blueeyedghost wrote:

Thanks, Len. I'm going to swing by Home Depot after work, I need to head up that direction to get dog food anyway (feed store is just up the road).

I doubt what they have at Home Depot is food grade. You need to get food grade diatomaceous earth for what you intend to use it for. Btw, you can also put it in their food but I don't know amounts for that.

You can order it online too if you do a little online shopping.

Remind Aaron how much Frontline costs compared to that $11 bottle of oil which will last a long time. My bottles of oil are still more than half full that I bought in summer 2010. $20 over 2-3 yrs is way cheaper than the $250 I used to spend on K9 Advantix for a 1 yr supply. Granted I do still keep Advantix on hand in the house "just in case". I've only used Advantix 3 times since starting the oils, twice as a preventative measure when going to my in laws' house who have a flea problem and once because I forgot to bring the dogs' oil on vacation with me so they were unprotected in the mountains & not surprisingly picked up fleas. Otherwise we've never had a problem and the one time we did it was my fault for forgetting to put the oils on.

That's what I'm going to tell him when I get home. I asked him to grab the two oils and see if they had the diatomaceous earth at that store, and I know he read the text, he just never responded back. He's just convinced we're wasting money on stuff that's not going to work. He's probably already been to Wal Mart to buy more Frontline. Of course his mother chimed in on my Facebook post going "we use Frontline Plus and have never had a problem" when everyone else was talking about oils, but she's the one who feeds the worst quality treats and foods and doesn't see the problem. She just feeds what's cheap. I think the next time we go there with the dogs I'm carrying my own treats and banning her from giving the Alpo and Milkbone treats that have chicken byproduct as the 2nd ingredient after corn.

It's amazing how much people focus on the short term. That's why cancer rates are through the roof in both humans and animals.

And that's why I'm making a huge push to clean up our house, both for us and the fur kids. I just hate how much holistic and natural stuff gets scoffed at in general. So I don't want chemicals and other crap in my house. If that makes me a weird tree hugging hippie, well then that's ok.

For the record, and it's off the topic of essential oils for flea control, but my dad has gotten himself completely off prescription and over the counter arthritis medication by using a combination of glucosamine/chondroitin, tumeric in capsule form, and gin soaked golden raisins. He feels better than he has in years, so you can't tell me that stuff doesn't work. I'm doing the same but honestly no amount of glucosamine/chondroitin in the world will help me at this point, though I have more issues than just simple arthritis.

I have been getting so frustrated with people being down on Holistic medicine..shit wouldn't you want to avoid poisoning yourself? Then why not your furbabies?

I win.



Aaron said they had rose oil and geranium oil, but no rose geranium oil. He got geranium oil, in addition to the tea tree and lavender. Will that be ok or should I return it?

Next battle: diatomaceous earth. He says "we're not putting pool filter stuff in the carpet!". That's after I explained that it would be food grade

Yay for one small victory!

blueeyedghost wrote:

Aaron said they had rose oil and geranium oil, but no rose geranium oil. He got geranium oil, in addition to the tea tree and lavender. Will that be ok or should I return it?

Honestly I don't know. Mine says Rose Geranium oil. Personally I wouldn't have bought it unless I was sure it was rose geranium oil because I want to make sure I'm using the right stuff. All I can say is I've not heard of anyone mentioning rose oil or geranium oil.

I told him not to get it, and he did anyway. Listens like a rock. I'll just have him return it the next time he's down that way. If nothing else, he starts work next week and his office is right by that store. I'll see what's on Amazon. Thanks again, Val!

I got my oils through Amazon, although my Rose Geranium oil came from an Amazon seller and not Amazon itself. I have Amazon Prime too and unfortunately it won't qualify for the 2 day shipping. But rose geranium oil is for ticks, not fleas, so unless ticks are a big deal for you right now you shouldn't have to worry about the wait.

Yeah I tried the Amazon Prime thing and was just disappointed I'm going to go ahead and get the other oils on the collar and then order the rose geranium. I think part of his initial issue, especially with the cost, was that he thought we had to douse them in the oil. He bought a small spray bottle that he thought we were going to use to spray it. I chuckled and explained it was just a drop on the collar periodically. It's once a week, right?

blueeyedghost wrote:

And that's why I'm making a huge push to clean up our house, both for us and the fur kids. I just hate how much holistic and natural stuff gets scoffed at in general. So I don't want chemicals and other crap in my house. If that makes me a weird tree hugging hippie, well then that's ok.

I'm there with you. I've been slowly trying to transition over to more natural things as well and I've got a stubborn husband too.

So, rose geranium oil is for ticks...what do the lavender oil and tea tree oil help with? Is it just fleas because I don't think fleas are an issue here in CO...

blueeyedghost wrote:

I chuckled and explained it was just a drop on the collar periodically. It's once a week, right?

Lol. Yes, once a week should be good however you can apply it more frequently than that if you find that once a week is not enough for your area. Charleston's summer weather and pests are very similar to FL so if it works here then it should work down there. Weekly applications work for us and we have woods behind our house and our dogs are regularly walked around the woods in our neighborhood.

I haven't applied the oils to my dogs since before Isabella was born ( bad, I know!) and took Dakota out in the woods on Sunday and sure enough he picked up a tick. He's NEVER picked up a tick as long as he's had the oils on his collar and these are the same woods we've walked since we moved here in 2010. That right there tells me it works!

Demon&Dakota wrote:

So, rose geranium oil is for ticks...what do the lavender oil and tea tree oil help with? Is it just fleas because I don't think fleas are an issue here in CO...

Rose geranium oil is just for ticks.

Lavender oil, Cedarwood oil, and Tea Tree oil are for repelling fleas.

Oils are on collars, rose geranium is ordered, now I just have to find something besides Frontline to help the cats. Plus we need to try to de-flea the house, hopefully it hasn't gotten too bad yet. We just found the 2 on Ghost last night, but both dogs and at least one of the cats seem to be a bit itchy.

Meredith,

Just the fact that you are doing the oils for the dogs should help with the fleas. But, wash the cats bedding and your bedding. Then go with the Diatomaceous earth. It will work wonders and it WONT hurt the cats..and if you have to, one dose of revolution would be acceptable in my opinion.

BTW, just to check I called the new holistic vet we are going to see and she said the Geranium oil will act the same. Some companies just don't include the rose. ( for example my bottle just says rose in parentheses at the end)

Meredith, I feel your pain! I work at the most conventional vet ever and I get the weirdest looks about anything holistic. I don't use anything on my cats for fleas/ticks, only use Comfortis on the dogs when I absolutely have to, I won't feed Purina foods, and I won't do yearly vaccines or twice yearly deworming. I'm pretty much the opposite of everything my workplace goes for and I swear they look at me like I have 3 heads whenever I mention anything holistic...

Also, a word of warning. I tried diatomaceous earth in the carpet once. It killed some of the fleas when we had a really bad infestation, but it also KO'd my vacuum. I found that salt in the carpet did better than DE - and my vacuum could handle that.

I'm gonna pop by the health food store for some Rose Geranium tomorrow I only need it for ticks so I should be good, right? And would it be safe to use it for me as well - like on my socks or something whenever I go out in the grass?

mheath0429 wrote:

BTW, just to check I called the new holistic vet we are going to see and she said the Geranium oil will act the same. Some companies just don't include the rose. ( for example my bottle just says rose in parentheses at the end)

Good to know! Thanks for sharing.

Myndi wrote:

I'm gonna pop by the health food store for some Rose Geranium tomorrow I only need it for ticks so I should be good, right? And would it be safe to use it for me as well - like on my socks or something whenever I go out in the grass?

Yes to both your questions.

No Problem. I am so happy to be doing this. I recently purchased a couple books about it as well. I have got some mixed opinions but I believe in the holistic approach so thats all that matters

I just put the oils on the pups! they smell SO GOOD

I thought they smelled really good too, but Aaron has been bitching all night. Whatever. He'll get over it. Lulu still reeks though, she needs a bath really bad.

haha, Chris probably doesn't even notice! He didn't care about what I put on the dogs to keep fleas off, just that it was cheaper. That's one nice thing about chris...I get to wear the pants.

Do you guys have any specific brand of oil that you think is "best" that I should look for??

And I just wanted to say thanks to Val for being so wonderful and helpful

I don't think the brand really matters. We got what they had at the natural foods store, and then I ordered what was cheapest for the rose geranium.

Young living is the best. But as long as.it says therapeutic.grade its ok

You're welcome Myndi, there was a time I was in your shoes on this subject.

I don't pay attention to brand as long as the product is 100% essential oil and not a blend.