Are cat fleas dangerous for humans? How are fleas transmitted from a cat to a person? Are fleas dangerous for people from a cat?

The infestation of cats by fleas in cities and towns in Russia is usually seasonal and by the end of summer and autumn, up to 70% of cats are affected by this ectoparasite.

In nature, there are more than 100 species of fleas that infect our domestic animals, and some of them can attack humans.

Ctenocephalides felis (cat flea) is mainly found in cats. Simultaneously with cat fleas, cats can be attacked by fleas from dogs and rodents.

Morphology and development cycle.

Fleas are wingless insects. They have a bilaterally flattened body, covered with numerous spines and bristles, thanks to which fleas are held between the hairs of the cat's fur. The flea has six legs, the two back ones are more developed, thanks to which the flea has the ability to move in the cat’s hair at any angle and make long jumps, up to 1.5 meters. The flea has special tactile hairs on its abdomen that are very sensitive to any air fluctuations. The chitinous cover protects the flea from any mechanical damage. Adults are brown in color, the size of the female is 2-2.3 mm, the size of the male is 2-2.5 mm. The mouthparts are piercing-sucking, simple eyes, epipharynx and antennae are located on the chitinous head. Adult fleas feed on the cat's blood. Sometimes they can feed on the blood of other animals. Blood enters the flea's stomach. Which has a volume of about 0.5µl, while at the same time, when sucking cat blood, the stomach can accommodate a blood volume 10-20 times larger. The flea's stomach is able to digest a small amount of blood consumed; most of the blood is released by the flea into the cat's hair in the form of small black feces. It has been noted that the flea has the ability to starve for several months. Upon external examination of flea-infected fur, we find a large amount of these feces, which look like poppy seeds.

Clinical picture. A cat affected by fleas is accompanied by the presence of severely itchy areas on the body, and the cat not only constantly itches, but bites into the bite site with its teeth. As a result of constant scratching, the hair falls out in certain areas of the body (the neck area is most often affected), and the combed skin becomes covered with reddish crusts. Constant itching makes the cat nervous. During a clinical examination, the veterinarian finds flat miniature dots attached to the skin in the hair, similar in appearance to millet grains. Having drunk blood, fleas begin to move actively, and in some cases, jump. Using a magnifying glass, you can see a dark brown, flat, elongated body measuring 2 or 3 mm, no wings, and long, jumping hind legs. In the depths of the fur near the skin, upon careful examination, a specialist finds waste products of fleas - dark-colored, fine-grained excrement. At the same time, upon careful examination, you can find flea eggs, which, unlike excrement, are oval in shape, larger and white in color.

In cats, as a result of flea infestation, complications often occur in the form of pyotraumatic dermatitis. With severe flea infestation, anemia is recorded as a result of a decrease in the amount of blood. Sometimes we note symptoms of lymphadenopathy and eosinophilia.

Diagnosis A cat is diagnosed with fleas based on the collected history, clinical picture of the disease, season and, of course, based on the detection of fleas or flea feces. When making a diagnosis, you can resort to thorough combing of the fur with a thick comb. Place the particles combed out of the hair onto moistened filter paper. After a few minutes, a red zone appears around the combed out grains - representing flea feces with excess blood. The presence of a red zone is considered to be a diagnostic sign of a cat being affected by fleas, even if no living fleas are found. The disease is accompanied by the presence of eosinophilia in the cat.

When carrying out flea treatment, owners have a problem with the fact that up to 90% of the existing fleas are located outside the cat’s body (bedding, carpets, room dust, etc.) and are very resistant to various adverse environmental factors, they are easily tolerate it, and as soon as favorable conditions arrive, they begin to multiply vigorously. Based on this, flea control should be carried out comprehensively and when carrying out treatment you must observe the following:

You need to keep in mind that flea collars sold in pharmacies will not be able to solve the problem of a cat being infested with fleas. have a limited temporary effect and do not sanitize your premises from fleas. In addition, you should keep in mind that if your cat has hypersensitivity caused by flea bites, collars should never be used because can lead to an allergic reaction in a cat to the chemical elements of the collar. At the same time, electronic flea collars have shown their low effectiveness in practice.

Nowadays, veterinary pharmacies offer a large selection of flea control products, including shampoos, drops on the withers and a variety of sprays from both Russian and foreign manufacturers.

When carrying out treatment to reduce itching, glucocorticoids are used in the initial stage of treatment (prednisolone at a dose of 1-2 mg/kg body weight once a day, for several days). Antihistamines are used, and cats respond well to treatment with chlorphenylamine.

To kill fleas on a cat, low-toxic preparations based on pyrethrins or pyrethroids (Bio Kill, etc.), as well as carbamates, are used.

In order to destroy fleas in their habitats, drugs that regulate the growth of insects are used. One of the representatives of this group is the juvenile hormone analogue Methoprene. Its use in the environment does not allow flea larvae to pupate (it should never be used on cats). A cat affected by fleas can be treated with lufenuron emulsion for 4 weeks by spraying it into the mouth. In this case, the flea, having sucked blood from a cat treated with this drug, will be able to lay eggs, but the development cycle as a result of disruption of chitin synthesis will be disrupted, as a result of which flea larvae will not develop. This method helps to gradually destroy fleas in your home.

Flea medications for cats

When treating cats for fleas, a number of drugs that have an effect on fleas are used:

• Flea Shampoo “Rolf Club”, Shampoo “Clandestine”, Shampoo “Fitoelita”, Flea Shampoo “Lugovoy”, Shampoo “Mr. Kiss”, Shampoo “Bio Groom”, etc.
• Spray "Bars".
• Flea powder “Flicar”, “Insectin”, “Clandestine”.

Folk remedies for fleas in cats

When treating cats for fleas, some owners use folk remedies, justifying this by the fact that the cat will not come into contact with certain insecticides used in flea treatment. And if your cat has a predisposition to allergies to poisons, then this will generally be the only option for ridding your cat of fleas.

Folk remedies for fleas include:

1. Combing fleas and their eggs from a cat's fur. This method is labor-intensive due to the presence of flea eggs. The cat has to be brushed several times during the day because... fleas move very quickly through fur, and you will not be able to identify all the fleas at once. This process will facilitate a special electric comb that kills fleas with weak shocks while remaining harmless to the cat.
2. Bathing a cat using tar soap. A cat affected by fleas must be thoroughly soaped down to the skin and kept in this condition for 10 minutes, after which all soap is washed off with plenty of water.
3. Laying out wormwood indoors. Wormwood is placed in various secluded places; the smell of wormwood can repel fleas for some time.

Today, the most effective medications for treating cats against fleas are considered to be drugs based on selamectin (Stronghold, manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health, USA), finpronil (Frontile, manufactured by MERIAL S.A.S., France), imidacloprid (Advantage, manufactured by Bayer, Germany).

The above-mentioned drugs are especially convenient, produced in the form of “spot-on” - small disposable pipettes and used on the cat’s withers. They are used by squeezing it onto the skin (the fur must first be parted) to those places where your cat cannot lick it off with its tongue - this is from the back of the head to the shoulder blades. If you keep several cats, they must be isolated from each other during the treatment period. These medications can protect your cat from fleas for 4 weeks. Monthly use of these medications will not only protect your cat from flea infestation, but can also destroy the remaining flea population, as well as their eggs and larvae, in the room.

Frontile. It is a contact action drug. When applied to the withers area, it is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the cat’s body during the day, reaching the sebaceous glands of the skin, while the drug does not penetrate the cat’s blood and its internal organs. Fleas die as a result of direct contact with the drug.

Frontile can be purchased in veterinary pharmacies in spray form. The spray is a more active medication for treating fleas. This drug is good because it can be used by kittens from 2 days of age. It is not recommended to wash cats treated with Frontile for two days before treatment and two days after treatment.

Stronghold. As a result of applying this drug to the skin in the area of ​​the cat's withers, this medicine is evenly distributed throughout the animal's body.
As a result of a bite, a flea receives a lethal dose along with blood and quickly dies. You need to know that with small scales, falling scabs and the remains of the fleas themselves, this medicinal product gets onto the bedding, carpets, furniture and other things in the house and destroys the larvae living there. This drug remains in the cat’s blood for a month, providing protection against fleas.
This drug should not be used on kittens younger than 6 weeks of age, cats with a particular infectious disease, or convalescent animals.

Advantage. This drug belongs to drugs of contact action, i.e. in our case, fleas on the cat will die as a result of direct contact with the treated skin surface.

An advantage of using this drug is that it is able to kill additional larvae in the places where your cat lives. Which in turn will allow you to destroy the entire flea population in your apartment. The duration of action of this drug is one month. Additionally, it can be used to treat flea allergic dermatitis.

You can also use Advantage to remove fleas from your kittens from 8 weeks of age, and also use it on pregnant and lactating cats. This drug has a so-called umbrella effect, that is, you will only need to treat your nursing cat with it and this will protect your kittens from fleas.

Often cats are carriers of fleas. Therefore, the owner of the animal must closely monitor the well-being of his pet. A pet can pick up these pests while walking, which is often how unwanted neighbors appear in homes.

To effectively combat these pests, you need to know what cat fleas look like. It is important to note that this enough. Usually their body does not exceed 3 mm in length. Body length depends on the age of the flea and can vary from 0.8 mm to 4 mm. This insect has a distinct shine and dark brown color. The body is usually flattened laterally and slightly elongated in height.

The flattened shape of the body in some cases allows the flea to avoid the fate of being crushed. Therefore, simply crushing an insect with your fingers is not enough; most likely, it will survive. The best way to crush a cat flea is to use your fingernails.

This type of flea lacks wings, which is compensated by powerful hind legs that allow the insect to perform jumping long distances.

Animal fleas differ in appearance and way of life - some are constantly on the host’s body, others drop in to drink blood and then jump back to their shelter. All of them are united in the family of common fleas. There are several types of them. A cat flea is significantly different in appearance from a dog, rat or human flea.

The period of complete development of an individual from egg to adult takes from 10 days. During this time, a worm-like larva develops from small white eggs up to half a millimeter in size. The larva is approximately 5 millimeters in length. After the third molt, an adult cat flea emerges from the pupa.

Why are cat fleas dangerous?

The bites of cat bloodsuckers are painful, and if the bitten person has a tendency to be allergic to insect saliva, then the consequences can be very dire - from dermatitis to Quincke's edema and even death. Flea bites themselves cause pulicosis and sarcopsillosis - severe types of dermatosis.

Cat fleas are dangerous to humans because they are carriers of several dozen types of diseases!

Among them:

• plague;
• rickettsiosis;
• brucellosis;
• helminthic diseases, etc.

Even if the cat does not go outside, and the possibility of infection from other animals is excluded, you yourself can infect it by accidentally bringing in an adult from the street or after contact with another animal.

You can completely destroy cat fleas if you treat not only the animal, but also the apartment with insecticides (permitrin, spinosad). By the way, a treated cat is the best weapon against bloodsuckers that pester you from the same basements. If you apply a long-acting drug to your pet, in search of food, fleas move to it and die, also not being able to reproduce.

Conclusion

That is why the fight against fleas should begin immediately after detection, and the prevention of the appearance of bloodsuckers - from the moment a cat settles in your house.

In appearance, these are small dark insects that can be seen on the fur for literally seconds, since after that they hide in it. A cat flea is more visible on a person, since it cannot hide in the hair, and it is easier for it to feed on open areas of the body: legs, buttocks, back and stomach. A person may notice it as a tiny shiny insect, but it will be very difficult to catch it, since fleas are good at jumping, so they do not disguise their bites by numbing them. The length of their jump is up to thirty centimeters.

Cat fleas have bodies ranging from 0.8 to four millimeters, but the average is two to three millimeters. The color is dark brown and has a clearly visible characteristic shine. The body is compressed at the sides and elongated in height; they have no wings.

This body allows the flea to:

• move at high speed in the fur of a cat or other animal;
• be protected from crushing. It is almost impossible to do this without a knife or other objects;
• experience less air resistance when moving.

Advice! If a flea has been caught, a fingernail should be used to crush it.

Fleas are easily transmitted from one owner to another due to the ability to jump well, so you should treat the animal and also take care of the premises: be it a house or apartment rooms as a whole, in order to get rid of them completely. Moreover, the market is now full and offers many effective means.

Cat fleas: life and reproduction

Shooting eggs from the abdomen, the female distributes them over a sufficient distance in the room. Flea larvae are exposed to different conditions, which allows at least some of them to live.

After just a few days, the eggs turn into larvae, which look like transparent white worms. They eat organic remains: pieces of pet skin, excrement of adults that contain blood. The development of larvae occurs over several days and sometimes weeks, it all depends on the temperature in the room: be it a house or apartment rooms and the amount of food. The next stage of development is pupation. Over a period of one to three weeks, the pupa will grow into an adult.

The full cycle from birth to adulthood is approximately ten days. Rapid development is possible only under favorable conditions for cat fleas and good nutrition. In some cases, the cycle can be up to two years. For example, if it is exposed to frost, development stops, but eggs and larvae can live.

How dangerous is a cat flea for humans?

Cat fleas pose a danger to humans, which includes:

• Fleas can transmit pathogens of dangerous diseases to humans, such as brucellosis, encephalitis, hepatitis, and plague. This could lead to an epidemic. Pets can also get encephalitis and plague;
• is that the bites are painful. They lead to an allergic reaction, skin irritation, itching, and also, when scratched, purulent inflammation;
• in the introduction of secondary infections into wounds.

Methods for controlling cat fleas

Getting rid of cat fleas is half the task. It’s not enough to just treat your pet and the premises: a house or apartment. Another important point is to prevent their reappearance, and this is much more difficult.

Cat flea: how to get rid of it?

Appearance of an insect

The cat flea (Latin name Ctenocephalides felis) is a ubiquitous blood-sucking insect. The body length of an adult insect varies widely - from 0.7 to 5 mm. The body is dark, often black, somewhat flattened laterally and covered with numerous small setae. The hind legs of the insect are jumping, allowing it to jump up to 30 cm. Adults are dimorphic, that is, they are divided according to gender into males and females. The mouthparts are piercing-sucking, as adults feed on blood. The cat flea is somewhat different from the dog flea, primarily in its smaller size and head structure, but these differences can only be accurately determined using a microscope.

Habitat of cat fleas

Nutrition

A cat flea can starve for quite a long time, but the female needs blood to reproduce. If she fails to find a host in time, the eggs stop developing.

On a note! A female cat flea, engorged with blood before laying eggs, can reach a length of 15 mm.

Reproduction

Females that have reached sexual maturity, after the eggs have matured, literally shoot them out of their habitats, thereby providing different conditions for the larvae, which hatch from the eggs within 2 to 14 days. Flea eggs are very small - approximately 0.5 mm in length, so they can be detected with the naked eye only in places where they are highly concentrated.

The hatched larvae have a worm-like body up to 0.5 mm, consisting of 13 segments. They feed on all kinds of organic remains - excrement of adults, particles of their host's litter, pieces of keratinized epithelium. The development cycle of the larvae largely depends on the ambient temperature and, under different conditions, can range from 9 days to 8 months before pupation.

Flea pupae are extremely hardy and can withstand unfavorable conditions for up to a year, including even low sub-zero temperatures. However, at high temperatures, an adult can develop from a pupa within a week.

On a note! The lifespan of an adult insect is from 3 months to three years. At above-zero temperatures, fleas are active all year round, and in ideal conditions, the full development cycle can take place in 15 days.

Flea infestation of an animal

Because fleas are extremely resilient insects, a flea infestation in a pet can occur in almost any location suitable for flea habitation. The most common routes of infection are:

1. When walking outside. In this case, contact with an infected animal is not at all necessary: ​​the insect can be on a walking path, on a bench, or in the grass.
2. A person who strokes an infected animal can become a carrier of fleas: the insects remain on clothing, not only adults, but also their larvae or eggs.
3. Rodents are carriers of fleas. If your cat hunts, she can get fleas from them.
4. From an adult animal to a kitten.

In most cases, the cause of an animal’s infection is very difficult to determine and exclude - this can happen at any time.

How to determine if a cat is infested with fleas?

What are the dangers of infecting a pet with fleas?

As flea infestation progresses, it can have quite serious consequences for your pet:

1. Severe exhaustion of the animal.
2. The appearance of scratches covered with multiple flea bites.
3. The formation of bald spots on the coat.
4. Development of anemia in an animal.
5. The appearance of allergic dermatitis.
6. Lack of timely treatment can lead to the death of a pet.

Attention! Flea infestation is especially dangerous for kittens - they develop anemia and exhaustion most quickly.

The danger of cat fleas to humans

Humans can also become victims of cat fleas. To do this, he does not have to have a cat at home, but most often cases of bites occur with pet owners. The main risk to humans comes not from direct flea bites, but from the fact that these insects are carriers of the following dangerous diseases:

1. Brucellosis.
2. Encephalitis.
3. Plague.
4. Hepatitis.

However, the bites themselves are quite unpleasant: when piercing the skin in search of a capillary, the flea does not release any anesthetics, so the bite feels like a rather painful injection. After the insect has had enough and left a wound, a red areole remains in its place, and saliva can cause an allergic reaction. The bitten areas may be very itchy. As a rule, with multiple flea bites, they can be localized in one place. The bites are usually located at a distance of 1-2 cm from each other. There is slight swelling and redness at the site of the bite.

Helping a person with flea bites

In order to remove unwanted itching, you can use the following remedies:

1. Treat the bite sites with warm water and treat with any antiseptic - hydrogen peroxide, brilliant green, iodine.
2. If the itching is significant, you can apply a saturated solution of baking soda.
3. Apply ice to the bite area.
4. To relieve an allergic reaction, take antihistamines - for example, Diazolin.

On a note! It is strictly forbidden to scratch flea bites, as this can lead to suppuration or infection. If you have a significant allergic reaction to stings, consult a doctor immediately.

How to rid a cat of fleas?

There are quite a lot of means to rid a cat of fleas, which are divided into the following types:

Attention! Under no circumstances exceed the dosage of medications indicated in the instructions, as this may lead to poisoning of the animal!

However, getting rid of fleas on an animal is not enough - you also need to observe the necessary prevention, for example, putting flea collars on your pet or using insecticides in smaller preventive doses.

How to get rid of fleas in an apartment?

Fighting fleas when they appear in an apartment can present some difficulties due to the tenacity of these insects. Before starting to treat the premises, you should make sure that the animal has been cured.

The following measures will help:

1. Using insecticidal preparations, for example, “Raptor”, “Kombat”, “Executioner”, you should treat the floor and corners of the apartment. Also nowadays, concentrated products are common, from which you can independently prepare a solution for treating the room.
2. Carefully treat rugs and the pet's sleeping area, as well as carpets - a favorite habitat for fleas, paying special attention to the animal's permanent resting places.
3. If a large number of flea larvae and their eggs are found in any specific places, they should be re-disinfected.
4. If possible, you should change your cat's bedding.

Video - How to get rid of fleas in a house or apartment quickly, effectively and safely?

Preventing the appearance of fleas in the apartment

However, the fight against fleas is not limited to their one-time extermination. There is always the possibility of them getting into an apartment or house again. Also, in multi-storey buildings, warm basements are often the habitat of fleas. If there are a significant number of cat fleas in the basement, you should contact the sanitary and epidemiological station, otherwise the fight against them in the apartment may not bring any results.

To prevent the proliferation of fleas in an apartment, it is necessary to carry out thorough periodic cleaning of places where they may accumulate. Rugs and bedding also need to be washed periodically using insecticidal agents.

Video - Fleas on a kitten