Tell me more about Diatomaceous Earth

[fairlight]

Daux, I know you swear buy it, but would love to know more about this product.

[AtomicSkies]

what is it you want to know?

[fairlight]

I have heard that many will dust there dogs with it to deter fleas. Will this work on ticks also? Now what if your dog goes out 20 times a day....are you supposed to dust almost every time? Also, can I put it in my lawn?

[AtomicSkies]

Originally Posted by fairlight

I have heard that many will dust there dogs with it to deter fleas. Will this work on ticks also? Now what if your dog goes out 20 times a day....are you supposed to dust almost every time? Also, can I put it in my lawn?

yes it will work on ticks and you can put it in their food for internal parasites as well...i do this...you dust them well especially legs, feet and tummies and unless its wet or raining i think you should reapply like once a week or so...yes you can put it on your lawn and in gardens and such to keep away buggies...you can use it indoors as well for bug control...daux said something about removing molding or something sprinkling it behind them and then putting them back

[fairlight]

This flea and tick stuff is costing me a small fortune with 4 dogs, three of which are well over 100 pounds with Orson still growing still . How many times do you put it in their food? What exactly was DE do? I am afraid of giving too much or maybe even too little.

[AtomicSkies]

Originally Posted by fairlight

This flea and tick stuff is costing me a small fortune with three dogs well over 100 pounds and one still growing. How many times do you put it in their food? What exactly was DE do? I am afraid of giving too much or maybe even too little.

cost was one of the reasons i decided to go this rout instead of topical stuff...the main one though is that i didnt want to continue putting poison on my dogs...

you can do it everyday i believe...heres what i did...we got it right when we decided to keep dixie so they all three got it everyday with their dinner...then once we took dixie to the vet and she was clear of parasites we changed to 10 days on 10 days off...gadget gets a tablespoon the other two get a teaspoon...now seeing as you have all your kids wormed already you can start with the 10 on 10 off or even 7 on 7 off routine...i would say a good tablespoon each should be enough...you can also use it on their bedding and stuff too

de is a VERY fine powder...finer then even normal flour...and is the ground up skeletons of diatoms...it cuts the parasite up and causes it to dehydrate and die which is why they will not build up a tolerance to it like they do with poisons

i dont think you really can give too much...i mean you dont want to give like a pound or something but they cant overdose...just be sure that it is FOOD grade...also be sure to keep it out of their eyes and noses daux got it in her eyes once and she said it caused a bit of iteration

[fairlight]

Another question. My dogs are free fed dry kibble. Do you have to mix this in with wet food? Or will your dogs just ake it from a teaspoon or table spoon. You are right, none of my dogs have fleas, ticks, or parasites because needed or not I deworm them twice a year and I have never found anything in their stools. Where can I buy this and what am I looking for? Also what is the cost on this? As you can tell I am clueless here.

[AtomicSkies]

Originally Posted by fairlight

Another question. My dogs are free fed dry kibble. Do you have to mix this in with wet food? Or will your dogs just ake it from a teaspoon or table spoon. You are right, none of my dogs have fleas, ticks, or parasites because needed or not I deworm them twice a year and I have never found anything in their stools. Where can I buy this and what am I looking for? Also what is the cost on this? As you can tell I am clueless here.

for my girls i just put it over their food and i forget who but i think someone here puts it in their dogs water which you can do but since you want to be sure about how much they get you can mix it in a special treat...like a little yogurt, cottage cheese, peanut butter...anything it can mix into and they will eat all at once

i ordered it offline here http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/p...&IDCategory=11

5lbs for 10 bucks before shipping...you can try to google food grade diatomaceous earth and your town and see what comes up

[Maliraptor]

I still use it for the whippets- it's been working well and is SO cheap. I always add water to my dog food.

[Dignity]

Just keep in mind if it gets wet you will need to reapply.

Also there are different grades - there is food grade and there is pool grade - since you will be using this around animals/on animals - make sure you get the food grade.

It is a dry powder - so it will dry out your skin (and you'll want to watch the coat as well and use gloves to apply).