Dog flea

Description:

The differences between the dog flea and the cat flea are only visible under a microscope, the dog flea is rather rare and is mainly found in Europe. The adult dog flea is a small insect about 3 mm long, wingless and with a laterally flattened body. Dark brown to black in colour, it turns reddish brown when it has taken its blood meal.

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Food:

The dog flea feeds exclusively on the blood of its host, which can be dogs, cats and sometimes humans.

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Habits:

The dog flea lives on its host, the dog, the rabbit or in places that the animal frequents or sleeps like its cushion and the sofa if the animal sleeps on it or the hutch. The dog flea can live for several months without feeding on blood, but as soon as a mammal, like those mentioned in the “Food” section, presents itself, it will immediately jump on it to bite it and take its blood.. The dog flea is not as versatile in the choice of its host as the cat flea, it really prefers dogs and rabbits.

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Reproduction:

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The female lays between 4 and 8 eggs after each meal. During her lifetime, she can lay between 400 and 500 eggs. The laying takes place especially at night, it does not produce a secretion on which it deposits the egg to fix it at the base of a hair, therefore the eggs fall to the ground when the animal is scratching and even the larvae and the adult flea suffers the same fate.