Fleas

The flea people find on their pets is nearly always the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) — an unhelpful name, since it is also the most common flea on dogs. The few adults jumping about on the carpet are the visible part of a much larger problem. The eggs, larvae and pupae are down in the pile of the carpet, in the pet’s bedding and under the furniture, out of sight.

How to recognise them

An adult flea is no more than 3 mm long, reddish-brown and wingless. Its body is flattened from side to side, so it looks very thin viewed from above and moves easily between hairs. That same shape makes it awkward to crush between the fingers.

Most people notice the pet before they notice the insect: persistent scratching, biting at the coat, restlessness. Itchy bites around your own ankles and lower legs are the other early sign, because fleas jump from floor level.

Why one treatment is rarely enough

A female flea lays roughly 20–50 eggs a day. The eggs hatch in 2–5 days, the larvae develop over 8–15 days, and at room temperature the whole cycle can complete in about 18 days.

The larvae avoid the light. They develop in sheltered, warm, humid places — deep in carpet and rug pile, in pet bedding, under sofas, along the edges of skirting boards. They need at least 75% relative humidity and 21–32 °C, which is precisely the environment at floor level in a heated home.

So a treatment aimed only at the adults on show will always fall short. Eggs and pupae carry on developing, and adult fleas appear again later.

What it means for health and for pets

Flea allergy dermatitis can be set off in a pet by a single bite: intense itching, hair loss, reddened skin and secondary infection. Treating the animal and keeping it protected is work for a vet, not for a pest controller.

A flea swallowed during grooming can pass tapeworm to the animal. The cat flea can also transmit cat flea rickettsiosis. If bites on your own skin do not settle, or the reaction spreads, see a doctor.

How the treatment works

The survey comes first: which rooms the animal sleeps in, which floors are carpeted, what is underneath the furniture and along the skirtings. The treatment then follows those findings down to floor level — under furniture, along carpet edges and at the pet’s resting places, rather than across open floor.

We use residual surface treatment with biocidal products licensed by the Turkish Ministry of Health, together with insect growth regulators to reach the developing stages. Because eggs and pupae are not affected in the same way as adults, a single visit is rarely enough and a follow-up check is planned in.

Where rodents and fleas are present in the same building, the order matters: fleas first, rodents second. Clear the rodents first and their fleas simply look for another host, which spreads the problem rather than ending it. WHO requires the same sequence in plague outbreak management, for exactly that reason.

What you can do

• Keep the animal’s flea treatment and protection under your vet’s direction. Treating the building alone will not hold.
• Vacuum carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture and the floor under furniture thoroughly and often. Empty the bag or cylinder outside.
• Launder pet bedding, cushions and covers in hot soapy water at least once a week.

Vacuuming lifts a share of the eggs and larvae straight out of the pile, so keep it up after the treatment as well. Spraying an aerosol across the open floor achieves very little by comparison — the larvae are exactly where the light is not.