The only MDR1 dog we ever had was mutant/normal and he never got any form of conventional flea control. The MDR-1 gene seemed to exceed the norm, many “regular” medications made him act off so we opted to test several times a year for HW and (thankfully) he was always negative.
As far as garlic, etc. goes, we’ve had excellent results with this.
Last year we used nothing. No EO’s, no garlic, no lawn sprays or anything and didn’t have a flea problem. We’d find the occasional dead flea in the water bowl but the dogs never had fleas or flea dirt, the bathwater was always 100% flea-free, and the cats got flea combed as a precaution with no issues. Maybe we were just lucky.
We’ve had some nasty experiences with topicals in the past, when we would use them, but a few of our breeds over the years have seemed to have extra sensitivies to chemicals, which was enough to convince me that there has to be another way.
