Cat Fleas: How They Look and Are Dangerous to Man

A cat flea is a close relative of rat and canine fleas, from which it differs in some features of appearance and size. An ordinary person, poorly versed in entomology, is unlikely to notice the differences between these related parasites.

However, in general, poor knowledge of the characteristics of flea biology and their lifestyle can sometimes have very undesirable consequences for the reason that cat fleas are carriers of many diseases dangerous to humans. Statistics show that only 1 person out of 10 has a more or less correct idea of ​​how these parasites reproduce and what are their significant differences, for example, from lisperous and lice.

On a note

So-called cat lice and cat fleas are completely different insects that are rarely found on the same animal.They clearly differ in appearance, but even more differences in their lifestyle: cat louse constantly lives on the animal, the flea just jumps on it for feeding. But for a person it is important that cats lice cannot change the owner and live only on cats, but cat fleas are dangerous for humans - they easily attack him.

Here are a few cat flea photo:

In most cases, in cities and villages, cat fleas attack people and pets. This species is one of the most common and numerous in domestic animals in general, and is able to feed on the blood of the largest number of hosts: from rodents to humans. And the cats for him are not always the main owner ...

It is interesting

If cat fleas attack rats, then they compete with rat fleas here and in most cases force them out.

 

Looks like a cat flea: a look under the microscope

Cat fleas look like very small dark-colored insects that literally appear for an instant among the hair of an animal and immediately hide in their fur. Cat flea on man more noticeable if only because it can not hide in the hair, and prefers to bite just behind the hairless parts of the body - legs, buttocks, back and abdomen.Here it looks like a tiny shiny insect, which is very difficult to catch - fleas jump well up to 30 cm.

The photo below shows a cat's flea on a human body:

On a note

From the place from which the flea starts jumping, it disappears almost instantly - the human eye is not able to keep track of the movement of an insect at such a speed. So fleas create a kind of optical illusion: it seems that the insect just disappeared.

Cat fleas are very small insects. Their length, depending on age, is from 0.8 to 4 mm, more often - 2-3 mm. The color is dark brown with a distinct shine.

Next on the photo is a cat flea under a microscope:

And in the next photo - cat fleas in the fur of the animal:

Feline fleas have no wings, but there are very powerful jogging hind legs, ensuring their ability to jump over long distances. The body of insects is compressed from the sides and elongated in height. This is an adaptive mechanism:

• thanks to him, the flea can quickly and deftly move among the hairs in the host's fur
• a flat, solid body is harder to crush by mechanical compression
• the flat body experiences less air resistance during the jump.

It is interesting

Dense integuments of the body and flattened form very effectively protect cat fleas from being crushed: for example, even having caught an insect, it is impossible to crush it with fingertips, and a nail should be used for destruction. Partly due to such invulnerability, parasites do not mask their bites with anesthetic enzymes: the flea bites very painfully.

From close species - rat and dog - cat flea differs slightly smaller. In addition, in the rat flea, the back of the body is slightly raised upwards, and in the canine's head it is large. But it is very difficult to see such details with the naked eye (see photo):

 

Feline flea lifestyle and reproduction

Feline fleas are active mammalian ectoparasites. They live in places of accumulation of garbage, under stones and bundles of dry grass, nests of wild animals in nature. In the house of a person or in household buildings, cat fleas often settle in the bedding on which the pet sleeps, under carpets, behind plinths, in corners with a collection of garbage (although many incorrectly believe that fleas live only on animals).In such secluded places parasites rest and multiply.

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Cat fleas are distributed throughout the globe and are found in rodents even on remote tropical islands.

A hungry parasite begins to search for a warm-blooded animal for food. At the same time, the flea is oriented with the help of large eyes and sense of smell, attacking the very first victim that will be within its reach, whether it be a cat, dog, rat or human. After jumping on the victim, the flea makes its way to the animal's skin and makes several bites. After that, the parasite jumps off the animal and hides in a convenient place.

Feline fleas can go hungry for a long time, and they need blood first of all to maintain the reproductive cycle. In the female, not saturated with blood, eggs do not develop.

If the insect is full, within a few hours after the meal, the female begins to lay eggs.

With a very severe infection of an animal shelter, a large number of parasites can, with their bites, lead to the development of anemia and exhaustion in the victim, and sometimes bring it to death.

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The female flea does not lay, but literally shoots the eggs from the abdomen.This is a kind of adaptation to the spread of eggs for as long as possible: the larvae fall into different conditions, where at least a few of them will have more chances to survive.

A few days later, the larvae emerge from the flea eggs, resembling white transparent worms that feed on various organic residues - bedding in the animal's nest, pieces of its skin and adult fleas' excrement with blood preserved in them. The larvae develop from several days to several weeks, depending on the ambient temperature and the abundance of food, after which they pupate. After 1-3 weeks, an adult insect leaves the pupa.

The photo below shows the eggs and larvae of the cat flea:

On a note

At the pupal stage, fleas can winter in conditions of central Russia in the cold. Their development at these temperatures stops, and fleas from pupae emerge only at spring warming.

The breeding cycle from egg to egg in a cat flea under suitable conditions lasts about 10 days. Such a high speed is observed only at high temperatures and abundant nutrition. Sometimes due to frost and lack of food, the cycle time can stretch up to 2 years.

 

Are cat fleas dangerous for humans?

Cat fleas are dangerous to humans. They carry pathogens of dangerous diseases - brucellosis, plague, encephalitis, salmonellosis, hepatitis - and can cause epidemics.

But even by themselves cat flea bites very painful and cause skin irritation, itching, rashes, and when combing - pustular inflammation. Together, all these symptoms in medicine are called Pulicosis and are considered a parasitic disease.

This is not to say that man is the most preferred prey for cat fleas. However, due to its relatively low mobility and large body size, it is often seen by fleas living in residential premises, and therefore it is often bitten.

In the photo below - a flea on the human body at the time of the bite:

 

How to deal with cat fleas?

Because of a rather specific lifestyle, it is quite difficult to fight with cat fleas.

To reliably remove cat fleas from an apartment, you must:

• Treat with antiparasitic preparations of pets, on which adult insects may be present.To do this, you can use insecticidal sprays, collars, shampoos, as well as special drops on withers.
• Etch the fleas from all the premises in which they were found. This can be done with special preparations such as Combat, Raptor, Executioner, Get products, etc. Today, insecticide concentrates are especially popular, from which a solution of the desired concentration is prepared and then sprayed from a conventional spray dispenser around the apartment.
• In places where flea larvae can persist, insecticidal dusts should be additionally spread.

It is important to remember that often fleas penetrate into an apartment or house for pets. Therefore, taking care of protecting the premises from parasites, it is on their favorites that fleas should be checked first.

Getting rid of cat fleas in an apartment is only half the task, but sometimes it is much more difficult to prevent them from re-entering the room. To do this, keep the house clean, in the summer period put pet flea collars on pets, regularly wash and shake out bedding and mats.

Such though troublesome, but effective measures will allow protecting the premises against fleas with a sufficient degree of reliability.

 

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