Fleas can become an issue within your home if left untreated Fleas are wingless insects, 1.5 to 3.3 mm) long, that are very agile, usually dark coloured (in example, the reddish-brown of the cat and dog flea),They feed with a proboscis, or stylet, which is adapted to feeding by piercing the skin and sucking their host’s blood through their epipharynx. Flea legs end in strong claws that are adapted to grasp a host.

Under ideal conditions, the cat or dog flea life cycle takes just 18 days from egg to adult.

All adult fleas regardless of being male and female require a blood meal prior to mating. They prefer blood from your pet, but in the absence of your pet, fleas will bite people. Once mated, the female flea can lay up to 50 eggs per day on your dog or cat.

Evidence of a flea infestation can include fleas being seen on your pet, or your pet scratching more often. Fleas can leave dirt on their host’s this can often look like pepper but is in fact the waste from the fleas feeding on the hosts blood.

If the fleas don’t have a host to feed on, they will bite humans, the bites are usually located around the ankles and lower legs.

Allergic reaction from flea bites on your pets may cause hair lost around the rear end due to excessive scratching/biting. In humans, fleas’ bites can cause the follows symptoms:

A red spot sometimes with a halo. Itching in and around the area, Hives.
A rash this may contain small clusters of bumps. Slight swelling around the bite.