Diatomaceous Earth

[APBT]

Diatomaceous Earth is a non-toxic, safe substance made up from crushed fossils of freshwater organisms and marine life. Crushed to a fine powder and observed through a microscope, the particles resemble bits of broken glass. Deadly to any insect and completely harmless to animals, fish, fowl or food. Most insects have a waxy outer shell covering their bodies, INSECT STOP scratches through this shell causing the insect to dehydrate leading to eventual death.

Anyone used this on there animals before, ive heard nothing but great feedback from the Game dog community in the US, wondering if anyone here has tried it.

More info here http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/health/diatearth.htm

[GeckoTree]

The only thing I have used permaguard for is to keep bugs of my plants.

[becks]

I've heard it can be effective BUT you have to be very careful you or the dogs do not breathe in any of the dust as it can damage lung tissue

[APBT]

im talking food grade only, if its fine to feed to humans and animals daily i wouldn't think it would be bad to inhale. Especially as its used to dust in and around the dogs kennels.

[GeckoTree]

Do you have any links to info on how people are using it APBT? I have only ever used it to get rid of aphids etc, I know Borax has been used in flea control around kennels as thats what my grandmother used.

Are people using it for parasite control?

[AmandaJ]

I have not used it YET - (not that I need to - I don't have that problem) but the Parasitology course does list it as an alternative control method for parasites. Ingested (food grade) it would be the same as carrot, coconut and a few others. Some parasites hide from the hosts immune system by covering themselves in the hosts enzymes...these products pass through the intestine and "scratch" the enzyme covering off the parasite making it easier for the immune system to identify the parasite.

[GeckoTree]

Some parasites hide from the hosts immune system by covering themselves in the hosts enzymes...these products pass through the intestine and "scratch" the enzyme covering off the parasite making it easier for the immune system to identify the parasite.

That's really interesting, I didn't know that. Dol's great

[becks]

I have not used it YET - (not that I need to - I don't have that problem) but the Parasitology course does list it as an alternative control method for parasites. Ingested (food grade) it would be the same as carrot, coconut and a few others. Some parasites hide from the hosts immune system by covering themselves in the hosts enzymes...these products pass through the intestine and "scratch" the enzyme covering off the parasite making it easier for the immune system to identify the parasite.

Carrot can be used as a wormer???

[corvus]

I have tried it for fleas and it didn't work. May have had a slight, very temporary depressive effect on numbers, but not much. Possibly it's worth a go if your flea population is very small. I used it out of desperation because all other treatments had stopped working (including flea-bombing house!). In the end I was flea-bathing once a week and had my dogs wearing a lemon-scented tee-tree oil rag on their collars in the meantime. It didn't get rid of them by any means, but kept them at just barely manageable levels. Comfortis rescued us when it came out.