If you’re like me, you consider your pets part of your family. Our pets give us companionship, comfort, and sometimes even help with certain tasks like hunting and herding that are essential for a survival or homestead lifestyle.
It’s so important to protect your pets from parasites, which at best will make them itchy and uncomfortable, and at worst infect them with harmful and sometimes deadly diseases.
Of course, it’s also important to protect yourself. Ticks can transfer bacteria and can cause diseases such as Lyme disease. (Visit WebMD for complete medical information related to tick bites on humans.) Protecting ourselves and our pets against these bloodsucking pests is so important.
Many ticks are found in wooded areas, tall grass, shrubs, and even in your lawn. Ticks like to hide in places that have significant moisture and areas that are out of direct sunlight. Avoid these areas to help prevent being bitten by ticks.
Tip for a tick free lawn: To keep your lawn tick free, some homeowners recommend putting cedar wood chips around all areas of your yard.
To learn about preventative methods against tick bites for humans and their pets, I turned to the internet. In my research, I found some great all natural recipes for tick repellents for you and your pets.
First, let’s start by protecting ourselves…
All Natural Tick Repellent for Humans
Hiking in a dense wooded area can often lead to a tick infestation.
It’s so important to keep ticks under control, and the best way to do that is to prevent them from latching on in the first place. You should exercise extra caution when venturing into a moist or wooded environment, as these are the areas where ticks flourish.
Just in case you do end up with a tick on you, you should learn how to remove a tick safely. But using these natural tick repellents below, you will make yourself much safer from ticks.
Recipe #1: Tick Repellent For Your Clothes
This tick repellent is applied to your clothes instead of your skin. This will stop ticks in their tracks before they even have a chance to latch on to you. As a bonus, you won’t have to worry about any sticky residue on your skin.
Check out the recipe below and learn how to make your own.
What You’ll Need:
Spray bottle
1 cup of water
10 drops of rose geranium oil
5 drops of cedarwood oil
2 to 3 drops of lavender oil
2 to 3 drops of lemongrass oil
Instructions:
Fill spray bottle with 1 cup of water.
Add the essential oils and shake well.
To Apply:
Shake well before each use and spray it on your clothes and shoes. The scent will keep ticks away.
Recipe #2: Repellent for Your Clothes, Skin and Hair
This all-natural tick repellent will work on any part of your body, clothes or hair. The peppermint oil also gives it a great aroma.
What You’ll Need:
Spray bottle
2 cups of distilled white vinegar
1 cup of water
20 drops of peppermint oil
Instructions:
Fill spray bottle with all the ingredients and shake well.
Spray this mixture onto your clothes, hair, and skin before going outdoors.
If you are going to be outside most of the day, reapply every 4 hours.
Recipe #3: Tick Repellent for Your Clothes
Here’s one more tick repellent you can apply to your clothes to keep those creepy crawlers off of you.
What you’ll need:
Spray bottle
20 drops of rose geranium oil
10 drops of sweetgrass oil
5 drops of lavender oil
5 drops of citronella or lemon oil
4 oz of rubbing alcohol, witch hazel, vodka, apple cider vinegar, OR distilled water
Instructions: Add all of the ingredients into the spray bottle, shake well, and spray on clothes before going outside.
All Natural Tick Repellents for Your Pets
Summer is the worst time of year for flea and tick infestations, and our pets seem to be the ones who are affected the most. Ticks love to burrow under their hair and attach to the skin in dark, damp areas such the elbows and groin.
You should check your pets for ticks daily, especially after taking them on a walk, hike or swim. These natural tick repellents below will also help protect them from an infestation.
Recpie #1: Natural Tick Repellent for Dogs
If you have outside dogs, it’s very important to keep them protected from fleas. But even if your pooch only goes outside for an hour or two a day, you’d be amazed how quickly ticks can latch on.
This natural tick repellent for dogs will keep Fido safe and tick-free.
What you’ll need:
Spray bottle
1 cup of water
2 cups of white distilled vinegar
2 tsp of almond or vegetable oil
Instructions:
Spray the mixture on your pet’s dry coat. It is important to keep the repellent away from sensitive areas like nose, eyes, genitals, and mouth.
When your pet is outdoors for extended periods, you should spray the solution about 2-3 times every day. On the other hand, if your pet is only outdoors for potty breaks, you should spray the solution just once every day.
Tip: If you want to make a repellent that can also repel fleas, add 1 tsp of citrus oil, lemon juice, OR peppermint oil.
Recipe #2: Natural Tick Repellent for Cats
Most cats aren’t at as much of a risk for tick infestation due to spending most of their time inside. Still, it’s very important to protect them as well, since ticks can find their way inside from time to time. Obviously if you have an outdoor cat, it’s even more impotant.
Here’s our recipe for natural tick repellent for cats.
What you’ll need:
2 cups raw unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp of dried organic neem leaf
1 tbsp of dried organic catnip
1 tbsp of dried organic lavender
1 tbsp of dried organic peppermint leaf
1 tbsp organic pure aloe vera gel (optional, but helps with skin and hair health)
Mason jar
Distilled water
Instructions:
Combine apple cider vinegar and herbs in a mason jar and steep for 1-2 weeks, shaking daily to combine. Strain with a cheesecloth or coffee filter before keeping in a glass mason jar for use.
In an 8 oz. spray bottle, combine 1/2 cup herbal infused apple cider vinegar, aloe vera gel, and distilled water to fill.
Spray onto cat while grooming.
Allow to dry completely and do not rinse off.
Kick fleas to the curb with these natural deterrents. https://t.co/lE2PoDXWvm pic.twitter.com/X9u9TXwEt0
— Survival Life (@SurvivalLF) August 2, 2016
Aside from these natural tick repellents, there are other things you can do to avoid tick bites. Here are some additional tips.
How to Avoid Tick Bites
Wear panty hose under pants (yes, even guys too!)
Don’t walk in high grassy areas.
Keep your grass cut.
Don’t sit on logs – If you sit on a log for only five minutes, you raise your chance of getting bitten by 30%.
Wear hats when walking in the woods.
Wear tight (not loose) braids, pony tails or buns.
Wear clothing that covers the skin and has elastic on the wrist and ankles.
Wear boots or shoes that can be tightened at the ankles.
Tuck your pants into your socks.
Always walk in the center of trails when taking nature walks.
Shower within two hours of coming indoors. (I personally shower immediately after being outdoors. Showering immediately also helps to prevent chigger bites.)
Inspect your clothes and body, especially: under the arms, around the ears, inside the belly button, back of knees, and in your hair.
Do you have any tips of your own for how to avoid ticks? Share them with us and your fellow readers in the comments!