A woman has gone viral for the nightmare-inducing way she learned that her dog was infested with fleas.

Jackie Marshall, 33, lives in Lake County, Illinois, and owns teacup Yorkshire terrier, 2-year-old Luna. While the internet is filled with videos of owners doting on their dogs, Marshall recently went viral for her clip showing the not-so-glamorous, but very common, side of owning a pet.

In the video, shared to her TikTok account @marshallfam_ on December 6, and which has over 2.1 million views, Marshall cuddles up with her tiny Yorkie, the camera pointed directly at both of their faces.

"I was originally trying to do the trend where you kiss your dog and see their reaction," Marshall told Newsweek, adding she had no intention of posting the clip. "So I went close to her and kissed her body, and I felt something crawling on me."

The moment was caught on video, as Marshall kissed her pup and then smiled, before her face dropped and she panned the camera, where a small black insect was crawling near her mouth.

Marshall reacted instantly, wiping her face with her hand, a look of slow-dawning horror on her face, as the pup looked on. "How I found out my dog has fleas," she wrote on the clip, adding in the caption: "So gross."

TikTok users shared in her horror, as hundreds commented on the clip with advice for de-fleaing, and how to prevent it in future.

Others shared fleas were the reason they couldn't have pets, as one wrote: "This is why I cannot do pets yall they are so cute and sweet but I would have had a stroke!"

"Flea season was outrageous this year," another pet owner wrote, as one said the Yorkie's twitching ear was "the giveaway," and another said: "Look at his face. He knew he had fleas!"

The Centers tor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises pet owners to limit pets' time outdoors and with wild and stray animals, and regularly brush, bathe and check for fleas.

Fleas thrive in warmer and humid conditions, but can live on an animal year-round, the CDC says. They are particularly found around the tail, neck and around the collar, back of the rear legs, and on the dog's groin and belly.

Marshall acted fast to stop the fleas spreading on Luna. She said the family "bathed her, made a vet appointment and scheduled her for a haircut."

"De-fleaing is intimidating, especially when it comes to furniture in the house, but we're checking all the boxes and will for sure do preventive work moving forward," she added.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.