There are over 2000 species of flea in the world. Thankfully, only the cat flea and the dog flea (Ctenocephalides felis, Ctenocephalides canis) are important to dogs and cats. Despite the name, cat fleas infest dogs just as much as they infest cats.
The problem is that fleas breed in stupendous numbers. Each female can lay as many as 200 eggs, which immediately fall off the animal, all around your home.
This is why scientists the world over agree that Integrated Flea Control, where you use one type of insecticide to kill fleas on the pet and another to kill their eggs, is the most effective way to eliminate fleas.
The degree to which you need to control fleas will vary from person to person, and from pet to pet.
You might think that a pet kept entirely indoors would be at no risk of catching fleas. But don't forget that it only takes a visit from one untreated animal to trigger an infestation in your home, so even housebound pets may require flea control.
Pets that routinely go outdoors will likely come into contact with fleas from time to time, and require regular treatment. Finally, some pets are allergic to relatively small numbers of fleas, and may need particularly stringent flea control.
Discuss the most appropriate level of flea control with your veterinary surgeon. Before you do, though, it is important that you have a basic understanding about fleas.
Whoever first coined the phrase 'breeding like rabbits' clearly didn't know much about fleas! Where a wild female rabbit may give birth to 30-40 young in a year, a female flea can lay 30-40 eggs in just one day.
Once on your pet, adult fleas take a blood meal (bite) and mate. Within 24 to 48 hours, the female starts laying her eggs. These eggs fall off the animal, wherever it goes in your house.
A typical female flea may lay 200 eggs over a period of five days. They'll hatch in a further 4-12 days, depending on the temperature and humidity.
So, two important facts here:
1. For every flea you can see on your cat or dog, there may be another 200 eggs around the house.
2. This is why experts the world over agree that the most effective flea control involves using 2 types of insecticide: one to kill adult fleas on the pet, and the other to prevent fleas reproducing.
Flea eggs hatch into worm-like larvae which move away from light and downwards. This means that they are usually found deep in the carpet pile. They tend to accumulate in areas where the pet rests, but have been observed to crawl as far as 20 feet while in this stage of the life cycle.
The lessons for effective flea control are:
1. Whilst household sprays can certainly help, it can be difficult to be sure that you've treated all the hard-to-get areas that flea larvae congregate.
2. Flea prevention is better than cure. In other words, far better to treat your pet before it catches fleas, than end up chasing possibly hundreds or thousands of flea larvae around the house.
After 7-18 days, flea larvae pupate. Not the latest dance fad, but the process by which they spin a protective cocoon around themselves and develop into adults.
Inside the cocoon, fleas are almost impervious to insecticides. In fact, about the only thing that will get them during this stage of their life cycle is a blowtorch (which is perhaps a bit extreme for most people!).
It takes between 5-14 days for fleas to develop inside the cocoon, after which they are triggered to hatch in response to vibration (being stepped on), or the carbon dioxide exhaled by a passing host. But in the absence of a trigger, they can survive inside the cocoon for up to nine months.
So, what does this mean for successful flea control?
1. There are no chemical sprays on the market today that will penetrate the pupal cocoon. So, if you have pupal fleas in the house, you will need to start your flea control programme and accept that it may be weeks before they hatch and can be completely eliminated from the house.
2. Once again, prevention is the best approach to flea control. If you treat your pet before it comes into contact with fleas, you won't end up with flea pupae around your home.
A flea can hatch from its cocoon, jump on a passing pet, and begin feeding in as little as 7 seconds.
Unfortunately, scientists believe there is no such thing as an effective flea repellent. It seems that fleas are not repelled by garlic, citronella or brewers yeast.
Adult fleas are permanent ectoparasites. In other words, once they have landed on a pet, they'll stay there until they're removed by grooming or die. That's logical. After all, if you're already sitting in the best restaurant in town, why move?
Adult fleas usually live for a matter of days on a cat or dog, unless swallowed by the pet, or killed by an insecticide. They account for only 5% of a typical flea infestation at any one time (the rest existing in the egg, larval and pupal life stages).
Once again, some important flea control lessons here:
1. Remember, the objective is to kill fleas, not repel them!
2. Whilst it's adult fleas that make most people squirm, they are in fact the smallest part of the problem. Before they die, adult female fleas will lay hundreds of eggs around the home. Effective flea control means using a combination of 2 different types of insecticide: one that kills the fleas on your pet, and the other to prevent fleas laying eggs around your house.
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