Sometimes, those are a little small to see with the naked eye, but they can have some secondary reactions. It's not uncommon for pets to be allergic to flea saliva, but we can see some secondary skin infections because of fleas. And so you might see red bumps, pimples, ulcerated areas, maybe some scabs, or things like that.

No. Other than visual confirmation, or the evidence that we see of fleas being there, there's no blood test or anything like that that we'll do here at the clinic.

Flea dirt is digested blood, and so we have a fun trick here that we'll do in the clinic where, if we're suspicious of it, we'll put that dirt on a paper towel, and we'll get it wet. And what happens to dried blood when you get it wet is, it turns back into that normal red blood color.

Sometimes it's as simple as running my finger against the growth of the hair to look at that skin deep down to see if I can see any. Sometimes I don't see the actual live flea itself, but I can see some evidence that they've been there in terms of what we call flea dirt, which is flea poop. As gross as it sounds, that's what it is, the fecal material of the flea that they leave behind while they're on your pet.

There are some more homeopathic and quote-unquote natural remedies out there. The question is how effective they're going to be, and it depends on what kind of situation you're in. And again, I'm going to always recommend a prescription product for your pet because I think that will offer the best protection.