Flea Problems in Bromley-by-Bow E3

Fleas are quite visible to a regular human; you will most often see them when they jump to or from a host. Should you own a cat, dog or other house pet, or maybe you’ve recently moved into a property in Bromley-by-Bow that has had pets, then you could be at risk from flea infestation.

There are 2 main species of fleas that cause issues with homeowners and tenants, and these are the Dog Flea (known as Ctenocephalides canis –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_flea) & 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 huge distances and as high as 16cm.

From feeding on just one blood meal, a female flea is able to lay over 100 eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your dog or cat.  The 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 your animals bedding or carpets. The larvae build a nest where they mature and, up to 2 weeks 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 an infestation of fleas.