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.
Once mated, the female flea may deposit up to 50 eggs per day on your dog or cat. An adult flea typically lives for several months, so just a single flea can cause a significant infestation in a short amount of time. As your pet walks around your home, many of the flea eggs fall off. Cat flea eggs are tiny, measuring a mere 1/32 inch, so they can go unnoticed in your pet's bedding, in carpets, or on upholstered furniture. Within 2 to 5 days, wormlike larvae emerge from the eggs. Lacking eyes and legs, you might think that flea larvae would have a tough time surviving in your carpet.