Love your skin, but don't forget theirs'!

Flea sprays for Cats & Dogs; Horses too

All animals find a variety of insects to be annoying. The bites from these insects can also be unhealthy. Fortunately there are natural solutions that are mild, but effective. Even people can benefit from these easy to make pest control sprays. Mosquitoes and black flies can be chased away using these sprays too.

Since these products are considered pesticides, they are regulated by the EPA, not the FDA. These minimal risk pesticides are governed by these rules. .Only ingredients on the active list may be used to chase pests away. These active ingredients may only be carried in materials that appear on the inerts list Fortunately many of the ingredients that we use to formulate natural body care products are on the list. This includes all of the edible veggie oils as well as the common emulsifiers. Both Neem and Karanja oil are very useful edible oils in these applications since they act against a wide variety of pests. Neem oil is safe for use on cats.

While the active ingredients list may appear somewhat restrictive for essential oil use, mint oils can be used. The mint plant family is quite large and contains mint, rosemary, lavender, pennyroyal as well as catnip and many other common EOs. Many of these EOs can be used to repel insects.

Dogs, horses and humans are quite tolerant of many of these essential oils and creating pest control products for them is easy. But since cats lack an essential enzyme that detoxifies many compounds, extra care must be taken in formulation products for them. Citral containing materials like citronella and lemongrass are definitely out for them, but can be used effectively in all other applications. Catnip aka Catmint is a good choice for them.

The following formula is specifically designed for cats, but can be used in other applications too. It can be modified for other applications by substituting other pest control EOs for the catnip.
You should spray the animals lightly and use a heavier application on bedding areas to send the lurkers packing. Regular Light applications will defeat the pests much better than single heavy applications..

Catnip Flea Spray

This recipe makes about 32 oz of flea spray or insect repellant.

32 oz Water

2 tablespoons Polysorbate 20

2 teaspoons Catnip essential oil or Essential oil blend

1 teaspoon Neem oil

Combine the essential oil blend and Neem oil with the Polysorbate 20. Slowly begin to work the water into the Polysorbate 20 / oil blend. It may appear cloudy, but it will not separate. Package in Plastic or aluminum bottles equipped with spray misters.

Enjoy a pest free day!

http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/form_petfleas.html