relation to the degree to which they have been desensitized to chemicals. The chemicals ingested by dogs (through mouth and skin) to kill the fleas are causing harm to dogs that's not being studied (gee, I wonder why?). My general rule of thumb - if it warns you not to touch it, don't put it on or in your dog!
It's just a flea.
But combing off multiple fleas four times a day was getting ridiculous, and totally out of the norm for Vida.
So I took a concerted step to deal with her sleeping environment, because she was waking up with more fleas than she went to bed with, so they had to be coming from somewhere (though we have concrete floors and I've not had one flea bit myself).
First. Laundry. I washed all her bed covers and nearby floor whatnots. Plenty of soap (and a second rinse). Yes, my one dog has more than one bed.
Second. Whisked diatomaceous earth under the gap in the wall molding and left some on the floor, then added a light dusting of pyrethrum powder (ground up flowers, not the toxic synthetic copy called permethrin, hard to find, shop carefully). The beds went right on top. Then I sprayed Vida with Wondercide, ruffling it in with my hand to be thorough (she'd had an herb rinse two days prior with rose geranium and white sage).
This is my flea comb. I bow down to the metal flea comb in all it's glory. It is the best, least toxic tool you have to deal with fleas. My laundry sink is the killing field. Diluted dish soap strikes them down after I've cleaned the comb of them.
That evening, one scurrying flea. The next morning, one flea. The rest of the day, none. The second day, one or two.
I can live with that.
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