Wouldn’t it seem like paradise if we could eliminate the tough choice between the safety of non-toxic approaches to flea fighting and the convenience offered by once-a-month products made of bioengineered chemicals? A product developed by Montana horse rancher/veterinarian Terrence Fox may deliver exactly that. Fox has been slowly rolling out his new product, dubbed Parasite Dust, over the past 18 months. The initial feedback is exciting.

FLEAS, TICKS, AND MORE
Parasite Dust has been highly successful in fighting fleas, ticks, and lice on companion animals, Fox reports. The proprietary product has three components. The first, the herb neem (Azidirachta indica), stops parasites from biting (eating), reproducing, and molting. Neem also has powerful healing properties, making it an excellent choice for animals with flea-bite allergies. The second component, the herb yarrow (Achillea millefolium), provides antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, plus some repellent, properties. The third component is diatom flour, an inert ingredient that dehydrates parasites.

To treat companion animals, the procedure is simple: Sprinkle the dust, in dry conditions, along the animal’s spine from head to tail, brushing against the direction of the coat to bring the dust into contact with the skin. Work the dust down into the skin; if there’s dust left over at the surface, Fox says, you’ve applied too much.

The product is safe and non-toxic, he says, for warm-blooded mammals, plus birds and fish. (Common sense dictates avoiding breathing concentrations of the dust, ingesting it, or rubbing it into one’s eyes, Fox says, but he emphasizes that there have been no adverse effects reported.) The herbs in the formulation are both USDA-certified as organic, and the diatom flour is food grade.

FLEA-BITE ALLERGY RELIEF
Fox developed the product to treat horses on his ranch in southeastern Montana, an area that’s rife with lice and ticks. Even engorged ticks fall off within 24 hours of application, he reports.
Parasite Dust also induces healing of skin infections, lesions, and irritations, making it a natural for animals with flea-bite allergies. If you’re acquainted with a pet who’s thus afflicted, you know how much misery can result from a single bite. A treatment that would wipe out the fleas and help heal the irritation would be an enormously welcome addition to the flea-fighting arsenal.

As Dr. Fox is not a pharmaceutical corporation, his method of rolling out the product has been a bit against the grain (if you’ll pardon the pun). He began offering the product to veterinarians in January 2004. Since then, he’s been working his way around the country, offering the product as he speaks to veterinarians mostly as individuals or in small groups. Last month, Fox told us, he made a presentation in Kimberly, Wisc., and among the group was a veterinarian who stood during the Q&A session to offer an unsolicited testimonial.

This doctor said she’d been treating a 4- to 5-pound dog with a severe infestation of deer ticks – by this vet’s estimation, between four and five hundred ticks. The tiny pooch had thus far been treated, aggressively but unsuccessfully, with Frontline. In frustration, this practitioner dreamed up what I’ll call the Shake-and-Bake approach. She took a paper grocery bag, sprinkled some Parasite Dust into it, placed the tick-ridden pup inside, closed the bag to leave just his head outside, and shook the bag vigorously. Satisfied that there’d been nothing to lose, but perhaps not entirely confident of success, the vet sent dog and family home, only to hear the following morning that the previously imperiled pooch was now completely tick free!

Since Parasite Dust is a fairly new product, Fox does not have on hand the precise data about product longevity that a pharmaceutical company would supply. Anecdotal evidence from veterinarians who’ve supplied the product suggests that one application lasts several months. One drawback, though it won’t affect many companion animals, is that Parasite Dust degrades in direct sunlight. So a hairless dog or cat who spends a good deal of time outside in the sun would need to be retreated every five to seven days.

NO RESISTANCE
One final advantage is that, since Paradise Dust consists mainly of herbs that have been around for thousands of years, it’s unlikely that animals will develop a resistance to it, as they typically do to bioengineered anti-flea formulations.

We’re just beginning to offer Parasite Dust to our clients, and we’ll report back on what we find. But we’re optimistic. Compared to the choices we’ve had in the past – between the “natural” approach that involved daily flea combings and weekly carpet and furniture scrubbings, vs. the “conventional” method of applying bioengineered chemicals – Parasite Dust sounds like paradise indeed.

Dr. Teresa Garden is chief veterinarian and co-owner of Animal Health & Healing, a full-service holistic and conventional veterinary practice in the Clayton/Richmond Heights area. AnimalHealthandHealing.com; phone: 314-781-1738.