# Natural oils to repel fleas, mosquitos, and ticks



## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Not sure how legit this is, but I was googling natural oils that repel fleas, ticks, and mosquitos: 

_Lavender, peppermint and geranium essential oils repel mosquitoes. 
Lavender, lemongrass and geranium repel ticks. 
And lavender, lemongrass, peppermint and citronella repel fleas. 
Dab oils between the dog's shoulder blades. As you can see, lavender (which also repels flies) is particularly versatile. Other effective natural repellents include lemon, cedar, eucalyptus, myrrh, neem and rosewood _

... I always thought tea trea oil would be usefull too, but havent found any info on it.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

I read something about mouthwash once. Can't remember what it repelled. Of course you have to spray it on them every day or more than they if they get wet. I guess they would always smell minty.
Where would you get lavender from?


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## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

lovemydogsalways said:


> I read something about mouthwash once. Can't remember what it repelled. Of course you have to spray it on them every day or more than they if they get wet. I guess they would always smell minty.
> Where would you get lavender from?


The mouthwash is original listerine, for mosquitos, it doesn't work that well. We had the worst year for mosquitos here in Alberta, Canada last year than I can ever remember and we tried everything I read about. We finally found a spray that they sell in a pet specialty store that is fantastic, it's all natural and I think it has some of the things the op listed in it. I know someone on my other forum in Australia said they had the same thing there so if anyone is interested I'll go find the bottle to get the name of it. Oh, and it smelled good too and was also for human use, I used it all summer on myself because I hate the smell of Off, it worked great for me as well as the dogs.

You should be able to get lavender oil anywhere that sells scented oils for homeopathy, some drugstores here carry them, also "The Body Shop", probably even health food/vitamin stores.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm getting some of that lavender oil!


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Yeah, lavender oil definitley has the most uses. You can get a huge assortment of essential oils from health food stores.


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## Roo (Oct 17, 2010)

I was thinking about trying Bumble and Bee Organics Insect repellent which has a lot of those essential oils. I heard from someone else that it worked really well on them and their dogs when hiking in the woods. I've tried other natural, non chemical products from Bumble and Bee Organics and really like them (especially the lotion sticks and body butter), the company has good customer service and the owner herself is very active on their facebook page answering any questions etc. people may have.

100% Organic Insect Repellent

Bubble & Bee Organic | Facebook


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh, interesting. And that spray is wayyyy cheaper than buying all the essential oils needed to make a bug repellant spray. Im going to look into this spray more. The only thing that I dont like about it is the soybean oil.

I also found this one, has a lot of the essiential oils listed and more, and made with distilled water instead of soybean oil. http://www.herbariasoap.com/other-products/citronella-mist.html?gclid=CKHR4enq8K4CFQVoKgodfWe0Lw


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## BrittanyM (Jan 28, 2012)

Did this work?


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh no way, a lot of people on this forum mix their oils with water. I guess if I do decide to mix up my own bug repellant, I will be using Aloe Vera gel. The oils I am definitly going to use so far are lavender, citronella, and geranium. Those oils are repeated on every site I have looked at.


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## Roo (Oct 17, 2010)

> Oh, interesting. And that spray is wayyyy cheaper than buying all the essential oils needed to make a bug repellant spray. Im going to look into this spray more. The only thing that I dont like about it is the soybean oil.


Yeah the soybean oil was the only thing I wasn't sure about, I know it's non GMO and that my dogs have no allergies to soy and it's not like they would be wearing it all the time, but still I don't know.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

BrittanyM said:


> View attachment 6911


The mixture I was thinking of trying for Ruby and my friends papillon Kiya is... 1 cup Aloe Vera gel, 10 drops lavender, citronella, and geranium oil. Too much oil, too little oil? It is suggested 5ml of "base" for every 5 drops of essential oil (I got that info from the picture quote) It is the oils that are sold at the health food store she works. So that would be 30mL of Aloe Vera MINIMUM for the 30 drops of oils. So one cup to a ratio of 30 drops should be good, yes? Or should it be further diluted. Dont want to cause any skin/eye/mucous irritations.


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

I mix eucalyptus oil and water in a spray bottle and give my kids a spritz a couple of times a week. I haven't used any other flea treatments in over a year.

Be careful with tea tree oil if you have cats, it's toxic to them.

Also I used to sell Avon and had a lot of horse owners that bought Skin So Soft oil bath oil from me to keep flies and mosquitoes off of their horses. I've heard it works really, really well.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Good to know about the tea tree oil, I have two cats! Lavender, citronella, and geranium oil are the ones that I have kept finding repeated on every site I have went to looking for flea/tick/mosquito repellants. So those are the ones I have decided to go with. Adding eucalyptus, not sure if that would be "too much of a good thing" since I have already chosen 3 oils to work with.


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

I like the smell of eucalyptus and lavender oils so I use those two. I put a little in the tank when I steam clean and spritz the dog bedding with it. Citronella.. I tried that and can't stand the smell. It repels ME too! LOL.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

I keep quite a supply of essential oils; because I make bar soap as well as room fresheners, etc.

Essential oils aren't cheap. If you find some that are, it's usually because they have been diluted.

Lavender and tea tree are two essential oils that can be applied directly on skin in small amounts without needing a carrier oil to prevent irritation.

For dogs, I create a blend of lavender, tea tree and citronella combined with distilled water and a small amount of vodka. Store it in a glass spray bottle.

Geranium essential oil, if it's pure, is hugely expensive and I have not used it.

Essential lemon oil smells very good, but not sure if it would be as effective as citronella. Lavender used in higher portions would help mask the stronger tea tree and citronella aromas.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Yeah, essential oils are very expensive. But, my friend works at a health food store and she gives me her discount when I buy stuff, so it saves me a lot of money. I cant use the tea tree oil because I have two cats, and as someone posted, tea tree oil is toxic to cats.


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## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

mischiefgrrl said:


> I mix eucalyptus oil and water in a spray bottle and give my kids a spritz a couple of times a week. I haven't used any other flea treatments in over a year.
> 
> Be careful with tea tree oil if you have cats, it's toxic to them.
> 
> Also I used to sell Avon and had a lot of horse owners that bought Skin So Soft oil bath oil from me to keep flies and mosquitoes off of their horses. I've heard it works really, really well.





Here's a link to the spray I use on the dogs that I was talking about earlier, EQyss Canadian Marigold Spray. With 2 boxers and myself last year I used about 3 1/2 bottles, it's well worth it!! 

I've also tried the Skin So Soft, it does work almost as well but you have to apply it more often and I didn't like how oily it is, with my short hair boxers it just made every piece of dirt stick right to them.


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## LilasMom (Mar 10, 2012)

Wouldn't aloe gel make it too thick to go through a spray bottle? I want to make an essential oil spray for my dogs but I want to actually be able to spray it on, just for ease and little time it takes. If I can't use water to dilute the oils what can I use? Can I use aloe gel instead of water plus a little bit of vodka like PDXdogmom said?


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