Symptoms and How To Check For Fleas

Symptoms of Fleas

Clinical signs of flea infestation can result in direct or indirect signs. Direct signs are attributable directly to the presence of the flea while indirect results are from agents carried by fleas – the so-called Flea borne diseases.

If your pet is allergic to fleas, then you may spot the following symptoms:

• Scratching, Licking, or biting at the skin
• Areas of hair loss, bald or sore patches
• Spots or scabs
• Pale Gums
• Redness and irritation
• Thickened skin in areas
• Small bumps around the body or neck area
• You may also notice some insect bites on yourself that you cannot account for

Many pets may not show any of the typical symptoms, so it is important to stay vigilant and regularly check for fleas.

How to Check if Your Pet has Fleas

Your cat or dog looks to be in some discomfort and is constantly scratching or biting their fur.  Is it a skin infection or could it be fleas feeding? But what do fleas look like? Before you take your pet to the vet there are a couple of ways to check if you have fleas in the home:

• Can you see fleas crawling on your pet’s coat? They are normally reddy-brown and about 2mm long.
• Check the hind-quarters of your dog or the head and neck of your cat. These are the areas that are targeted and where you might see signs of flea activity.
• Carefully look at your pet’s skin for fine black droppings. This is ‘flea dirt’ or adult flea faeces and looks like ground black pepper. A good way to spot it is to use a flea comb over a sheet of white paper, which makes it easier to see the small black specks.
• Another sign of a problem is flea dirt on pet bedding, carpets or rugs.

Your vet will examine your pet for fleas during their annual check-up. However, you should also make a habit of checking for yourself on a regular basis. In some cases, you won’t have to get in close to see the fleas. If you see small browny-black insects scurrying about, then you can be pretty sure that your pet has fleas. Most of the time, however, you will need to do a closer inspection.

Check out the flea section of our website here!