Question
Charlotte:
You sound very British, are you? I am.  Pennyroyal oil is out because I have two cats one 18 years and the other 9 years old. My dog is a little maltese and they feast on him. Frontline works for about a week if that long. I am afraid of overdosing him on that stuff.

What would you recommend that I use in the house because of the cats? I have had the house less than a year and the dust and fleas are driving me mad.

I am afraid to bring those exterminators in my house because I am allergic to a lot of chemicals that are used in cleaners, etc.

Any other recipes for cleaning house, getting rid of fleas(cats in house...totally indoors) Get my babies to stop scratching) The cats came down in October and never had fleas before so i am sure they are cursing me every day for bringing them to hell as they see it. Thanks for all your help
florence
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Charlotte:
How can i get rid of fleas in my house, on my pets, in my lawn organically? i hate what is on the market....all chemicals and work only for a very short time. any herbs or other matter that i can use that won't have an adverse effect on my pets? thanks for reading and responding
-----Answer-----
Hi Florence;
I do use the once a month Frontline, because 2 of mine are so terribly allergic to flea bites, that the bite of one flea can make them really ill, and the have to go on anti-biotics.
But, I do a LOT to naturally discourage these little beasts, and a lot of other undesirable bugs in my house and yard.
These things will kill fleas and ticksand keep your house free of insects.
In the house

Pennyroyal:
 Pennyroyal actually smothers fleas, and their larvae, like if you put a plastic bag over your head.
I but the oil, at a healthfood store, or online.
You can get some faster by going to a healthfood store, but you can get it for about half as much online.
It takes about 2 weks to get an order from this site.
You also have to order no less than #50.00 worth. I am not sure what it is. I think you have to pay a premium if you don't, but I will tell you stuff to get over that $50.00 and it is all good stuff.
I put pennyroyal oil in Epsom Salts that I have whirred up as small as I can get it, in the food processor.
I get about a half gallon package at Walmart for about $3.00. I whirr it up, put about 1 teaspoin of pennyroyal oil in it. I layer about 2 inches of Salts, them some drops of pennyroyal oil, more Salts, etc until I get all the Salts and the tsp of oil in a GLASS container, shake the devil out of it to mix it, and go back eb\very couple of hopurs and shakje it again, for awhile.
Let it set over night, shake it again, and take it out and use it for a carpet duct.
To do the initial killing spree, dust it in upholstered furniture, onder furniture, in the corners of closets, and if you ahve some hardwood floors, sweep it acro\ss the grooves in the floor boards, into corbners, everywhere the little beasts can hiide.
Leave it a couple of days.
When you have to vacuum again, re-duct after vacuuming.
It will smother the adult fleas, and as the eggs hatch, it will smother the larvae.
You can drop a drop or two in your hand, and rub them together, and lightly go over the dog's coat.
Try not to get it on the dog's skin.
Mine dopn't like the smell of it, even though it is a member of the mint family, and smells a little strongly when you fist apply it so heavy to get rid of the infestation, but smells kind of nice.
Max, my little Lhasa really HATES it.I have to sneak up on them, and move fast. They run as soon as they smell it.
One day, I grabbed the oil fast, dropped in in my palm of my hand, fast, grabbed Max fast, and rubbed him down with it.
He was kicking and sqwirning, and yelling, and %itching at me something awful.
When I finished and let him go, he stomped ogg my bed, and stomped out of the room, still chewing me out like the dickens.
I couldn't understand why he was so much worse about it, and then, I smelled my hand.
I had gotten the wrong bottle, and I had used Lavender opil.
He do NOT like PREFUME!!!!! LOL
You can also get Pennyroyal plants in the spring, at the nurseries and plant it outside.

DO NOT USE Pennyroyal in the house if you have CATS.
Pennyroyal is very toxic to cats!!!!!
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Basil is also a flea repellant, and it repels ants and some other insects.
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I grow my own herns for cooking and aroma therapy.
I grow Rosemary, sweet basil and lemon basil, sage, thyme, mint, oregano,( mexican and greek, and Italian)
Marjoram, chives etc.
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Rosemary under sinks, and appliances, bathroom and kitchen cupboards, on each pantry shelf, anywhere roaches can come in or hide, will keep your house free of cockroaches, and keep them outside in the soil,here they are beneficial.
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I get cedar oil, and paint a small strip along closet poles and down doorframes and baseboards in the closets.
Cedar repels moths, as well as a ton of other insects.
Mainly what I use inside the house is Rosemary, Pennyroyal, and cedar.
I use fresh sprigs of rosemary in all those places, but you CAN buy rosemary oil too.
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I use a lot of lavender.
Lavender is very relaxing, and a spritz of iut, or a dap on your pillow at night will help you relax and fall asleep.
Iput a drop or two of it on a cotton ball, and rub it lightly over a stuffed toy, so as to just get a faint odor of it on the toy, and give it to a too tired baby, and a few rocks in a chair, or a little cuddling, and they will fall soundly asleep.
I ove to bathe with lavender scented bath gels, etc, and duct with lavender scented powder, and stash myself in between the lily whites, and I can really fall asleep, which is rather hard for me now.
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Outside.
I use only organicas on my lawn and garden, and have a thick, lucious, WEEDFREE lawn.
Each spring, I put cedar bark mulch all over the yard, and a pile of it about 3 inches wide and 2 inches high around the foundation of my house.
NO TERMITES!!!!Q.
Cedar bark repels all kinds of insects, fleas, ticks, termites, spiders, etc.
I live in /north Texas, so when we have an unusually heavy infestation of fleas, I mix the Pennyroyal with Epsom Salts, but I don't whirr it, mix it a little strongr, and scatter that all over the yard too, to take care of any fleas the cedar bark might miss.
You don't have to spread the sedar bark thickly, and it will settle into the grass, and not look messy, and will eventually decompose and add nutrition to the soil.
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Chopped up lemon peels scattered thinly in potted plants, flower beds etc will keep neighborhood kitties from using using you flower beds and container plants for a litter box.
Will also repel ants.
Because we use only an organic program on our lawn, there is a healthy enviornment for my lawn livestock, ( my lizards, toads and grass snakes).
The don't bother me ever at all, and they eat all the aphids off my rioses, all the grubs, slkugs, ants, army worms, all the bugs my neighboirs fight all year round.
I don't do nothin !!!
I used the work 20 to 40 hours a week on my lawn, when I used chemicals.
Had a pretty fair lawn.
Now I have a gorgeous lawn and garden, and work a yearly average of matbe 60 weeks.
I only work 2 t 4 hours per week in the growing season, and maybe 2 to 3 hours per month in the dormant season.
We have growing season here from March to November,and mild winters.
he site I order oils from is

    http://www.libertynatural.com/

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Immake my own bath salts by adding oils to Epsom Salts, and coloring them with a few drope of those ittle bottled food colorings you get in the grocery store.
I shop garage sales to fine pretty bottles, and decanters to put my different scented bath salts in , and array them on my vanity.
I make bath salts to match my perfumes by adding some cologne to the bath salts, and little at a time, and mixing well, and coloring them to match the cologne packaging.
LOTs cheaper than buying bath salts in your scent, and a much more relaxing bath.
You can afford to lavisn in it.LOL
Write anytime you would like any more organics remedies etc.
Charlotte  

Answer
Hi Florence;
No, I am not British.
I am Texan.LOL
Irish, Cherokee, and almost 1/4 English.

For the fleas, try catnip and basil.
I have not tried them, and they won't KILL the fleas as Pennyroyal does, but I have read that basil repels fleas, and catnip is recommended to repel fleas around cats.
You shouldn't give the Frontline more than once a month.
When you strew cedarbark mulch all over your grounds, that should send the majority of the fleas elsewhere.
Cedar in the house will help too, maybe more than anything else.
Instead of Pennyroyal oil in the Epsom Salts, put cedar oil.
I think you would want to put that down every time after you vacuum, maybe just not as heavily.
I am allergic to a lot f things, if they get on my skin, and pollen, dust spores, cedar pollen, especially, but the oil desn't bother me.
After you get catnip, rosemary, basil and cedar oi in your house, the fleas should be gone pretty son.
You can put the fresh rosemary arund very heavily, also the basil, without overpowering the house with the smell of them.
I use a piece of rosemary about 1 inch long on each pantry and cabinet shelf, and a piece about 2 or 3 inches long under each appliance, in the kitchen and laundry room, under bathroom cabinets, and I stick a piece in beside the pipes that go through the walls under the kitchen and bathroom sinks.
I put new rosemary about once a month.
I live in North Texas, heaven to cockroaches, and I never see one in my house.
----- if you have bird feeders outside, and squirrels raid them, put some of those hot pepoper seeds you get in the spice deartment of the grocery store,( the ones you shake n pizza etc), and mix some in with the bird feed. It won't bother the birds, but it will keep the squirrels out.
Moles and other burrowing animals in the yard, shake /cayenne pepper down the hole, and follow in any holes they dig elsewhere, and they will soon give up and leave your yard.
Fire ants will leave immediately if you toss some chopped up orange peels down.
I get a large bag of oranges when it is spring, and time for fire ants to swarm, have the grandkids and some neighborhood kids in to eat oranges and scatter the peels I chop up.
It just takes a light sprinkling, and fire ants will stay out of your yard.
Orange oil is the main ingredient in effective fire any controls.
Ceyenne pepper will also keep squirrels, and other furry critters out of your attic, and rabbits etc out of your garden.
That is about all I can think of right now.
I did the orange peels for a few years, but after my lawn critters got a ood population going, they apparently eat the fire ants too.
The kids miss the orange festivals.LOL
Charlotte