Flea Infestations in North Woolwich E16

Fleas are visible to the human eye; you will most often observe them as they jump to a host. If you own a dog, cat or other house pet, or maybe you have recently moved into a property in North Woolwich that has had pets, then you could be at risk from fleas and flea bites.

There are two types of fleas that cause problems with homeowners and tenants, and these 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 huge distances and as high as 16cm.

From feeding on just one blood meal, a female flea is able to 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 then fall off your pet into your animals carpets or bedding. The larvae build a nest where they mature and, up to 2 weeks after, the adult fleas will emerge.

Flea droppings can be best described as looking like ground black pepper, and a careful search of the property may indicate the presence of fleas.