Fleas

#5630  My name is Lisa. I live in Calgary, Ab. We have had a very mild, dry winter and an early, dry spring. The gophers are out and my dog has been sticking her head down their holes. Within a few days I noticed one of these bugs crawling in her fur. It was hard to kill (simply squishing didn’t do it). Then I found one hopping and crawling in our bed. Our dog sleeps with us. The next morning I found another one in our bed where she sleeps and I had two areas on my arm with small clusters of itchy little bites. My husband has also been bit a time or two. And I have since found a couple more on my dog. She is being treated for fleas and I have vacuumed like crazy, done a million loads of laundry and spread salt everywhere. I have not seen anything more in at least 5 days. The critters that I did catch when put into a pill box jumped around madly. My vet says it’s not fleas as they have wings. What else could it be? My understanding is that bed bugs don’t jump and they don’t have wings either.

These are fleas (order Siphonaptera); likely in the genus Ctenocephalides. If your veterinarian saw wings, they either were very mistaken or were looking at something other than a flea. In addition to consulting a veterinarian, you can find control advice at http://tinyurl.com/gmrrnbv elsewhere on this site. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.