Plenty of homeowners assume fleas are a problem only for households with pets. They are not. You do not even need a pet of your own to end up with a flea infestation, and we have dealt with plenty of homes and businesses that had no animals at all. Fleas travel on pets, but they also travel on clothing, on the people who own pets, and on anyone who has been near them.
You might pick fleas up after visiting a friend with a cat or dog, or on public transport where another passenger has a pet. The animal does not even need to be present. A flea can sit in someone’s clothes, then jump onto an office chair, a theatre seat, a hotel bed or the clothes of the person sitting next to them.
Why a flea infestation is a danger
One of the biggest problems with fleas is that they can go unnoticed for a while before you realise what is happening. The bites are unpleasant too. Much like a bedbug bite, the skin swells into an angry red bump that stays itchy for days, sometimes weeks.
Fleas are rarely alone. If you spot one, there are very likely hundreds more nearby, and if there are not yet, there soon will be. They also carry disease, and some of those diseases are serious. Fleas have historically spread the bubonic plague, and they can carry spotted fever, typhus and cat scratch fever. Any of these can have a real impact on your health, and on pets the constant scratching can make animals miserable and genuinely unwell.
Why fleas are hard to get rid of
Fleas are quick. That speed is exactly why a single spray or a pest trap rarely solves the problem, and it is why most people are better off calling in a professional. Washing your clothes and soft furnishings regularly and vacuuming often will help keep numbers down, but on its own it will not clear an established infestation.
The problem also escalates fast. See one or two fleas on your dog, and that can turn into a full infestation in as little as a week or two. The reliable way to clear fleas from a home is fumigation or a heat treatment, and both need to be carried out properly by an expert.
If you think you have a flea infestation at home or at work, get in touch with our team. We can clear it with minimal disruption to your day. We are open every day except Christmas Day, from early until late.