The best way to combat fleas is to know everything you can about them. Fleas present a real threat to your dogs and cats and will stop at nothing to make your pet their home and breeding ground, not to mention what they can do to your home. A flea infestation is the equivalent to a pet owners worst nightmare so getting the problem under control at the first sign is crucial.
In addition to knowing how to get rid of fleas once your pet has them, you should also take proactive measures to prevent them in the first place. Knowing the facts is your first step to keeping your pets flea free.
Here are 14 flea facts that you need to know, from PetCareRX:
14. Fleas are wingless insects that get onto hosts by jumping.
13. Fleas have been on this planet for approximately 100 million years.
12. There are over 2,000 species and subspecies of fleas (that we know of).
11. In almost all species of fleas, the females are larger than the males.
10. In the continental United States, the Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is responsible for nearly all of the fleas found on both cats and dogs.
9. If you find a flea on your cat or dog, there could be an infestation on your pets and around your home. Adult fleas are only a small percentage of the total population of a given infestation.
8. A female flea can consume 15 times its body weight (in blood) on a daily basis.
7. A female flea lays eggs within 35 to 48 hours of its first blood meal.
6. Flea eggs are usually laid directly on a host, often falling off the host’s body and spreading the infestation to the surrounding environment.
5. A female flea can lay about 2,000 eggs over the course of its life, but is incapable of laying eggs until after its first meal.
4. Once adult fleas emerge from their puparia, they have approximately 7 days to find a blood meal or they die.
3. Your average flea will have a 2 to 3 month lifespan.
2. If it doesn’t have to move around much, a flea can live anywhere between 2 months and 100 days between meals.
1. If they were human sized athletes participating in the long jump in the Olympics, certain fleas could break the current world record by approximately 970 feet.
