Flea Problems in Battersea SW11

Fleas are usually plainly visible to humans; you will most often see them as they jump to a host. If you own a dog or cat, cat or dog, or maybe you have just moved into a property in Battersea that has had pets, then you could be at risk from flea infestation.

There are 2 main types of fleas that cause problems with homeowners and tenants, and they are the Dog Flea (known as Ctenocephalides canis –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_flea) and the Cat flea (known as Ctenocephalides felis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_flea).

Both species of flea are between 1mm and 3mm in length, the cat flea is more of a reddish brown in appearance, while the dog flea is a slightly darker reddish black in colour with long tapering legs, allowing them to jump significant distances and as high as 16cm.

From feeding on just a single blood meal, a female flea can lay over a hundred eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your dog or cat.  These eggs are very small (0.5mm in length) and whitish in colour, once the larva hatch small maggots will emerge, these will then fall off your pet into their bedding or carpets. The larvae build a nest where they mature and, up to a foftnight after, the hungry adult fleas will emerge.

Flea droppings can be best described as resembling ground black pepper, and a careful search of the property may indicate the presence of fleas.