In this article, Dr. Natasha Lilly from the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies (CIVT), addresses veterinarians about how Flea Destroyer can be a solution for their clients. We are so grateful for Dr. Lilly’s insights and contribution!

By: Dr. Natasha Lilly

Did you know that the biodiversity of healthy soils is akin to a rainforest of diversity below the surface? Just as we have a macroscopic ecosystem (a macro-biome) that we witness above ground, there is a microscopic self-organizing world of living systems (a microbiome) working to thrive below our feet. Our macroscopic ecosystem is typically a reflection of what we have beneath the surface. If we have diminished native species and diversity above ground, we have likely created this problem from below.  

How does this apply to you, as the veterinarian?

Simply put, we cannot ignore the factors that either support healthy systems or diminish them if we are looking to develop a whole health approach for our pets.  The conventional approach in veterinary medicine is not so different from the approach used in conventional agriculture systems to care for soil and plants. Just as the farmers use ‘cides’; pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and others to manage their land and crops, we use pesticides, antibiotics, antifungals, and other ‘cidal’ agents to treat our patients. This typical approach leaves toxins behind and massive potholes for opportunistic organisms to move into place. Nothing living operates well in isolation. In veterinary medicine, we often first see this manifest as GI dysbiosis, dermatopathies, and oral cavity disease. 

Risks and Opportunities

To be transparent, I am an advocate for integration of conventional and alternative medical practices to create a better health outcome. In essence, I like to have more tools for my trade. In that effort, I came across a relatively new product, nature’s product, that makes sense. This product, Flea Destroyer, takes the angle of boosting environmental defenses versus the ‘clear cutting or massive kill’ approach, which creates potholes and vulnerabilities. Flea Destroyer uses beneficial nematodes that exist ubiquitously in nature to provide a check and balance on a whole living system that is likely out of balance due to our conventional approaches to problem solving. These targeted beneficial organisms infest and consume all flea stages except for the eggs, to halt the flea life cycle. This amounts to approximately 50% of the flea population in the environment at any given time. Infusing beneficial nematodes into the environment has long been used in regenerative agriculture practices for the control of unwanted or dysregulated populations of parasitic pests. It makes sense to start defending our pet’s environments using this same angle for a more sustainable, prevention-focused and less toxic health solution.

The less toxic piece is especially important to discuss. We know that flea and tick products are capable of producing unwanted side-effects direct to our patients such as, skin irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, seizures and rarely death. (1) For these reasons, we are not able to use topical or oral pesticides without concern, especially when you have patients with immune system dysfunction, seizures, organ dysfunction, and more.  Additionally, many research publications exist stating the undeniable evidence of environmental contamination and mortality of aquatic invertebrates from pesticides such as fipronil and imidacloprid, in these flea and tick control products for pets. (2,3) With the conventional flea and tick pesticides becoming more widespread in our environment, it is highly likely that we will continue to unravel more undesirable side-effects that disrupt life involving macro and microbiome systems.

Offering Solutions

As we know, flea control can be very frustrating for our clients and has to be a multimodal approach to be more effective. This is because at any given time in the flea life cycle, only 5% of the flea population is mature enough to jump on our pets. The remaining 95% exists at different levels of maturity, as eggs, larvae, and pupae. When using the beneficial nematodes,  Steinernema feltiae and Steinernema Carpocapsae,  in Flea Destroyer, your client is able to address approximately 50% of the total flea population present affecting their pet, and in their yard. Topical or oral flea prevention is not only fraught with unwanted side-effects as a toxic chemical addition but also kills only 5% of the flea population. If you want to arm your clients with a robust plan to knock out pesky flea infestations in and around their home, this is what I would recommend:

1. Typical in-home flea clean up – washing all bedding, vacuuming all flooring, and bathing their pets with something less toxic but naturally effective like this one. 
2. Apply Flea Destroyers to the yard as instructed for optimal results and reapply once a year to boost the nematode population.
3. Regular use of additional non-toxic products for you and your dog to help repel the fleas on your pet and in your environment. 

 

Another way to help transition your clients is to discuss costs involved with each approach to attacking these unwanted, disease carrying, bloodsucking pests. For a 40 pound dog, they will be spending approximately $280 per year (per animal) for a once a month pesticide application to their pet. Additionally, if they are wanting to address more than 5% of the flea population in their household and outside environment, they would spend approximately $96 on a chemical yard solution per year. Meanwhile, they are adding toxins to both the inside and the outside of their home, their pets and themselves at unmeasurable health costs.

If they go the recommended route of a robust, non-toxic, flea extermination and prevention for all dogs and cats living with them, then their costs would be approximately as follows:

The annual application of Flea Destroyers for the size of their yard. Average yard size in a typical neighborhood is close to 2,000 sq ft and cost is $59.99 per box. Topical non-toxic product application every other day to help repel fleas costs approximately $100 – $200 per year depending on the number of pets in their home. This whole health approach continues to address the majority of the flea population at any one time and avoids adding more toxins in our lives. 

What are you waiting for? We need you to educate your clients about this practical, economical and non-toxic solution to a problem we haven’t been able to solve. We are better together. 

 

References:

(1) EPA to Increase Restrictions on Flea and Tick Products Cautions consumers to use products with extra care, 2010

https://www.epa.gov/archive/epapages/newsroom_archive/newsreleases/76d2b52162bcedaa852576e9005c0d97.html 

(2) Potential role of veterinary flea products in widespread pesticide contamination of English rivers, 2021

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720370911

(3) Flea control products may endanger aquatic invertebrates, 2021

https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-04-01/flea-control-products-may-endanger-aquatic-invertebrates

American households are spending more than ever on the health and happiness of their furry family members. In 2021, the American Pet Products Association reported a whopping $123.6 billion invested in pets. Of this total, “Vet Care & Product Sales” accounted for $34.3 billion. To maximize your share of this, it’s important to understand what customers are looking for when they visit your veterinary office.

Clients believe natural is best
A May 2022 report by global market research company Technavio reveals that customers desire natural and organic products. As pet owners tend to view their pets as family members, they take great care to address the health and happiness of their companions. As with the products they use on themselves, pet owners tend to seek a healthier way of life for their pets, avoiding products and processes that appear artificial or chemically based.

Appeal to younger pet parents
Millennials make up 32% of U.S. pet owners—the largest single share—based on a 2020/21 Statista study. Research by SPINS, a wellness-focused data technology company, suggests that natural and organic pet products are desired by 70% of Millennial pet owners, while 68% of Millennials and 73% of the younger Gen Z’s would spend more on sustainable pet products. Clearly, this presents a promising opportunity to optimize the products your veterinary business offers on-premises.

Something to chew on
Many of the products you offer clients may be available from manufacturers who meet natural and sustainable criteria. Pet toys made from materials such as natural wool, hemp, and organic cotton, or natural rubber, offer pet- and planet-friendly alternatives to plastics and other synthetic products.

Treats and supplements
Needless to say, edible pet treats made from all-natural and organic ingredients will appeal to clients concerned about their pet’s well-being. Increasing demand for pet supplements and vitamins has kept pace with interest in overall nutritional products. Demand for pet items containing CBD, in particular, grew 22% in 2021 according to SPINS data. In fact, AKC figures from 2021 show that more than a third of dog owners purchased a CBD product, particularly treats and shampoo, to help with their pet’s anxiety/stress, arthritis/sore joints or pain.

Pet foods
While organic and natural claims have been part of the premium pet food category for quite some time, natural preservation approaches, including botanicals such as green tea and rosemary, now provide additional ways to distinguish products you may wish to offer. These also target consumers who embrace the “clean-label” trend toward enhanced transparency and simple, easy-to-understand ingredients. One more significant trend to consider in this category is the increasing interest in wet pet food, which grew at 1.5 times the total market in the year preceding a 2021 story about the phenomenon on petfoodindustry.com.

Healthier habitats count, too
While you’re considering products with special appeal for your clients, be sure to think outside the house as well. For example, when a need for flea control indicates treatment of a client’s yard and garden, the question of how to get rid of fleas without chemical insecticides is only natural. A solution such as Flea Destroyer’s microorganism-based formula lets you complement whatever pet meds or other treatments you recommend with a people-, pet- and planet-friendly strategy that uses the fleas’ own natural enemy to break their life cycle outdoors.

You see a wide variety of clients in your day-to-day practice. Take advantage of current trends to make their visits to your veterinary office even more worthwhile—by offering natural, organic and sustainable solutions.

For more information about adding Flea Destroyer’s chemical-free, microorganism-based, larva-killing capability to your recommended solutions, call 310-952-5047 or visit fleadestroyer.com.

Where fleas thrive

Veterinary professionals in the western and southern United States know that “flea season” continues year-round. While flea control for pets, homes, and yards remains a hot topic, it is helpful to understand where the flea problem begins, and that addressing the outdoor areas where fleas breed and thrive is necessary for preventing and controlling repeated infestations.

The “cat flea,” Ctenophalides felis, the prevalent flea species on domestic dogs and cats, thrives in habitats where daytime temperatures are moderate and humidity is reasonably high. Thus, coastal areas are prime real estate for these persistent pests. In hotter inland areas, fleas prefer habitats with reliable shade. Vegetation-covered areas near structures and the sleeping places of feral animals, such as crawl spaces, are likely to be flea population centers.

Adult fleas cannot survive in hot and dry environments (temperatures above 95ºF/35ºC, less than 75% relative humidity). Areas that maintain these conditions for more than 40 hours per month naturally reduce flea infestations, as larvae cannot survive for longer than two days there.

Similarly, cold environments tend to inhibit flea populations. Adult fleas die within five days when temperatures drop to 30.2ºF (-1ºC) or below. Low temperatures are more lethal to flea eggs and larvae, which require 55.4ºF (13ºC) at a minimum for development. However, even in colder climates, fleas will survive in wild-animal dens, on the fur of warm-bodied hosts – both domestic and wild – and inside heated structures.

Habitat is a key to flea control
Flea eradication is a multi-step process, often frustrating for clients and patients alike. Treating pets and indoor spaces may eliminate fleas in the short term. But the critical missing step for most clients is to treat the areas where fleas originate – outside the home. Without this key strategy, flea-free pets will continue to bring fleas back inside.

Check the deck!
Feral animals (squirrels, raccoons, opossums, rats) often shelter in hidden crevices under a house or deck, where they provide an ideal environment for fleas to live. Animals that seek shady areas, protected from wind and rain, provide an incubator for fleas to thrive.

The solution – beneficial nematodes

Help your clients treat flea infestations at the source. Flea Destroyer is a non-toxic, chemical-free, biological solution that contains beneficial nematodes. These live, worm-like, microscopic creatures hunt down flea eggs and larvae, preventing them from growing into adult fleas.

Fortunately, the very places that provide ideal conditions for fleas also make a perfect home for nematodes. Easy to apply by mixing them with water and spraying directly onto the soil, beneficial nematodes go to work immediately, penetrating deep into the ground to find their prey – flea eggs and larvae.

Flea Destroyer is odorless and harmless to humans, sparing the families above from the wafting odors and harmful effects of chemical pesticides. Also, beneficial nematodes pose no risk to other beneficial insects who live in the outdoor spaces of homes and gardens.

The beneficial nematodes in Flea Destroyer have been chosen specifically. Steinernema feltiae and steinernema carpocapsae are natural predators for fleas in their early life-cycle. When applied to areas with adequate moisture, moderate temperature, and away from direct sunlight, these nematodes will remain in the areas favored by feral animals, continuing to devour eggs and larvae.

To learn more about complementing your pet- and home-oriented solutions with a natural, microorganism-based treatment that breaks the flea life cycle, call 310-952-5047 or email us at info@fleadestroyer.com.