FAQ about Fleas:

What is the average life span of a flea?

Over 90% of fleas on dogs and cats are the same flea – the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis).Adult fleas can live up to a month if they are not groomed off by the cat or the dog. Each female flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day, or 1500 eggs in a life time.

What is the life style of a flea?

The speed at which the flea completes it’s life cycle is proportional to warmth and humidity levels. With central heating, fleas are an all-year around problem.
Under ideal conditions (warm house with carpets, sofa with hollows, wood flooring with cracks, animal beddings and blankets, other pets, people and movements) eggs can go through their full life cycle to larvae, pupae and hatching out into new adults in only 2 weeks. As a female flea can lay on average 50 eggs a day, if flea control is not tackled, a rapid population explosion will arise if you don’t take long term preventative action.

Pupae can stay dormant in a home if the right stimuli for hatching is not present (warmth, vibration, carbon dioxide) for up to a year, hatching out when the stimuli return. This can result in big population explosions for example in homes which become occupied after a period of being empty.
Fleas, eggs, larvae and pupae live in  the  cracks and crevices of a house. Adult fleas are the only life stage which are visible on the pets. Fleas are permanent parasites – staying on their host for all of their lives. They lay their eggs in the pet’s haircoat, and the pet sheds flea eggs into the environment wherever they go. The adult fleas that you see are only the tip of the iceberg. 95% of the problem exists in the home as eggs, larvae and pupae.

Where do I need to look to find fleas in the coat of my pet?

Often adult fleas are not visible. Instead Flea dirt will be noticeable in the hair of your pet. You may be lucky and might be able to spot fleas in your pet’s coat, if you part gently the fur around the neck, or base of the tail.

If I don’t see fleas, how can I be sure there are some in the coat of my pet?

Often adult fleas are not visible. It is easier to look for flea dirt. If you comb your pet carefully with a fine toothed comb and collect the hair and debris which you comb off onto a wet piece of white paper, you will notice that because flea dirt contains digested blood it will dissolve on the wet paper to produce reddish brown swirls.

Is it true that fleas can cause skin irritation, allergic reactions and nasty skin sores?

Some dogs and cats can be allergic to the flea’s saliva and /or faeces (dirt). Some people are also unlucky enough to be attractive to fleas and sensitive to their bites, I have witnessed very severe reactions of flea bites on people, and the reactions lasted over several months without actual progress in the healing!!! In flea-allergic animals, the itching caused by fleas can be very severe and leads to hair-loss (alopecia), inflammation and secondary skin infections.

Are there any diseases fleas can transmit to animals?

Apart from the FAD (Allergic dermatitis), which is an allergy to flea saliva and/or faeces, there are a number of other diseases transmitted by the flea.The flea is an intermediary host of Dipylidium Caninum, known as Tapeworm, which is a cat’s and dog’s intestine worm (cestode). The flea larvae ingests the eggs of this cestode, which matures into worm-larvae. The worm-larvae is the infecting stage hosted by the adult flea. Cats and dogs infest themselves in the grooming process, by biting and swallowing infected fleas. From the cestode infestation can arise anal itching, and dermatitis of the anal region.Fleas can also be responsible for the skin infestation of another type of worm-larvae called nematode (dipetalonema reconditum).The cat flea Ctenocephalides felis is also involved in the transmission amongst cats of the bacteria Bartonella  henselae, responsible for the cat claw infection in cats and humans, appearing as mild flu symptoms in humans.Fleas can also carry Rickettsia species, a bacteria that causes fever and a skin rash in humans.Above all, flea infestation will be responsible for blood loss and anaemia in puppies and kittens.

                                          Life cycle of Flea