It Works, It Really Works: Dawn Dish Liquid & Fleas
Posted by Lynnster on June 22, 2008
I’ve been reading for years about Dawn dishwashing liquid (the original, not the “new” kind) and its ability to get rid of fleas and just kind of went “ehhh” about it. Not that I didn’t believe it worked at all, I just figured it probably didn’t work as well as people claimed it did.
I was so wrong.
We have had an awful time with fleas this year – which makes me want to cry because for years we were flea-less until the neighbor dogs moved in a couple of years ago, but anyway – this year has been the worst ever, and I don’t think Frontline is working as well as it used to, though it does seem to finally be working, or at least I think I’m finally seeing a dent in the cycle because most of the fleas I’m seeing now are juvenile and baby ones (heh, that sounds funny).
I’ve been reading a lot lately where people are saying Frontline Plus is no longer working, or works for a week and quits, or suggesting going back to Advantage a while and then reattempting Frontline, or postulating that the fleas are gaining immunity towards all of that type stuff. One of the statements I see frequently I tend to agree with most – Frontline Plus just does not seem to work as well as Frontline Top Spot. I do think the cycle is breaking, but it’s certainly not with the speed and severity that Frontline Top Spot always had.
In any case – before I get off topic any further – we’ve just had a time this year and among some other things I’ve been trying, and trying to avoid spending any more than the megabucks I finally had to cough up for Frontline and other measures, I finally decided to see if the Dawn legend really worked. It does!
My flea traps are drowning a number of those suckers nightly, all for the cost of a bottle of original Dawn dish liquid (a whole 96 cents at Wal-Mart right now). I have played around and tried a few different things now with it all (including another dishwashing liquid) and this method seems to work the best and attract the most fleas to drown. You need:
- Said bottle of original Dawn dishwashing liquid detergent. Not the now-regular Ultra or anything else. Just plain old original blue Dawn.
- A shallow bowl of water, preferably white. You can use clear ones, but the white bowls seem to attract them more. If I use a clear one, I put a piece of white paper under it and that seems to help too. But my small French White bowls (I call it the creme brulee size) and a Corningware mini-casserole dish I have seem to work best.
- Best spot to place the bowl is on the floor. I’ve tried other and higher spots and they’ll work, but it seems to attract more if on the floor. You can put it in a corner or out of the way otherwise, they’ll find it, believe me.
- A book light or night light. Many places you read will say a night light and those may work, but my problem is I live in an old house with few electrical outlets and even fewer where there’s any floor space underneath. I had a couple of mini-book lights, the kind that clip on the book and have the little bendable arm – you can get them at Walgreen’s lately, two for $3 – I just clip them on the side of the bowl and bend the light where it’s over the center of the bowl, and voila. I have tried some other little book lights since, such as some that Dollar Tree has right now, but they just don’t seem to attract as well as these little lights Walgreen’s is selling right now do.
I have one bedroom that has been hit particularly worse than the rest (Tojo the Psycho Cat’s bedroom) and my flea trap in there is catching 15-20 or more a night and starting to slow down a little, finally. The rest in the rest of the house are only catching one or two a night now, but it’s definitely all working.
I don’t usually use flea collars because they really don’t do much other than keep the pests away from their heads, but I did buy one for Tojo – unfortunately it was a cheap one and seemed to be making the fleas WORSE than they were, so last week I got the pricier Adams one. And last week washed all the bedding in the house, too.
Bombing the house, which would probably have been the quickest and surest way to eradicate all fleas, just wasn’t an option – there’s nowhere for all of us to go for a day – and after having spent a small fortune on Frontline, and other stuff leading up to the Frontline which was wasted money because nothing was working – the fact that the Dawn really DOES work, for 96 cents a bottle, is just WONDERFUL.
It’s all working. We are not 100% flea-free yet, but it’s better and we’re close, and I will swear by this Dawn method from now on. The dogs (and quite possibly one very mad cat) are going to have a bath with flea shampoo next week and then it will be time to Frontline everyone again, and after that (fingers crossed) with any luck we can go back to only treating the dogs with that stuff.
But I will be keeping at least one or two homemade Dawn flea traps on the floor at night at all times, maybe all year long but definitely during the warm months, probably one in Tojo’s room and another in some other corner of the house somewhere. I now highly recommend it for any dog or cat owner. Even if you don’t really have a flea problem or aren’t seeing any, just one bowl set up like that with the Dawn and the book light or night light ever night will almost certainly assure you don’t see any. It works!
Why fleas like the Dawn so much more than other liquid dish detergents – and why they prefer it as opposed to the newer, “ultra” Dawn – now that’s something to ponder, but I can tell you for a fact that they don’t like lemon Ajax as much.
Tess said
I get my Frontline Plus from australia
http://www.vetproductsdirect.com/ (check it.)
I’ve not had problems with the product not working.
LoriW said
Good afternoon! This is probably late, but I’ve tried dish soap method also. It’s perfect for an “older” dog (read old fart) who may not be able to take the harsh chemicals. I didn’t know about Dawn – I just used any old variety – and it worked fine. (Kroger store brand.) And I used pie tins, which I could throw away. One hint: Before you turn off the night light VACUUM really well! That way you get rid of the fleas that are making the trek to the warm light. I used this method one year (when a flousy of a neighbor dog arrived) and found tremendous success!
Best regards! Lori
Lynnster said
Hey Lori, thanks for stopping by and the added testimonial. It really is still working, only trapping two or three fleas a night now so I think we are definitely decreasing the overall population, and it’s about time for everyone to get treated again (the one who lives in the room where the real trouble has been and has had the most fleas has already been treated). So I’m hoping I’ll see even more significant improvement in July.
The dogs are about to all have baths too so that should help. Thanks for the tip about the older dog baths too – my old guy is medium to large and still pretty resilient so I think he can take the flea shampoo for now, but if his health continues to fail I will probably switch to that method with him. Thanks again and have a great day!
Lynnster said
PS I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to use my homemade Dawn flea traps year round as a preventative… at least on the nights I remember to set them (or at least one) out!
Reta said
I read about using dawn to get rid of fleas. I didn’t see the amounts of water & dawn to use in the bowl. Will it only work at night?
Thanks
Lynnster said
Hi Reta, really just however much water and a few drops of Dawn. I usually use a smallish bowl of water, fill up the bowl, put a few drops of Dawn in it and bam. Have used bigger bowls before, doesn’t really seem to matter. Just a few drops of Dawn will do the trick.
It works best at night and in the darkest dark possible. It probably does attract some in the daytime if left out (I have one bowl in one room that just stays there all the time and I replace the water and Dawn occasionally). But the trick is that the fleas will be attracted to the light and fall in the water, so at night and in a totally dark room is best and will get the most of them. Even in a large room, if it’s totally dark they will be attracted to that light.