Hey All,
 
Any oil will smother ear mites.  I have usually heard doing this with
olive oil.  I am not sure if three days would be enough, it would depend
on the life cycle of the mite.  You would want to make sure you did it
long enough to smother hatching mites.  I have usually heard 7 days for
oil treatments.
 
Vaseline works well for hairballs.  The idea is to get something that
will stick to the hairball to make it easy to pass.  To do this, the
substance must be indigestible to the animal.  So you have Vaseline.
 
I would never use a dish washing liquid on an animal.  It is detergent,
not soap.  ANY soap will kill fleas, so if you bath just get a mild
shampoo.  Most flea shampoos have a residual effect on fleas and that is
what you are paying for.  But I successfully treated fleas in Houston
simply by bathing the animal once a week for three weeks and bombing the
house.  Fleas hatch out in a 21 day cycle, so you have to get them off
the animal for three weeks.
 
Many folks now use Advantage and Revolution.  I never treated any of my
animals with such things and had no problem.
 
Blessings,
Maggie
[Posted in FML issue 4135]