Our Natural Flea/Tick and Worm prevention methods

 This is common topic that comes up all the time when people switch to fresh foods, they usually also jump to a holistic mindset and reduce chemical exposure too.

So we thought we'd share our methods, although we will add a disclaimer that it's not 100% effective and geographical location+ diet can influence the efficacy of this.

Flea/Tick

This one's simple , we use Garlic dietary and a homemade spray for topical use (sprayed on fur) consisting of 50/50 organic apple cider vinegar and bottled water, you can also add crushed garlic or lemon grass too.

Direction of use for garlic: Slice it and let it oxidise for 15 mins, when oxygen activates the enzyme alliinase , it converts the alliin into allicin, this is the antiparasitic compound you need, however you need to give garlic daily, it takes 6weeks+ of daily use for its intended efficacy, this allows the allicin to build up and influence the blood, this deters fleas and tics when they bite.

Dosage:  Use 1 clove per 10kg of body weight daily, add into food.

Study:

Bahare Salehi, Paolo Zucca, Ilkay Erdogan Orhan, Elena Azzini, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Soheb Anwar Mohammed, Sanjay K. Banerjee, Farukh Sharopov, Daniela Rigano, Javad Sharifi-Rad, Lorene Armstrong, Miquel Martorell, Antoni Sureda, Natália Martins, Zeliha Selamoğlu, Zaheer Ahmad, Allicin and health: A comprehensive review, Trends in Food Science & Technology, Volume 86, 2019, Pages 502-516, ISSN 0924-2244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2019.03.003. 

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224418307398)

Worms

Additionally to flea/tick repellent, garlic also helps to rid the body of worms too, however we intentionally add two dietary things specifically for worms and they are ground pumpkin seeds and fur/feathers.

The science is, that squash seeds contain a compound (amino acid) called curcurbitacin, this compound paralyses worms , which then makes it easier for fur/feathers to cleanse the intestine of them. (A fibre pipe cleaner so to speak)

Directions for use:  Simply soak pumpkin seeds in boiling water, once cooled, drain and then grind in coffee grinder or pestal and mortar, store in a mason jar in the fridge or keep in extra virgin olive oil on the kitchen side, out of direct sunlight, exposing the oil to oxygen as infrequently as possible to avoid oxidation/rancidity.

Dosage: 1/2 tsp per 10kg of bodyweight daily.

Study:

Asif Hilal, et al. "Prospects of botanical dewormers with especial reference to Kashmir." (2021).

https://www.veterinarypaper.com/pdf/2021/vol6issue4/PartA/6-3-21-767.pdf

When it comes to worms, we'd always recommend doing a wormcount every quarter via wormcount.com or feclab.co.uk, if you have positive results, reach out to us, we can help you treat to kill them, naturally :)