American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) - The Clinical Nurse Leader; American Association of Colleges of Nursing's White Paper on the Education and the Role of the Clinical Nurse Leader; American Association of Managed Care Nurses; American Board of Managed Care Nursing; AONE Institute for Leadership Research & Education
1 Female fleas cannot lay eggs until after their first blood meal and begin to lay eggs within 36-48 hours after that meal. 2  The female flea can lay 2,000 eggs in her lifetime.  The female flea consumes 15 times her own body weight in blood daily.
A female flea must have a blood meal from her host -- such as your cat or dog -- before she's able to lay her eggs. She's a productive parasite, laying up to 40 eggs in a day. She lays her eggs where she feeds -- in your pet's fur -- and eventually the eggs drop from your pet's coat as he goes about his daily routine.