Nobody wants to hear that their pet has fleas. However, without a comprehensive flea prevention and control program pet owners will all too often receive that news. An understanding of the flea and its life cycle will show how important it is to prevent fleas from living on your pet. This understanding will also help guide you and us as we develop a program to help eradicate fleas on your pet and in your pet’s environment.

Life Cycle
Despite its name, the most common flea of both dogs and cats is the cat flea. The cat flea can be found on dogs, cats, raccoons, opossums and foxes.

Once a flea is on its animal host, the flea does not leave. The female begins to lay her eggs – 40 to 50 per day - within 24 hours of getting on your pet. The adult fleas stay on your pet, but the eggs will fall off into the environment where they go through several stages of development – eggs > larvae > pupae > adult. Each of these stages presents unique challenges to flea eradication.

The flea egg is resistant to insecticides. However, using flea products containing an insect growth regulator and/or an insect development inhibitor prevents the eggs from developing any further. A female starts laying eggs within 24 hours of first ingesting blood from your pet and can lay up to 2,000 eggs in her lifetime. These eggs drop off your pet and are now in the pet’s environment. The eggs hatch in 1 to 10 days.

The larvae are susceptible to both insecticides and environmental insect growth regulators. The larvae are quite mobile and move to sheltered areas to hide making them difficult to treat directly. The larval stage lasts 5 to 11 days.

The pupae form cocoons that are resistant to insecticides. The adult fleas emerge from the cocoons when stimulated by environmental cues that signal a host is present. These cues are such things as vibrations, increased carbon dioxide and temperature changes. The pupae can survive for up to 174 days waiting for a suitable host to come along.

The adult flea is a continuous parasite on your pet. It does not willingly leave the host. The flea can be removed mechanically or be killed with insecticides. The adult flea can live up to 120 days.

As you can see, the flea is a hardy pest. It is much easier to prevent your dog or cat becoming the flea’s host than to eradicate an established flea population. We recommend year round flea protection. Our weather is very unpredictable which favors the flea. By looking at the flea life cycle, it becomes apparent that different forms of the flea can stay in the environment or on your pet for several months even as you treat the environment and your pet.