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Does Your Pet Have Fleas?

Pet health care at Greenbank

Fleas are every pet owner's nightmare — tiny, persistent, and surprisingly difficult to get rid of once they've moved in. The sooner you spot them, the easier they are to treat. Here's a practical guide from our years of experience dealing with fleas at the kennels.

How to Spot Fleas on Your Pet

Fleas are incredibly small and very fast, which makes them hard to spot with the naked eye. But there's a simple trick: take a fine-toothed flea comb and brush it through your pet's coat, then tap the comb onto a piece of damp kitchen roll. If you see tiny dark specks that turn reddish-brown when they get wet, that's flea dirt — dried blood — and it means fleas are almost certainly present.

Other signs to watch for: your pet scratching more than usual, red or irritated skin (especially around the base of the tail and neck), small bumps or scabs, and in severe cases, hair loss.

Why Fleas Are Such a Problem

Here's the scary statistic: one female flea can lay over 2,000 eggs in her lifetime. Those eggs fall off your pet into your carpet, bedding, and soft furnishings, where they hatch into larvae, then pupae, then adult fleas — and the cycle starts all over again. Adult fleas can jump over 150 times their own body length, which is how they easily leap from one pet to another.

Don't wait for your pet to start scratching before thinking about flea prevention. Regular, routine flea treatment is far easier than dealing with a full-blown infestation.

Getting Rid of Fleas: The Full Approach

The biggest mistake people make is treating their pet but not their home — or vice versa. You need to do both on the same day, otherwise the fleas simply hop back and forth.

  • Treat your pet — Use a vet-recommended flea treatment. These come as spot-on drops, tablets, or collars. Over-the-counter products can be hit and miss; your vet will recommend something that actually works for your pet's size and lifestyle
  • Vacuum thoroughly — Every room, every corner, every soft furnishing. Empty the vacuum bag or canister outside immediately afterwards
  • Wash all bedding — Your pet's bed, your own bedding if they sleep on it, blankets, cushions — everything goes in the wash at the hottest temperature the fabric can handle
  • Treat the house — Use a household flea spray on carpets, rugs, and soft furnishings. Pay special attention to areas where your pet sleeps and spends time
  • Treat all pets — Not just the one with fleas. If one animal in the house has fleas, they all need treating
  • Repeat — Follow the product's instructions carefully. Most treatments need to be repeated to catch fleas that hatch from eggs after the initial treatment

Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Once you've dealt with an infestation, stay on top of it with regular monthly flea treatment — even in winter. Fleas can survive indoors all year round thanks to central heating. A quick spot-on treatment once a month takes seconds and saves hours of hassle down the line.