Question:
Although I do not have an animal companion at present, I read your newspaper column every week.Fleas seem to be a problem for many animals. Years ago, I had an outdoor cat who never got fleas, but my neighbor's cat did get them and brought them home where they bit her ankles.My solution was safe and economical. Each day I gave our cat two brewer's yeast tablets. He came running when he heard the bottle rattling and happily chewed them up. My theory is that there is an odor to the yeast that is repugnant to fleas. What do you think?.
D.K., Columbus, NC Sep 12, 2004
Answer:
Most cats and dogs love brewer's yeast tablets or nutritional yeast (not baking or bread-making yeast) sprinkled on their food. This potent source of B complex vitamins does indeed help keep fleas away, and (according to many outdoors enthusiasts) helps repel mosquitoes and other biting insects as well. Your "control" cat living next door (who got fleas while yours didn't) proves the point.Giving a yeast supplement is just part of the battle against fleas. Combined with regular vacuuming of the house, checking animals with a flea comb (and trapping and disposing of any fleas in a bowl of soapy water), and, ideally, not letting animals roam outdoors, yeast tablets make more costly and potentially harmful anti-flea drugs redundant.A daily clove of chopped garlic for a 30-pound dog may also help, but it should be given with food. Garlic can cause blood problems in cats, but this rarely occurs in dogs and only when administered in larger doses.
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