Eliminating any of these suggested steps will greatly reduce your chances of defending your pets in the war against pests. This is the time of the year that fleas can cause major problems for your pet and home. When fleas infest a pet, they can cause severe discomfort, even illness and death. Here are a few simple ways to determine if your pet has a flea problem. 1 Increased licking and scratching.
Fleas can cause skin irritation on dogs called flea allergy dermatitis.
When an animal is infested, its natural reaction is to lick and scratch the irritated areas more often than normal. Those areas may also show signs of poor coat condition or skin damage, including scabbing and loss of hair. 2 Evidence on the animal. Even without direct flea sightings, their presence on a pet can be determined in other ways. Fleas do not digest blood very well, so they drop feces containing dried blood on the animal's skin.