f you own a pet, you are probably familiar with fleas and how these parasites can be very harmful to your pet. They are the most common pest's cats and dogs encounter. Understanding what fleas are, their breeding life cycle, how to get rid of them and prevent them from coming back may be your long term solution to you and your pet living in a flea free environment.
What are fleas?
Fleas are small dark brown parasites which prefer to live in high temperatures and humidity. The perfect environment for a flea to live is on the skin under your pet's fur allowing them to feed and breed. They cannot fly but have large hind legs allowing them to jump on their hosts. The flea's diet consists entirely of blood and although partial to cats and dogs, they can also bite humans. The continuous biting of your pet causes unbearable itching and irritation where your pet can develop a hypersensitivity skin disorder called flea allergy dermatitis, also known as summer eczema which affects both dogs and cats. It is basically an allergy to the flea saliva where successive feeding activity of fleas on pets may elicit this disorder. The symptoms include frequent scratching, biting and licking of the affected area causing scabs and redness resulting in damage to the skin and hair loss. They can cause anemia to kittens and puppies while they can also transmit tapeworms and bacteria that can cause serious diseases.
The flea life cycle
A female flea needs blood to produce eggs and she can lay up to 50 eggs per day. The flea eggs fall off the animal into the surrounding environment including your carpet, bedding, furniture etc. Flea feces are called flea dirt which is essentially dry blood that also falls off the host animal. The eggs will hatch within 2 - 5 days into larvae which prefer damp dark places. The larvae feed on the flea feces and other debris. The larvae will start to spin a cocoon after approximately a week which it pupates. The pupae fully develop within 5 - 8 days but the flea may not emerge for months if environmental conditions are not right. While in the cocoon the flea has a protection against cold, dryness and even insecticides. The flea will emerge from the cocoon hungry for blood when it senses a nearby host and the cycle begins again. The cycle can be as shot as 12 - 14 days.
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