Flea Problems in CM11

Fleas can be quite visible to the human eye; you will often observe them when they jump to a host. Should you own a dog, cat or other house pet, or maybe you’ve recently moved into a property in CM11 that has had pets, then you could be at risk from flea bites and fleas.

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) & the Cat flea (known as Ctenocephalides felis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_flea).

Both flea species are between 1-3mm 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.

After feeding on just one blood meal, a female flea can lay over one hundred eggs (larva) attaching to the fur of your cat or dog.  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 two weeks after, the 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.