If you’ve ever smelled or tasted vinegar, you know that they are very strong and acidic. You may have also heard of the many benefits of vinegars and how they are also an effective cleaning agent to be used around the house.
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- Vinegar is readily available anywhere and most of us already have a bottle sitting at home.
- Vinegar is eco-friendly as it is a natural substance. It is chemical-free and can be used around the house where there might be kids or pets.
- Vinegar is cheap compared to commercially-available pest control products. You can save quite a bit of money using vinegar instead of commercially-made products.
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What To Lookout For When Using Vinegar Against Flea
Vinegar is pure acid and may sting the skin and stain certain surfaces when in contact. Also, Vinegar has a very strong smell and may not be tolerated by everyone, hence do control how much you use and try to keep the treatment area ventilated. A workaround would be to use apple cider vinegar instead as their scent is more tolerable compared to pure or regular vinegar.
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How To Kill Fleas Using Vinegar
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What you’ll need
- A bottle of plain vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- Some warm/cold water
- A spray bottle/ towel for application
- A flea comb for pet (optional)
- A towel for cleaning off
2 Easy steps to using vinegar against fleas:
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2) Test vinegar and water before commencing application – Remember that vinegar can stain different surfaces, apply the solution on an unexposed surface of the furniture or material first, and see if it stains or damages the material. Leave the solution for a few minutes. If everything checks out fine, you may continue applying the vinegar to the surface you want to treat.
Applying Vinegar to Kill Fleas on Pets
With the vinegar mixture, you can also apply it on your pet by spraying on your pet liberally all over your pet. As usual, try applying it on your pet’s feet, looking out for any reaction or sensitivity before continuing to apply mixture. If all is well, start spraying all over your pet’s fur like how you will with a regular shampoo. Alternatively, you may also opt for the towel method by soaking a towel in the vinegar solution and wiping mixture all over your pet.
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Once covered, wait for about 20-30 minutes before washing the mixture away with clean water. While waiting for mixture to kill the fleas, try not to let your pet lick the vinegar or scratch his fur. Once done, wipe or blow dry your pet before using a flea comb to clear out dead or remaining surviving fleas [May: a pro-tip here would be to go for flea combs with double layer design].
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Final Thoughts
While vinegar might work to kill fleas on contact, it could be worthwhile to consider using chemical based flea products against the pesky fleas and they are designed and formulated specifically to deal with fleas.
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That said, if you are in need for a quick or temporary fix to eliminate some flea situation at hand but do not have any flea products lying around at home, go with the vinegar! Just be sure to head out after the vinegar treatment to get yourself some flea products to complete the job of eradicating them.