What is this??

[Kej13]

We've found maybe 4/5 of these bugs in our house over the last week. Mainly on our bedding. We have two cats so I thought maybe fleas they both have vet strength flea collars but I checked them anyway and nothing. I sprayed the whole house just to make sure and today we've woken up and DH finds ANOTHER one. I did think bed bugs but after googling them I don't think it is. We've lifted the mattress and looked all around the frame and there are none.

Any ideas??

It looks like a flea to me. It'll take a while for the spray to work.

In the meantime vacuum regularly and get drops (not frontline) for your cats rather than the flea collars.

Thanks, I did think that but it doesn't jump and when we've had fleas in the past they jump! I've got some flea shampoo so I'll try that on the cats too but I'm just convinced... I hope it is fleas!! I can deal with that haha

If you squeeze/press it between your thumb nails does it 'pop'? Fleas have a harder outside shell on their body.

Yeah it does pop. I'm not convinced that it is fleas

Looks like a flea to me too, sorry. Our cats have them occasionally, Frontline sorts them out and I get a sillicone spray for the house (asthmatics so not keen on other sprays)

My immediate thought was it looks like a flea. Frontline (or other spot on) treatment from your vet. (I think my vet is moving away from frontline as the fleas are becoming immune to it). Then wash all bedding, vacuum and get a spray from the vets and do around the edges of the carpet, particularly under radiators and all soft furnishings where the cats sleep. Then you have to repeat the spray routine when this lot of eggs have hatched, but before they lay their eggs.

If they don't jump, maybe they are dying fleas that have been poisoned by the collars?

If you've sprayed the house, then fleas may be dying and unable to jump.

There will be others waiting to emerge, so check the spray to see what it kills (eggs, larvae and fleas?).

I wouldn't rely on collars. Like pp said, treat them with a product from the vet (cheaper online) - I think ours have Advantage. If not, it begins with A.

Vacuum relentlessly and empty the drum/bag into a bin outside frequently.

If it popped then it's definitely a flea

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping you're right and it is fleas. Here are some more pics if that helps.

Always hard to tell from a pic, but 99% certain them's fleas you got there.

I'm just not 100% convinced. We got both of our cats from CP and they both had fleas, we had them pretty bad in our old house and they'd jump and bite whereas these just crawl and so far I can't see any bites. The collars the cats have are the seresto ones from the vets and I've checked for fleas and can't see anything at all on the cats. I'm going to completely clean everything on the weekend and spray the house again. I have some shampoo for the cats too so will try that too.

That's definitely a flea

Definitely fleas. The reason they aren't jumping is because they've hitched a lift in on your cats. The way the seresto collars work is by interrupting the fleas little nervous system so they can't run/jump any more. They become very uncoordinated and die soon after. It also stops them from being able to feed, so your cats won't be getting bitten by any fleas they pick up, and they won't lay any fertile eggs either (the fleas rather than the cats, although they won't lay eggs any time soon either)

Ah that makes sense! So you think they're picking up a few from outside and bringing them in but they can't jump because of the collars? Hopefully that's the case, I can't see any on either cat so hopefully it'll be easy to sort! I will spray the whole house and clean everything on Saturday and I've got flea shampoo for the cats so although I can't find any on them I will wash them anyway!

Wish me luck!!

Just be careful about using the flea shampoo and the collars together. You'd be better off just letting the collars work their magic and treating the house thoroughly with a veterinary product such as Staykil ( or whatever your vets sell)

The flea lifecycle can last up 3 months and the eggs sit in the environment waiting to hatch so the key thing is to treat the house well. Fleas love humid conditions so if you want to encourage any eggs to hatch whack the heating up and have bowls of water nearby/ wet towels on the radiators to create some humidity.

Having said all of that it looks like the Seresto collars are doing their job.