19th to 25th May 2008 is National Flea Week here in the UK! Anthea Turner (pictured below with Buddy and Digger) has launched the promotion for it. The aim is to raise awareness of the importance of having your pets checked and regularly treated for fleas as well as the important ways to prevent flea infestation in your homes.

Flea Facts

1.
Fleas can pull 160,000 times their own weight, which is like a human pulling 2,679 double-decker buses.

2.
A flea can jump 30,000 times without stopping and reverses direction with every jump. It can jump over 150 times its own size (approximately 30cm high) – which is like jumping over St Paul’s Cathedral – and accelerates 50 times faster than a space shuttle.

3.
Female cat fleas can drink 15 times their weight in blood.

4.
79% of fleas found on dogs in the UK are cat fleas.

5.
The average flea is 2-3 millimetres long and weighs half a grain (equivalent to 32 milligrams or 0.03 grams). The world’s biggest is the beaver flea, which reaches about 11mm.

6.
Flea larvae don’t like the light so they move away from it, deep into carpets, cracks in flooring or any nook or cranny.

7.
Flea pupae can live for up to 1 year in homes.

8.
95% of flea eggs, larvae and pupae live in beds, rugs, carpets and sofas – not on your pet.

9.
Fleas can lay up to 1,500 eggs in a lifetime

10.
Just one flea can become 1,000 on your pet and in your home in only 21 days.

11.
In a Kiev museum, there’s a flea that wears horseshoes made of real gold.

12.
Flea brides and grooms (dressed, but dead) were popular collector’s items in the 1920s.

13.
Flea circuses originated in England in the 16th century.

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