Many pet owners will be familiar with this situation. You’ve noticed the dog or cat scratching a lot, so much so that the sofa wobbles as they sit on it beside you!

If this scratching continues, it definitely means that it’s time for a trip to the vet.

There can be many reasons for this itching and scratching, for example, skin allergies or infections.

However, often the cause can be creepy crawlies or ectoparasites, on the skin.

One of the most common ectoparasites that affect our pets (and indeed can also affect us, their owners) are fleas.

Pets vary in how they react to fleas – some pets are highly allergic to them and develop sore, reddened, wet patches called “hot spots”, while others just scratch occasionally.

Either way, the worry is that one adult flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day.

This means that if your pet brings one flea into the house today, by this time next week, that one flea could be responsible for up to 350 flea eggs hiding in the carpets, the sofas, pet bedding and the microscopic cracks in the wood in the house, waiting to hatch!

Four key signs to look for are:

1 Scratching.

2 Biting or nibbling at the fur.

3 Overgrooming (especially in cats).

4 Hair loss, reddening of the skin.

If you think fleas could be an issue on your pet, try parting the coat near the base of the tail using your hands or a flea comb. Most fleas grow to about the size of a pinhead and will scurry away from the light as soon as the coat hair is parted. This means it is not always easy to spot the fleas, and some animals may groom them off. If you don’t see any fleas, have a look for flea dirt; dark, pepper-like particles on the surface of your pet’s skin and coat. You can easily confirm this by dabbing some of this material with a wet paper towel or cotton ball. If you see dark reddish brown or orange swirls, this is flea dirt and confirms that your pet has fleas. If in doubt, a trip to see your vet can be really worthwhile. You are going to need some sound advice on how to stop the fleas you’ve found on your pet turning into an infestation of the whole house!

Where did the fleas come from?

A flea can jump 100 times its own height so they can easily jump from one pet onto another. Any contact or interaction with another pet carries the threat of a flea transfer. Dogs can transfer fleas to cats and vice versa. The different stages of development of the flea are called a lifecycle.

The cat flea, which can be found on both cats and dogs

Only about 5% of the lifecycle of the flea lives on your pet. The other 95% is out in the home environment in the form of very robust younger stages of the flea called larvae and pupae. Pupae can last a long time, sometimes even up to six months or more, and can be a constant source of re-infestation for your pet. Adult fleas develop from these pupae and go in search of a pet (or human) to bite and feed on to survive.

How can you control fleas?

It is a lot easier to protect against fleas than it is to rid the house of a flea infestation. Make sure that your pet is on a high-quality flea treatment as recommended by your vet. Flea protection for pets comes in the form of chews, tablets, spot-ons, sprays and collars. Some of these treatments will protect your pet for as long as 12 weeks and beyond and will often cover against other nasty ectoparasites, such as ticks, as well. Find out from your vet exactly what “creepy crawlies” your anti-parasitic treatment is effective against and how long protection will last. It is important to reapply treatments at the interval your vet recommends, as any gaps in the protection can result in fleas seizing the opportunity and jumping right through that gap onto your pet and into your home.

A good-quality flea protection plan, with input from your veterinary practice, means that you, and your pet, can then forget about any problems with scratching and sit on that sofa in complete and utter peace and comfort together.

For further information, visit www.msd-animal-health.ie