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Making Neem Oil Flea Repellent

by Veronique

One happy, flea free dog!

One happy, flea free dog!

I bought some organic pure neem oil for my dogs.
I followed your instructions and added some to a very mild, SLS free puppy shampoo and bathed my dogs in it; the results were spectacular!!! :)


Now I need to prevent reinfestation but I do not feel comfortable adding any detergent to the neem oil spray recipe... they have such sensitive skin!

So I was wondering: What else can I use as an emulsifier? Does alcochol help oils & water mix?

Again, thank you for everything :)

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Making Neem Oil Flea Repellent

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Using neem oil as a flea repellent
by: Birgit

Hi Veronique,

That's great to hear. Thanks for letting me know about your success!

To your question:
The only thing to make neem oil and water mix are detergents. So if you want to use neem oil as a watery flea repellent spray you have to add some form of liquid soap.

But you don't need to use a neem spray on your dogs to repel fleas. There are a few other options:
  • If you bathe your dogs with your homemade neem dog shampoo, then the smell will linger in their coat for some time and act as a flea repellent anyway.

    (By the way, if your shampoo contains water, and most shampoos do, then you should make a fresh mix every time, or at least add a few drops of fresh oil to the shampoo in your hand. I mention in several places that the insecticidal ingredients in neem are not stable in water. However, I did not point out on the page about dog shampoo and spray that shampoos will usually contain water. I guess I better add a note there...)
  • One thing I do on my dog when I'm lazy is to just put a bit of neem oil on my hands and rub it all over her coat. It's a great conditioner and gives her coat a beautiful shine, and it also keeps away fleas, ticks (to some extent), mites, mosquitoes and other biting critters.

    If your dogs are very sensitive you may want to dilute the neem oil 1 : 10 in a light carrier oil like olive or jojoba. (Oh, and your hands will smell... Don't do it just before going out for a nice dinner.)
  • And last but not least, instead of using the spray on the dogs directly, you can use it to spray their bedding. That will also help to prevent future flea infestations.

Hope that helps!
Flea bugs bug me
by: Anonymous

My brother is not bothered by any kind of bugs but me terrible. They love me yum yum. I am trying to use neem on me with other stuff until I find out what my brother has that I do not.

Billy
Neem for dogs
by: Bernadette

For some reason this year we have a terrible flea problem with our dogs. I'm always concerned about chemicals around my dogs and children so I tried the neem seed oil on them to help repel/prevent future infestations. And let me just say, about that smell... indescribable almost to the point of nauseating.

Anyway, I mixed a few drops with grape seed oil and rubbed it into their coats immediately after their baths. It's about a week later and I am just noticing the return of a flea or two. I rubbed them down again this morning so hopefully I've found a non toxic, chemical free way to keep them flea free!
fleas and ringworm on dogs
by: Ginger

How often can I use neem shampoo for fleas and ringworms? 2x a week? How long do I leave the shampoo on before it should be rinsed?
Neem shampoo on dogs
by: Birgit

Ginger, you can use it as often as you like, or maybe I should say as often as the dogs will let you?
Of course, stripping all the natural oils of their skin and coat is not a good thing. What I am saying is that there is no problem with using neem daily. The problem is rather soap/shampoo in itself.

If it is a bad infestation, and especially if there is a ringworm problem on top of it, you may want to look at other options, like using 1 in 10 oil mix for example. A bath with neem shampoo twice a week, combined with treating the ringworm lesions with the oil daily or several times a day, should clear it up quickly.
With that you should get rid of the fleas, too.

Another option for the ringworm, especially for animals with very sensitive skin, would be to use leaf extract in a carrier creme/ointment. Depending on where you live such creams may be available from neem sellers online.
Are these shampoos safe for cats?
by: Anonymous

Do your comments on neem pet shampoos also apply to cats? Is it safe for cats?
As I understand the peculiaries of cats and essential oils, cats are only allergic to tea tree oil. Pure neem oil should be safe (as a rinse off shampoo only?) or can I apply small amounts of neem (drops?) directly onto her coat/skin?
Neem for cats
by: Birgit

Please see the website. There is a link in the navigation called Neem Oil for Cats.
Neem Spray
by: Jennifer

My dog does not have fleas now, but I was told neem spray would be a good all natural product to keep the fleas away, especially with 3 young boys running around my house.

How often should I use the spray to keep fleas away? Thanks!

Jennifer
Natural flea repellent for dogs
by: Birgit

Jennifer, there are no hard and fast rules. If you have reason to believe that fleas may move in (i.e. flea ridden dogs living next door) then I'd use it every few days. Otherwise once a week to every 10 days should do it.
I LOVE NEEM!!
by: Nat

Hello, I have seriously used everything for my thick furred Maremma cross,(natural and chemical) and nothing,but nothing has worked like neem oil.

I just bathed her, then made a mix of 1 part pure neem oil to about 5 parts olive oil, and rubbed it into her topline area,tail, and belly. Really gave her a good massage. Made her coat a little oily, and she has a slight odor,but nothing terrible.

A week later not one flea! I am totally sold on this stuff!!!!!!
Neem oil flea repellent
by: Birgit

Great to hear! Thanks for letting us know.
How to make neem oil at home?
by: Urmi

I have a huge neem tree in my home. Can you tell me how can I make my own neem oil at home? Actually the reason is that I could not find neem oil in the locality where I live.

Please help me soon, because my dogs are infested with ticks. :(
Make your own flea repellent
by: Birgit

Please see this page:
Making neem seed oil and extracts
Improving the smell
by: Laurie

I read in a link on this site where someone suggested adding a little lavender to make the oil smell better when using it as a flea remedy. So... adding a few drops of a better smelling essential oil to improve the odor will not decrease the effectiveness? If so, what would be a acceptable ratio of neem oil to sweet-smelling oil in a repellent spray, shampoo, etc.?

I have 4 dogs, 9 cats, and assorted small critters (ferrets, mice, and rats). If I applied the supposedly rancid-peanut-butter-garlic-burnt-hair-smelling neem oil on everyone, my house would smell like a neem oil factory! And incidentally, can the same flea treatments (repellents, shampoos, etc.) be used on the small critters I mentioned?

Thanks for any advice!
Unstable in water
by: Laurie

You mention in another response on this page that neem oil is not stable in water and to make a new batch of doggie shampoo whenever it's bath time. When making a flea repellent spray for my critters, I think it's kind of impractical to be constantly making new batches of spray if I can avoid it.

Do you by chance know how long a batch of critter flea repellent will remain effective so that I can keep it on hand to use whenever necessary?

Can I make a batch once a month, once every three weeks, every two weeks, every week?

How long will it stay good before I have to pitch it or refresh it?

If it can be refreshed without having to make a whole new batch, how much oil is needed to refresh?

Thanks in advance!
Neem in water
by: Birgit

A neem oil in water solution like a spray should be used within eight hours. I am not sure about shampoos, as those contain much less water.

Personally, I don't find it inconvenient to add a few drops of neem oil to the shampoo in the palm of the hand when actually using the shampoo.

As for adding essential oils, add whatever you reckon and as much as you like. I suspect it would be a matter of trial and error to get a reasonable smell.

(I don't bother myself, I got used to the smell.)
Neem oil and my cat
by: Sheena

I just started using Neem oil a few days ago only after been on the Daily Puppy site. It works really well on my very furry cat. I would like to know please how often I should use Neem oil on my cat? Is it safe to use it once a fortnight? Thank you

Sheena
Emulsifier...
by: Jeffrey: Phillips

For an emulsifier you can use 11.5 alkaline Kangen Water. I'm sharing this with you because this is what I use to degrease/emulsify oil with.

You can find out more at www.biofeedbackplus1.com Click on Health Spa tab, then to Enagic Kangen. Awesome stuff. Ya so, 11.5 alkaline water is one way to emulsify your oil.

Be safe, well and aware.
Re: lavender oil
by: Anonymous

While adding an essential oil to the neem to help make it's smell more pleasant is something I've seen suggested a lot. I just wanted to point out that Lavender oil is potentially toxic to cats and I wouldn't consider that as an option since you have 9.

Oils that are listed as safer for cats are lemonGRASS, peppermint and rosemary.
How Often
by: sharon

Hi,

I have just purchased my first batch of Neem Oil after reading so many good reports regarding this stuff for dogs.

I have greyhounds and have just sprayed the first four with the Neem Spray that I have made myself, changed and sprayed their new bedding. So I will report back in about a week but I must say, I took their bed coats off this morning and their coats are looking great already.

I cant believe the difference just over night.

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