I am a natural remedy junkie. This can be good and at times, this can be frustrating! I wanted to share a few things that have worked well this spring for me and my multi-pet home.

First, did you know that peppermint essential oil is a natural deterrent for ants. So, just mix a few drops with water and spray your countertops or floors where those little guys get in this time of year. They hate it!

And, now I use peppermint shampoo on my dogs and it has been working excellently on fleas and ticks! I tried mixing up my own but have found one I like even better. I tried Dogosuds peppermint/tea tree shampoo. It is a natural shampoo that contains essential oils and the fleas hate it. My dogs smell like this for days. I use it once a week on my small dogs and it actually has been helping their skin too. I found it at www.dinovite.com in the shampoo section. Oh, and it is supposed to work on skunk smell too.

Clove essential oil works really well on fleas and ticks too. I rub a couple drops between the palms of my hands and rub it on my dogs ears and around their necks because this is where the ticks love to land on my dogs. It works like crazy!

Hartz over the counter all natural flea and tick topical contains clove as well, but for some reason, it did not work well for me.

And, one last thing. Fish oil caps work really well for skin, coat and for humans, memory/brain function. It works really well, but you have to get a quality salmon or fish oil. I have tried the "pill" or gel cap form but it's hard to shove down my dogs' throats. I have used the fish oil and the salmon oil from the same company where I get my shampoo. It's Supromega and comes in fish or salmon oil. And, their prices are the best I have found. My dogs' skin has never been better! I just put it right on their food before I feed it to them and they love it.

Oh, and I tried the powdered garlic on my dog's food for fleas thing. Just made their breath smell like they had just eaten garlic shrimp from my favorite asian restaurant...probably a combination of the fish oil and the garlic. Didn't work on fleas anyway. So, I'll skip the garlic and stick with the Supromega fish oil!