The flea is one of the most common parasites to infect dogs and cats. This can lead to excessive itching, scratching, and even blood loss. Since fleas feed on blood, a serious infection can leave your pet anemic. Also, in some cases, pets can develop allergies to flea saliva, leading to severe dermatitis.
The adult flea is only about 2.5mm long and is usually dark brown in color, but can be seen with the naked eye. They do not have wings but can jump a great distance.
To effectively control fleas in your home, you need to understand a little about their life cycle. Adult fleas can live up to 115 days on the dog, but only a few days off the dog because they need to feed constantly.
Normally, after fleas ingest a blood meal, they will mate on the dog’s fur, and then the female will lay eggs within 48 hours.
Females can produce up to 2,000 eggs in a four-month life cycle. As the female lays her eggs, they fall off the dog and usually onto furniture or carpet.
The eggs take about 10 days to hatch and develop into larvae. The larvae feed on debris found in the carpet. The larvae then go on to a pupal stage that can last from a few days to a few months.
How quickly fleas mature through the life cycle is highly dependent on temperature and humidity conditions. If these temperatures are optimal for fleas, the flea life cycle can be very fast.
After leaving the ward stage, they only have two weeks to find a host before they die.
Remember, at any given time only 1% of the population is made up of adults. 99% of the time they are in other stages, such as the egg, larva or pupa stages, and are not visible to the human eye.