Safe Flea Powder for Dogs - Ingredients & Effects

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skystar66
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Powder
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on creating a safe flea powder for dogs, specifically for a Golden Retriever, using food-grade ingredients. Key components mentioned include potassium sorbate, corn gluten meal, eugenol, and geraniol, which are considered for their efficacy against fleas while ensuring safety for pets. The conversation also touches on the challenges of testing the effectiveness of these ingredients and the potential for fleas to relocate rather than be eliminated. The importance of understanding the physical form of these ingredients, whether powders or granular, is emphasized for effective formulation.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of food-grade ingredients and their safety for pets
  • Knowledge of insect repellents and their active components
  • Familiarity with basic experimental design and data collection methods
  • Experience with chromatography techniques for isolating compounds
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the efficacy of potassium sorbate and geraniol as insect repellents
  • Explore methods for testing flea repellency using T-maze experiments
  • Investigate the safety and effectiveness of corn gluten meal in pest control
  • Learn about the physical properties of insecticidal powders versus liquids
USEFUL FOR

Pet owners, veterinarians, and researchers interested in natural pest control solutions for dogs, as well as those exploring safe formulations for animal care products.

Skystar66
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I'm making a flea powder for my Golden Retriever and hope to find a 'food grade' inert that will disable fleas but not hurt my dog if he licks it off his fur.

Potassium sorbate
Corn gluten meal
Putrescent whole egg solids
Corn oil
Sesame (includes ground sesame plant)
Eugenol
Sodium lauryl sulfate
Geraniol
White pepper
Lauryl sulfate

Are all these powders (as opposed to oil or liquid)?
Are any 'granular' (like salt as opposed to baking soda)?
Are any destructive or poisonous to insects?

Thank you,

Michael
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chemistry news on Phys.org
It seems that you are basing your experimental powder on an existing labeled product and want to retro engineer it. While in grad school, I was witness to some high schoolers that my advisor had agreed to have us help with science fair ideas. One of the ideas used a video camera and T-maze to gather data on repellency of components extracted from natural sources towards some type of bug. Our contribution was to show them some simple TLC and chromatography that could allow them to isolate bands of the active component(s).

I can recognize that a few of these in your list would have been present in the extracts they had found some promise. I would guess that experimenting with fleas would be a bit difficult, but I recall that they can be attracted to traps by certain color of light, so the T maze could collect data for a repellent that could overcome attractive light.

You have to ask yourself though; if the repellent works, where do the fleas go? It can be no fun if you are the item they choose to dine on, and they inhabit your carpet and sofa!