What Do Flea Eggs Look Like? How To Spot Them On Your Pet?

Have you ever seen flea eggs on dogs and cats with your naked eyes?

It is very difficult to spot flea eggs on your pet, especially if they have light-colored fur. The eggs are like salt grains under the microscope.

While their appearance may change over time from shiny to almost translucent, they can become solid white. A flea egg is so tiny that even realizing that you may have a flea problem going on is hard to realize which makes getting rid of them difficult. Freshly deposited flea eggs are semi-transparent, shiny, and colorless to white. They appear like tiny grains of salt. In contrast, finding adult fleas is relatively easier. Adult fleas are quite inconspicuous but the eggs they produce are even harder to spot. Approximately 0.01 in (0.5 mm) in diameter and white, they resemble flakes of dandruff or grains of salt. As they mature, the eggs develop into a more opaque and pearly white color. Flea eggs are microscopic and spotting them is quite a task! They resemble dry skin and sand, so generally, they don't catch our attention and we never tend to notice that our pet is suffering from a flea infestation. Adult fleas can lay a maximum of 50 eggs each day that further develop into a swarm of fleas that will infest your house and pets. The amount of nuisance that these microscopic creatures can create is insane. You must try and learn to spot flea eggs so an infestation can be controlled in the early stages. Specially developed quality flea shampoos can be used to kill flea eggs and adult insects, more effectively than a spot flea treatment for dogs and cats. In this article, we will discuss how to identify flea eggs on cats, dogs, and in our homes, how you can spot them, and get rid of flea infestation.

Read on to find out more about flea eggs and how to control the infestation. If you enjoyed this article, why not also read about what do frogs eat and what do iguanas eat here on Kidadl?

What do flea eggs look like on cats?

Place your cat over a white towel while combing it. You may notice black specks accumulating over the white surface. Check between the cat's fur by parting its hair using a comb. Look between the legs and near their bellies. These are the common places where fleas can generally be found. These wingless creatures are very small in size and brown in color. Try placing the excrements on a damp piece of cloth and they might turn dark as it contains blood in it. Moisten the specks with some water. If they turn reddish-brown, it signals that they contain digested blood, and the black specks are actually flea dirt (flea feces).

Viable eggs have a smooth surface with no indentations. Non-viable eggs will collapse. Make your cat sit on a white piece of cloth while you start looking for fleas on your pet. The white fabric will enable you to locate the fleas easily as they are dark brown in color with no wings. Flea combs are designed to trap the fleas on the teeth of the comb. The teeth of a flea comb have very little space in between which does not let the flea escape and is easily brought to the surface.

Another way to look for flea eggs on your pet is to check for patches of hair loss on its body. Fleas tend to irritate their fur and skin surface and the cat scratches itself which results in hair loss patches. Flea saliva causes allergies in a cat which can also result in loss of hair on its body.

Are you noticing dark rashes across their legs and arms lately? Quite possibly, that's a flea bite. Flea bites can leave your pet with rashes all over your feet, ankles, and legs. It can be easily distinguished from other types of bites by the darkness of the rash around the bite wound. These bites might have been sourced from any of the pests including ticks and mosquitoes, so it is necessary to learn how to recognize flea bites early. 

What do flea eggs look like on a dog?

The miniature eggs laid by fleas on your dog look like tiny grains of sand and are whitish in color. They are very hard to see with a naked human eye. The oval shape of a flea egg resembles a grain of rice, barely 0.01 in (0.5 mm) long.

Using a flea comb, check the skin beneath by parting the furs of your pet. Make sure to check the shoulder blades and near the tail base. Be careful not to spray the eggs onto the carpet floor while you comb. Looking for flea eggs on a dog can be quite tough. Using a magnifying glass to look for flea infestations can be quite helpful. Start off by looking at the haunches, the base of the tail, the nape of the neck, and between the shoulder blades. Look for signs of flea bites on your pet once you've combed the fur thoroughly. You'd be able to spot little white specks amongst the hairs if your pet has dark manes.

The life cycle a flea goes through includes egg, larva, pupa, and adult. It is essential to recognize these pests in these stages in order to eliminate them. An adult flea can lay up to 500 eggs in its lifetime, each one with the potential to develop into another flea. In ideal circumstances, this cycle can take two weeks minimum. Fleas generally lay eggs near their primary food source, your pet dog or cat. Adult female fleas lay 20-50 eggs in a day on average. About 36-48 hours after a blood meal is sourced from your dog, female fleas lay their eggs in between your pet's fur. Flea eggs laid by female fleas can hatch without being present on the actual host. Once a flea egg is hatched, the flea larvae will feed on organic waste matters such as 'flea dirt', and their skin will begin shedding of dead skin cells. Flea larvae appear similar to worms with tiny whitish bodies and pale hairs. They mainly feed on the blood-filled feces that adult fleas excrete which is known as flea dirt. It is necessary to destroy flea eggs before they find suitable conditions to reach their larval stage of development. 

During winters, a warm, heated home will strengthen their chances of survival with the optimal conditions for development into adulthood. Eggs are likely to hatch faster in warm and humid conditions. They have a warm and cozy atmosphere surrounding them right after they hatch. They tend to spin a pupa around them which helps them stick to curtains and carpets and stay there hidden for a long time. The pupa is made of a thick and sticky component that helps them stick to surfaces. Once the young flea becomes aware of its potential host, it jumps on the dog or cat to relish a blood meal for the first time. Flea eggs can survive for about 10 days at maximum. The eggs take at least 10 days to hatch or else they don't.

Treat your dog or cat with products like flea drops that will prevent fleas from taking up future residence in your pet’s fur. It is important to fight fleas at every life stage to get the pest attack under control. Dish soap is said to be used as an effective remedy to kill flea eggs. It is better to use a flea and tick product that doesn't just kill pests in the adult life cycle, but also eliminates flea eggs and larvae. Flea treatments for pets consist of IGRs (insect growth regulators) that help stop flea eggs from maturing. It also contains ingredients that kill adult fleas. Some IGRs also help sterilize female fleas so they don't lay healthy eggs.

What do flea eggs look like on furniture?

Carpets, bedding, pet beds, and upholstered furniture are the most suitable places for flea eggs, fleas, and their larvae to reside in.

Eggs and immature fleas continue to thrive in carpets, beds, and furniture for months on end. Wash your pet’s bedding and any blankets that they use at the highest temperature possible and vacuum the areas where they frequently lie. Anti-flea sprays are also available for sofas and curtains. Get advice before applying it. Try laying down baking soda over your furniture, and rub it into the fabric of your carpet. Vacuum your house thoroughly, then empty the contents of the vacuum and make sure to dispose of it because the vacuum clears out the flea dirt as well and the larvae will start feeding upon it. To help kill the remaining flea eggs, try steam cleaning the carpets after vacuuming. The best way to control a flea infestation is by vacuuming and washing. Medication will be needed to destroy flea eggs in serious cases of infestation.

Peppermint, clove, and citrus oil-based sprays are also used to get rid of flea eggs and flea dirt as well. It is advisable to vacuum the whole house while tackling an infestation. A lot of people dealing with flea infestations at home make a serious mistake of stopping the application of flea control measures after they no longer see any fleas in their house or on their pets. It is advised not to stop providing your pet with flea preventive treatments, even if you think they are no longer infested as this will protect them from getting infected in the future. Pest infestation should be taken seriously as these can prove to be very harmful to animals and human beings as well.

What do dead flea eggs look like?

Flea eggs are tiny white specks that are the size of a grain of rice. Their color ranges from translucent, off-white to white. With time, flea eggs go dry and loosen up a bit, and as a result, fall on carpet floors and beddings. They lose their whitish color and turn colorless. Dead flea eggs are colorless, making it tricky to find them and remove them from your house. Around 95% of the fleas you find in your house are eggs, and only 5% are adult fleas.

You may kill adult fleas, but if the eggs remain, then in a few weeks or months, the infestation will come back. This is why it is extremely important to kill flea eggs and completely eradicate a pest infestation from your home. Getting rid of flea eggs should be a part of a multi-step approach to eliminating them completely. The first thing you should do after eradicating flea eggs from your pet and your home is to take your furry friend for a vet visit. A veterinarian shall medically examine your pet and suggest suitable medications and products that can be used for the corrective treatment.

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