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There is a barn cat out in my stable named Smoke, and last summer she was in a bad way. Scratching her neck till the fur came off in patches, worrying at the root of her tail till the skin went red and raw. A cat in that state is a miserable thing to watch, because she cannot tell you what is wrong and cannot help herself. And the thing that ailed her was so small you could barely see it, and the fix cost me one drop of soap and a little patience of an evening.
We have always kept a cat or two working the barn here, so we have known the flea and how to fight it long before anybody sold a little tube of poison at the store. This is the plain old way. It is cheaper, it is safer for the animal, and once you understand it, it works.
In this video:
✓ Why the fleas on your cat are the small part of the problem, and where the rest are hiding
✓ The one-drop-of-soap cup that turns a flea comb into a trap the flea cannot escape
✓ Why a flea floats on plain water, and what the soap does to sink it
✓ The wet white cloth test to tell flea dirt from plain dirt
✓ How to clear the real nest in your flo
https://eliasyoder.com
There is a barn cat out in my stable named Smoke, and last summer she was in a bad way. Scratching her neck till the fur came off in patches, worrying at the root of her tail till the skin went red and raw. A cat in that state is a miserable thing to watch, because she cannot tell you what is wrong and cannot help herself. And the thing that ailed her was so small you could barely see it, and the fix cost me one drop of soap and a little patience of an evening.
We have always kept a cat or two working the barn here, so we have known the flea and how to fight it long before anybody sold a little tube of poison at the store. This is the plain old way. It is cheaper, it is safer for the animal, and once you understand it, it works.
In this video:
✓ Why the fleas on your cat are the small part of the problem, and where the rest are hiding
✓ The one-drop-of-soap cup that turns a flea comb into a trap the flea cannot escape
✓ Why a flea floats on plain water, and what the soap does to sink it
✓ The wet white cloth test to tell flea dirt from plain dirt
✓ How to clear the real nest in your flo
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a barn cat out in my stable right now, a gray thing my youngest named Smoke,
00:05and last summer she was in a bad way, scratching at her neck till the fur came off in patches,
00:11shaking her head, worrying at the root of her tail till the skin went red and raw.
00:16A cat in that state is a miserable animal, and it is a hard thing to watch,
00:21because she cannot tell you what is wrong, and she cannot help herself.
00:26My youngest came to me near in tears about it, and I want to tell you,
00:30the thing that ailed that cat was so small you could barely see it,
00:34and the fix for it cost me one drop of soap and a little patience of an evening.
00:39I am Elias Yoder, and we have always kept a cat or two working the barn here, keeping the mice
00:45down.
00:46So we have known the flea, and we have known how to fight it,
00:49long before anybody sold a little tube of poison at the store.
00:53And that is what I want to give you today, the plain old way,
00:57because it is cheaper than what they sell you, it is safer for the animal,
01:01and once you understand it, it works.
01:04Now let me say one thing right at the start, and then I will not bring it up again.
01:09I have gathered these old ways into a book over at EliasYoder.com.
01:14If you want it, it is there.
01:16That is all.
01:18Now to the cat.
01:19Here is the first thing you have to understand, and it is the thing that changes everything,
01:24because near everybody gets it backward.
01:26When your cat is scratching, you think the problem is the fleas on the cat.
01:31It is not.
01:32Or it is, but only a little.
01:34The fleas you can see crawling on the animal are the small part of the trouble.
01:39The big part of the trouble is all around you,
01:41in the house, in the barn, down in the bedding, and you cannot see a bit of it.
01:46Let me explain it the way it was explained to me.
01:49A flea does not live its whole life on the cat.
01:52The cat is where it feeds, but it is not where it breeds and grows.
01:57A single flea on your animal lays its eggs right there in the fur,
02:00and those eggs are smooth, they do not stick,
02:03and they roll right off the cat like grains of salt wherever the cat goes.
02:08On to the barn floor, down in the straw, into the cracks of the boards,
02:13into the rug by the door where the cat likes to sleep.
02:16And down in all those hidden places, those eggs hatch into little things too small to see,
02:22and those grow and hide and wait, down deep where the light does not reach,
02:27until they are grown and ready to jump up onto a warm animal
02:30and start the whole misery over again.
02:33So here is the part you must hold on to.
02:35For every one flea you see biting your cat, there are a great many more you cannot see,
02:41waiting in the floor and the bedding all around.
02:44I have heard it put that what is on the animal is only a small fraction of the whole,
02:49and the great bulk of them are in the nest, not on the cat.
02:52And that is why folks fight fleas for months and never win.
02:56They keep treating the cat, the cat only, over and over,
03:00and they never touch the ninety and nine hiding in the floorboards.
03:04It is like bailing water out of a boat and never looking for the hole.
03:08You have to fight the nest, not just the animal.
03:12Remember that.
03:13It is the whole secret, and the rest is just method.
03:16My grandfather taught me this,
03:18and he did not teach it with words so much as with a lesson I have never forgotten.
03:23I was a boy, and we had a barn cat gone raw with fleas,
03:27and I was set on the notion that if I just bathed that cat enough,
03:31scrubbed her good and clean, the trouble would be done.
03:34And he let me do it.
03:36He let me wash that cat till she hated me for it,
03:39and she came up clean as a whistle, not a flea on her.
03:42And I was proud.
03:44And he said,
03:46And he set her down in her usual spot in the straw,
03:49and we came back the next morning,
03:51and she was crawling with them again,
03:53every bit as bad as before.
03:55And he crouched down by me, and he said,
03:57You did not lose the battle on the cat, boy.
04:00You lost it in the straw.
04:02You cleaned the soldier,
04:03and left the whole army sitting in the barracks.
04:06The enemy was never mostly on her.
04:08It was all around her, waiting.
04:11And that is the lesson.
04:13It has stayed with me sixty years,
04:16and it is true of a great many troubles besides fleas,
04:19come to think of it.
04:20You will wear yourself out forever,
04:23fighting the part you can see,
04:25and never touch the part that matters.
04:28Go after the nest.
04:30All right.
04:31Let us start with the animal,
04:33because that is where the itching is,
04:35and then we will go after the nest.
04:37And I am going to show you the cheapest,
04:40gentlest tool there is,
04:42and it is one you may already own.
04:44A fine metal comb.
04:46A flea comb, they call it,
04:48with the teeth set very close together,
04:51close enough that they catch the flea,
04:53but let the fur through.
04:54You can buy one for a dollar or two,
04:57and it is the safest thing in the world to use.
05:00Safe on a nursing mother cat.
05:02Safe on tiny kittens,
05:04too small for any other treatment,
05:05because it is nothing but a comb.
05:08No poison at all.
05:10But here is the trouble with a comb by itself,
05:13and if you have ever tried it,
05:15you already know.
05:16You comb the cat,
05:18you catch a live flea in the teeth,
05:20and before you can do a thing about it,
05:22that flea has jumped clean off the comb,
05:25and back into the room,
05:26and it will find its way right back onto the cat.
05:30A flea is a champion jumper.
05:32You cannot pinch them.
05:34They are too small and hard,
05:35and you cannot drown them easy either,
05:38and I will tell you why,
05:39because it is a curious thing.
05:42A flea has a hard shell on it with a waxy coat,
05:45like the wax on an apple,
05:46and that wax sheds water.
05:49So if you comb a flea off into a plain cup of water,
05:53it does not sink and drown.
05:55It sits right up on top of the water,
05:57held up on the skin of the water
05:59the way a water bug skates on a pond,
06:01and it will float there and row itself to the edge
06:04and climb out and go right back to biting.
06:07Plain water will not hold it.
06:09And here is where the one drop comes in,
06:12and it is so simple you will laugh.
06:14You take a cup of warm water,
06:16and you put in a single drop of plain dish soap,
06:20just one drop stirred in.
06:22Now what does the soap do?
06:24The soap breaks the skin of the water.
06:27That tight surface that held the flea up on top,
06:30the soap undoes it,
06:32so there is nothing to stand on.
06:34And the soap cuts that waxy coat on the flea besides.
06:38So now when you comb a flea off the cat
06:40and dip the comb in that cup,
06:42the flea does not float.
06:44It sinks.
06:45Straight down to the bottom,
06:47and it does not come back up.
06:49One drop of soap turns a cup of water into a trap
06:52the flea cannot escape.
06:54So here is how you do the whole thing.
06:57You sit down on the floor in a good bright spot,
07:00in the evening is fine,
07:01with the cat in your lap
07:03and the cup of soapy water right beside you.
07:05And you comb, slow and gentle,
07:08starting at the neck and going down the back
07:10to the root of the tail,
07:12because the root of the tail is where the fleas gather thickest.
07:16Every stroke or two,
07:17you dip the comb in the cup and swish it,
07:19and you will see them come off into the water and go down.
07:23And you keep at it, a little every day,
07:26and each day there are fewer,
07:27until one evening you comb the whole cat
07:30and the water stays clear.
07:32That cat is a different animal by then.
07:35The scratching stops,
07:36the fur grows back,
07:38and it costs you a comb and a drop of soap.
07:41And here is a little test worth knowing,
07:43for the times you are not even sure fleas are the trouble,
07:46because a cat that grooms itself careful
07:48will swallow the fleas as it cleans
07:50and leave you no live ones to find.
07:53Even so, they leave a sign.
07:55When you comb near the root of the tail,
07:58you may see little hard black specks come out,
08:01like ground pepper.
08:02Now, is that just plain dirt,
08:04or is it the sign of fleas?
08:06Here is how you tell.
08:08Take a plain white cloth or a bit of white paper
08:10and dampen it,
08:11and press a pinch of those black specks
08:14onto the wet white.
08:15Wait a moment.
08:16If it stays black,
08:18it is only dirt,
08:19and you can rest easier.
08:20But if it spreads out into a rusty reddish-brown stain,
08:24like a little ring of rust,
08:26then you have your answer,
08:27and it is fleas,
08:29sure as anything.
08:30For that black speck is not dirt at all.
08:33It is the fleas' leavings,
08:35and it is made of the blood it drank from your cat,
08:38dried.
08:39Wet it,
08:40and the blood shows red again.
08:42It is a plain, sure test,
08:45and it costs you nothing but a scrap of white
08:47and a drop of water.
08:49Now, one thing I will not do
08:52is claim more than is true.
08:55That combing gets the fleas that are on the cat
08:58right now, this evening.
09:00It does nothing at all
09:02about the great host of them
09:03waiting in the floor.
09:05Comb the cat clean tonight,
09:08set her down on an infested rug,
09:10and by morning,
09:11she has a fresh batch on her.
09:13That is why the comb alone
09:16never finishes the job,
09:17and it is why we now turn to the nest,
09:21which is the real battle.
09:23And here I have good news for you,
09:25because the way to clear the nest
09:27is old,
09:28it is plain,
09:30it is free,
09:31and it does not put one speck of poison
09:34in your house or your barn.
09:36It is nothing but hard work
09:39and hot water.
09:40Two things.
09:41Cleaning the floors
09:43and washing the bedding.
09:46The first is sweeping and cleaning,
09:48and if you have the English machine
09:51that sucks up the dirt,
09:52so much the better,
09:54though a good stiff broom and a mop
09:56will do it too if you are thorough.
09:59The point is this.
10:01All those hidden eggs
10:02and the little ones hatched from them
10:04are down in the cracks
10:06along the edges of the room
10:08where the boards meet the wall,
10:10under the furniture,
10:11deep in the seams of the cushions
10:13the cat sleeps on,
10:15in the low, dark places.
10:17So that is where you must clean,
10:20not the middle of the floor
10:21where it is easy,
10:23but the edges and the corners
10:25and the dark seams
10:26where they hide from the light.
10:28You go after those places hard.
10:31And here is a thing worth knowing.
10:34The stir and the shake
10:36of the cleaning itself
10:37wakes the grown ones
10:38out of their hiding
10:39and stirs them up
10:41to where you can carry them out.
10:43So you clean,
10:44and the moment you are done,
10:46you take what you swept up
10:48or gathered
10:48out of the house entirely,
10:51out to the burn barrel
10:52or the trash,
10:53away from the door,
10:54so they cannot crawl back in.
10:57And here is the part
10:59most folks cannot stand to hear.
11:02You must do it every day.
11:05Not once.
11:06Every day for two or three weeks
11:10because they hatch in waves
11:12and you have to catch each wave
11:14as it comes up.
11:16Miss too many days
11:18and you are back where you started.
11:19It is a chore,
11:22plain hard work,
11:23but it is the thing
11:24that actually wins.
11:27The second is the wash,
11:29and this one is easy
11:31and it is deadly to a flea.
11:34Heat.
11:35A flea egg,
11:37a young flea,
11:38they cannot live
11:39through good hot water.
11:41So you gather up
11:43everything the cat sleeps on,
11:45the blanket in her basket,
11:47the old towel she lies on,
11:49the rug by the door,
11:51and yes,
11:52if that cat sleeps
11:53on your own bed at night,
11:55your own sheets
11:56and blankets too.
11:58All of it.
11:59And you wash it
12:00in the hottest water
12:02your washing will give you,
12:03good and hot,
12:05and then you dry it
12:06hot as well.
12:08The heat cooks the eggs
12:10and kills the young,
12:11all at once,
12:13all the ones that were hiding
12:14in the very cloth
12:15your animal sleeps against.
12:18You do that at the start
12:20and again a week on
12:22and it clears out
12:23one of the worst nests
12:25there is,
12:26the warm,
12:27soft bedding
12:28right where the cat lies.
12:30My grandmother
12:31knew the power of heat
12:33against small vermin
12:34long before there was
12:36a hot water washer
12:37to make it easy.
12:38In her day,
12:40when there was a trouble
12:41of any little pest
12:42in the cloth,
12:43the bedding,
12:44and the linens
12:45went into a great kettle
12:47of boiling water
12:48over the fire
12:49and were stirred
12:50and boiled
12:51and wrung
12:52and hung
12:53in the hot sun
12:54to dry.
12:55She did not know
12:57the fine reasons
12:58a learned man
12:59might give,
13:00but she knew
13:01from her own mother
13:02that boiling
13:03and sun
13:04cleaned a cloth
13:06of things
13:06that a plain cold wash
13:08left living.
13:09and she was right.
13:12Heat is one of the oldest
13:13and surest weapons
13:15there is
13:15against the small creatures
13:17that trouble a household
13:19and it costs you nothing
13:21but the fire
13:22and the water.
13:24Whatever washing you have,
13:26hot as it will go
13:28and hot to dry
13:29and you are using
13:30the same wisdom
13:31she used over her kettle
13:33only with less
13:34of the labor.
13:36It is a gift
13:37that hot washer
13:38and against fleas
13:40it is a mighty one.
13:42Use it.
13:43Do those two things,
13:45the daily cleaning
13:46of the floors
13:46and the hot washing
13:48of the bedding
13:49together with the soapy comb
13:50on the cat
13:51and you will clear
13:52a flea trouble
13:53out of your home
13:54inside a month
13:55and you will have done it
13:57without a drop of poison.
13:59That is the old way
14:00and it works
14:01because it goes after
14:03the whole of the thing,
14:04the cat
14:05and the nest both
14:06and not just the part
14:08you can see.
14:09Now, I have to stop here
14:11and give you a warning
14:12and I want you
14:13to hear it plain
14:14because it is the most
14:16important thing
14:17I will say today.
14:19When your animal
14:20is suffering
14:20and you do not want
14:22to use the harsh
14:23chemical drops,
14:24you will go looking
14:25for a natural cure
14:26and you will be told
14:27all manner of things
14:29and some of what
14:30you will be told
14:31will kill your cat.
14:33I mean that flatly.
14:34You will hear
14:36that you should rub
14:37certain plant oils
14:38on the cat,
14:39the strong scented oils,
14:41the tea tree,
14:42the peppermint,
14:43the eucalyptus,
14:44because they are natural
14:45and plant-based
14:46and therefore
14:47surely safe.
14:49Do not do it.
14:50Those strong oils
14:52are poison to a cat.
14:53A cat is not built
14:55like a dog
14:56and it is not built
14:57like you
14:58and its body
14:59cannot break
14:59those oils down
15:00and clear them out.
15:01They build up
15:03in the animal
15:03and they can bring
15:04on drooling,
15:06staggering,
15:07shaking and worse.
15:09Natural does not
15:10mean safe.
15:11I will say that again
15:12because it is a lie
15:13that hurts
15:14a great many good animals.
15:16Natural does not
15:17mean safe.
15:18Poison hemlock
15:20grows natural
15:21in the ditch
15:21and it will kill you dead.
15:23So keep the strong
15:24scented oils
15:25away from your cat
15:26entirely.
15:27And one more
15:28for those of you
15:29with both a dog
15:30and a cat.
15:31The cheap flea drops
15:33sold for dogs,
15:34the ones with the
15:35strong chemical in them,
15:36are made for a dog's body
15:38and to a cat
15:39that same
15:40do not ever
15:40take a dog's
15:41flea medicine
15:42and put it on a cat.
15:44Not even a little.
15:45Not even the leftover.
15:46It sends cats
15:47into fits
15:48and it kills them
15:49and the animal doctors
15:51see it every flea season
15:52and it breaks their hearts
15:54because it never
15:55had to happen.
15:56What is safe
15:57for the dog
15:58can be death
15:59to the cat.
16:00If you keep both,
16:01keep their medicines apart
16:02and never cross them over.
16:05Now I want to be plain
16:06about the edge
16:07of what I am telling you
16:08because I would not
16:09do right by you
16:10or your animal
16:11otherwise.
16:12Everything I have shown you here
16:14is for the ordinary case,
16:15a healthy cat
16:16with a flea trouble.
16:17But if your animal
16:19is scratched down
16:19to weeping raw sores
16:21or has gone off its food
16:23or seems sick
16:24and low in itself,
16:25that is past the flea
16:27and into something
16:28that wants a proper
16:29animal doctor.
16:30I am a farmer,
16:31not a veterinarian,
16:32and there is no shame
16:34in taking a suffering animal
16:35to one who is trained
16:36to heal it.
16:37The old plain methods
16:39are for keeping trouble away
16:40and handling the common case.
16:43Real sickness
16:44is the animal doctor's matter,
16:46same as real sickness
16:47in a person
16:48is a doctor's matter.
16:49Know the difference
16:50and do not let pride
16:52keep a hurting animal
16:53from the help it needs.
16:55Now,
16:55who profits from you
16:57not knowing the old way?
16:59And I want to be careful
17:00how I say it
17:01because I am not telling you
17:02there is a scheme,
17:03some room full of men
17:05plotting against your cat.
17:07It is quieter than that
17:08and in a way it is worse
17:10because it needs
17:11no plotting at all.
17:13Nobody makes a dime
17:14when you fight fleas
17:15with a comb and a broom
17:16and a drop of soap
17:17you already own.
17:19But there is a steady
17:20dollar to be made
17:21selling you a little tube
17:22every single month
17:24year on year
17:25for the life of the animal.
17:27So the plain free method
17:29just quietly stops
17:30getting handed down,
17:31not because anyone buried it,
17:33but because there was
17:34no money in teaching it
17:35and good money
17:36in you not knowing it.
17:37The knowledge grows over
17:39like a path nobody walks.
17:41Well,
17:42let us walk it again.
17:43And I will say this plainly too.
17:46I am not against
17:47the little tube
17:47from the store
17:48for every soul.
17:49There are folks
17:50who cannot do
17:51the daily combing,
17:52cannot do the daily cleaning,
17:54and for them,
17:55the bought medicine
17:56used careful and right
17:57may be the sensible thing,
17:59and I would not shame
18:00a person for it.
18:01What troubles me
18:02is not that the medicine exists,
18:04it is that the old freeway
18:05got so forgotten
18:07that most folks
18:08do not even know
18:09they have a choice.
18:10They think the monthly tube
18:12is the only thing
18:13standing between
18:14their animal and misery,
18:15when in truth,
18:16their own two hands
18:18and a cup of soapy water
18:19can do a great deal
18:21of the same work
18:22for pennies.
18:23I only want you to know
18:25the old way is there.
18:26What you do with it after
18:28is your own affair
18:29and no business of mine.
18:31Here is what I would ask of you.
18:33If you have a cat
18:34scratching itself raw right now,
18:36start tonight.
18:37Get yourself a fine comb
18:39and a cup of water
18:41with one drop of soap in it
18:42and sit down with your animal
18:44of an evening
18:45and start combing.
18:46And then start on the nest,
18:48the cleaning
18:49and the hot washing,
18:51every day.
18:52And come down to the comments
18:53and tell me.
18:54Tell me your cat's name
18:56and what color it is
18:57and whether the old way
18:59brought it relief.
19:00I read them,
19:01and other folks read them too,
19:03and every one of you
19:04that reports back
19:05gives heart to the next one
19:07whose animal is suffering.
19:09And the next time
19:10we sit down together,
19:11I am going to take you
19:12from the barn cat
19:13to the thing the barn cat
19:15is there to fight
19:16in the first place,
19:17the mouse and the rat.
19:19Because a cat
19:20will only do so much,
19:22and there are old,
19:23plain ways to keep
19:24the mice and rats
19:25out of your pantry
19:26and your grain
19:27and your walls
19:28without a scrap of poison
19:30that could reach
19:31a child or a pet.
19:33That is a good one,
19:34and I will see you for it.
19:36So get your comb,
19:37get your one drop of soap,
19:39go after the nest
19:40and not just the animal,
19:42and keep the strong oils
19:44and the dog's medicine
19:45far away from your cat,
19:47and you will bring
19:48that poor scratching creature
19:49back to peace
19:51the old, plain way.
19:53The people who built this country
19:55with their hands knew that,
19:56and we are only just
19:57starting to remember it.
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