Flea Infestations in N8

Fleas are usually visible to the human eye; you’ll most often observe them as they jump to a host. Should you own a dog or cat, cat or dog, or maybe you have just moved into a property in N8 that has had pets, then you are at risk from fleas and flea bites.

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 species of flea are between 1mm and 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 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.  The 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 in which 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.