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How fleas can affect your household

Posted by Wormers-direct on 15th Jan 2020

How fleas can affect your household

There has certainly been an explosion of flea bites and infestations this year mainly due to the weather, wet and mild is meat and drink to fleas, but when you are treating your pets don't forget to treat the environment as well.

View a suitable spray here.

If there is a cat or dog in your house there are most certainly fleas as well.  Adult fleas live on pets, feeding on the blood and breeding, laying up to 50 eggs per day.  The adult egg population represents only about 5% of the total, the rest being eggs and developing larvae.  Your pets act as the distributor for these eggs kindly depositing them on their travels to end up in soft furnishings, carpets, bedding and also in your car.  The larvae like it dark, they are blind and worm like, feeding on such things as human skin scales or flea faeces.  They remain like this until they pupate.  The pupae are the cocoons from which the adult will eventually hatch perhaps triggered by central heating or humidity.  Mere vibration from humans and pets sometimes trigger the pupae to hatch into hungry adult fleas looking for a tasty meal of blood in as little as a week.  Others not triggered to hatch may lay dormant for up to a year.  Adults then lay eggs which develop into larvae then pupae, completing the life cycle of the flea.

As such a small proportion of the total flea population actually live on your pet, it is absolutely vital to treat your home with a household spray.  Fleas are not only an irritant to your pets but they can also cause allergic skin reactions, skin lesions and infection.  Also remember that the fleas can transmit tapeworm to your pets.