Flea Problems in CM5

Fleas are usually quite visible to the human eye; you will often see them as they jump from or to a host. Should you own a dog or cat, cat or dog, or maybe you’ve recently moved into a home in CM5 that has had pets, then you could be at risk from flea bites and fleas.

There are two main types of fleas that cause issues 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 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.

From feeding on just one blood meal, a female flea will lay over a 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 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 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.