Flea Problems in Havering-atte-Bower RM4

Fleas can be plainly visible to the human eye; you’ll often spot them when they jump to or from a host. If you own a cat, dog or other house pet, or maybe you’ve recently moved into a house in Havering-atte-Bower that has had pets, then you could be at risk from fleas and flea bites.

There are two 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 species of flea are between 1-3mm in length, the cat flea is more of a reddish brown in appearance, whilst 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 will 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 two weeks after, the hungry adult fleas will emerge.

Flea droppings are best described as looking like ground black pepper, and a careful search of the property may indicate an infestation of fleas.