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Pet-iquette: Citrus scent deters fleas

Maneka Gandhi | Monday, January 9, 2012

My carpets are full of fleas. What can I do ?
Personally I think carpets are a damned nuisance. Especially if one has an animal in the house. Vacuum the carpet, focusing on areas in which your pet often lies down or rests. Also, focus on dark areas that fleas might flee to, such as under any furniture. Dispose of the vacuum bag immediately, as the fleas in the bag may escape. Some individuals choose to place the bag in a sealed plastic bag and throw it away. Others choose to burn the bag. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth on the carpet. Diatomaceous earth can be purchased and is a natural insecticide made up of the powdered remains of fossilised diatoms. If you cannot get that, sprinkle the carpet with salt. Wait 24 hours and then vacuum. Cut up one lemon and boil it in a pint of water. Allow the solution to cool and pour into a spray bottle. Spray the carpet. Spray the pet.

The natural oils and citrus scent naturally deters fleas. Add several drops of citronella and rosemary essential oils to a spray bottle filled with eight ounces of filtered water. Both of these herbs are natural pest repellents. Spray the carpet and any living areas with the mixture. You may find that this solution also freshens the air.

Is it healthy to be feeding my pet cat packaged food everyday? What should a pet cat’s daily diet consist of?
60 per cent protein in some form of meat and soya, eggs once a week. Lightly steam or boil the meat and use the broth from the meat if it is boiled to flavour the rice and vegetables (this way you can cut down on the meat and add more soya. Approximately 20 per cent of the cat’s diet should be composed of vegetables, which can be lightly steamed carrots, cauliflower, or any other vegetables that your cat enjoys.

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Try out different ones. The grain content of the diet should be about 20 per cent rice, amaranth, oatmeal, barley, millet: well cooked and mixed in with the brown rice. Once again a vitamin and mineral supplement is essential and it is important to ensure that cats get enough of the essential amino acid taurine, as a deficiency of this can lead to blindness.

A minimum of twice a day, and ideally thrice. If it is just not possible to cook for your pet, then try and find a natural pet food, with no artificial preservatives, colourings or flavourings, and especially preservatives such as BHA, BHT or ethoxyquin, which may cause an increased incidence of liver cancer.

Try and mix in some extra vegetables, grains each day. Feed the vitamin and mineral supplement as well. Cats on a non-packaged diet will probably eat and drink less and pass less stool since the food they are eating is nutritionally more complete with much fewer fillers and waste products. If you have been giving packaged food and want to change over introduce the diet gradually over a few days, mixing it in gradually over the time period, as a sudden change in diet can lead to vomiting and diarrhoea. After about a week when your pet is eating the diet well, then phase out the pet food entirely.

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