Cat fleas: can they live on humans? Why are fleas dangerous for people and animals? Do fleas jump from a cat?

Even if you regularly wash and comb your pet, fleas can appear on your cat at any time. Every owner needs to be prepared for this, so that later they don’t panic and think about what to do in such a situation.

The photo below shows an example of fleas in a cat’s fur:

This is interesting

Fleas also differ from lice eaters in that they stick to the skin and not to the hairs. In addition, lice eaters are not able to jump. Ticks, which often attack cats walking on the street, are clearly distinguished by their legs widely spaced to the sides of the body. In addition, a tick has 8 legs, and any flea has six.

If the cat itches, but there are no fleas, you can suspect he has scabies mites - it is impossible to see them with the naked eye, but they cause even more severe itching than fleas.

It is important to keep in mind that fleas do not live permanently on an animal. They can bite a cat, suck his blood, and then they will certainly jump off and hide not far from his resting place, so that after a while they will attack the pet again.

Here (under the bedding, under carpets and parquet, behind the baseboards). Their larvae live in garbage, feeding on rotting organic matter and the excrement of adult insects containing a large number of undigested blood.

How dangerous are fleas for cats?

Flea infestation can cause several problems for your cat:

For the same reasons, fleas are dangerous to humans. At the same time, they carry such deadly diseases for humans as plague, encephalitis and anthrax. Therefore, when you notice the first symptoms of flea infestation in a cat, you should immediately begin treating the animal.

Symptoms of fleas in a cat

You can tell if your cat has fleas by looking at several characteristic symptoms:

Important!
If fleas appear in an apartment, they will bite all animals in it, including rodents. They will attack humans with the same ease.

Means for ridding cats of fleas

Today there are many products on sale that allow a cat to get rid of it quickly enough. The following medications are most popular among pet owners:

• Drops against fleas on the withers - Frontline, Bayer, Advantix, Hartz, Blokhnet, Bars. The most frequently used products are Hartz and Frontline, as they are the most effective. Their main advantages are ease of application, high efficiency and long residual effect (from several days to several weeks). The disadvantage is the high probability of developing allergies in the animal.
• Flea sprays are suitable for elite cats, and can also be recommended for use for those animals in which flea drops and collars cause allergies. Sprays allow you to remove fleas in one go, but have virtually no residual effect. The most famous manufacturers- Bars, Hartz, Advantix.
• And finally, flea shampoos are effective, gentle, but relatively difficult to use (some finicky cats are not so easy to wash). Additionally, flea shampoos have no residual effect and are generally quite expensive. Good for indoor cats that rarely go outside, and Mr. shampoos are usually used. Bruno, Dr. Zoo, Phytoelite.

Flea collars are not usually considered for flea removal. They are considered means for preventive protection against fleas of an animal that has not yet been infected.

However, if you put a collar on a cat, the fleas will definitely run away from it after a short time. It is important to keep in mind that a collar can cause allergies in the animal and damage to the fur on the neck. In general, insectoacaricidal collars are well suited for cats that spend a lot of time outdoors.

Other products, such as special powders, injections and flea tablets, are used quite rarely and do not have significant advantages over the drugs already described.

Alena, Moscow

On a note

A collar on your outdoor cat also protects your cat from being caught by animal control agencies. He immediately makes it clear that the cat has owners.

When choosing a flea treatment, you should always take into account the physical condition of the animal. A cat suffering from an infectious or somatic disease at the same time as fleas should be treated only with gentle products for kittens, or not treated at all, waiting for recovery.

Proper removal of fleas from a cat

1. When using flea drops, the liquid is applied from a tube to the skin of the neck at the base of the skull and thoroughly rubbed into the skin. At the same time, the drug itself penetrates the blood vessels under the skin and spreads throughout the body, poisoning fleas trying to suck blood and repelling them with the smell. Some products require rubbing at several points along the spine.
   
2. Flea spray must be applied to the entire fur of the animal from head to tail and do not allow the cat to lick or wash itself for several hours. After this, the animal should be bathed. Part of the spray penetrates the fat glands and is subsequently released from the skin over a certain period of time.
   
3. You should bathe your cat with flea shampoo just like you would with any other shampoo. It is only important to ensure that the foam does not get into the animal’s eyes.

If suddenly, in response to the use of a flea remedy, the cat shows signs of poisoning - shortness of breath, poor coordination, excessive drooling, vomiting - it is necessary to stop using the product and show the cat to a doctor.

Read about how to remove fleas from an apartment in a special section of our website - “Fleas in the apartment.”

Useful video: main mistakes when treating cats with flea medications

A clear example of how flea drops can be dangerous for cats

Cats have shared shelter with humans for more than ten thousand years. There is evidence of animals being close to people many centuries ago in Cyprus, Turkey, and the British Isles. IN Ancient Egypt they worshiped the deity Bast - the goddess of love, fertility, joy, in the form of a woman with the head of a cat.

If we talk about what cat fleas look like, then these insects that feed on the blood of pets have shiny brown or black color. Their size reaches half a centimeter when fed, in a hungry state - up to 2 mm.

Fleas can get into a person’s apartment in several ways. The main ones are:

• the animals themselves (brought from the street on themselves);
• cloth;
• shoes;
• through the cracks from the basement.

Rapid reproduction and massive attacks by bloodsuckers often lead to the death of the animal. Fleas are especially dangerous for kittens. After numerous infections, they develop anemia, leading to death.

The larva develops from ten days to six months. This depends on humidity and air temperature. With high – shorter development period, with low – longer. At this stage, they do not feed on blood, only organic debris, and may even starve.

Main varieties:

• feline;
• chicken;
• rat;
• canine;
• human;
• earthen;
• sandy.

An unpleasant fact: they can migrate and drink the blood of other warm-blooded animals, birds, rodents, cold-blooded animals and humans. All types of bloodsuckers live in temperate climatic zone, except sandy ones. The habitat of the latter is tropical countries, coastal sea sand. The peculiarity of this type of flea is that the females penetrate under the human skin, dig into the vessels of the circulatory system, and lay eggs there under the skin. After the larvae emerge, the females die and rot.

Danger to humans

Cat fleas can attack rats - natural carriers of plague, helminths, tapeworms, encephalitis, typhus and a number of other extremely dangerous diseases. Therefore, the risk of infection is high.

The cat flea drinks human blood, jumping only on certain time, exclusively for food, but does not remain to live on the body.

They can live for some period on cats and even release eggs in the animal's fur. When pets itch, you can see small white grains around - these are flea eggs.

The threat of flea bites to humans is the possible transmission of serious diseases: salmonellosis, typhoid, plague, encephalitis, allergies, fungal, worms and more than 150 diseases.

In case of severe damage blood-sucking insects cats, cats and their offspring develop dermatitis, allergies, anemia, itching, and nervousness. Timely detection of flea infestations and taking measures to eliminate them is extremely important.

Methods of disposal

Since the complete destruction of fleas, larvae, eggs and their pupae is a difficult matter, it is necessary to use radical chemicals combined with complete sanitary treatment all premises. An important condition applications chemicals is their safety for people and cats. It is allowed to use only certified products with all documents.

On a note

So-called cat lice and cat fleas are completely various insects, rarely found on a single animal. They clearly differ in appearance, but there are even more differences in their lifestyle: a cat louse constantly lives on an animal, while a flea only jumps on it to feed. But what is important for humans is that cat lice cannot change hosts and live only on cats, but they easily attack him.

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

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If cat fleas attack rats, they enter into competition with rat fleas and in most cases displace the latter.

What does a cat flea look like: a look under a microscope

Cat fleas look like very small dark-colored insects that literally appear for a moment among the animal's hair and immediately hide in the fur. The cat is more noticeable, if only because it cannot hide in the hair, and prefers to bite precisely on the hairless parts of the body - legs, buttocks, back and stomach. Here it looks like a tiny shiny insect, which is very difficult to catch - fleas jump perfectly at distances of up to 30 cm.

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

On a note

From the place from which the flea begins to jump, it disappears almost instantly - the human eye is not able to follow the movement of the insect at such speed. This is how fleas create a kind of optical illusion: it seems as if the insect has simply disappeared.

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

And in the next photo there are cat fleas in the animal’s fur:

U cat fleas there are no wings, but there are very powerful pushing hind legs, which ensure their ability to jump long distances. The body of insects is compressed laterally and elongated in height. This is an adaptive mechanism:

• thanks to it, the flea can quickly and deftly move among the hairs in the host’s fur
• a flat, strong body is more difficult to crush by mechanical compression
• a flat body experiences less air resistance during a jump.

This is interesting

The cat flea differs from related species - rat and dog - by being slightly smaller in size. In addition, in a rat flea, the back of the body is slightly raised up, while in a dog flea, the head is large. But such details are very difficult to discern with the naked eye (see photo):

Lifestyle and reproduction of the cat flea

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

Cat fleas can go hungry for a long time, and they need blood primarily to maintain the reproductive cycle. In a female that is 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.

This is interesting

The female flea does not lay eggs, but literally shoots eggs from her abdomen. This is a peculiar adaptation to the spread of eggs over the greatest possible distance: the larvae end up in different conditions, where at least a few of them will have a greater chance of survival.

A few days later, larvae emerge from the flea eggs, looking like white transparent worms, which feed on various organic remains - bedding in the animal’s nest, pieces of its skin and the excrement of adult fleas 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 emerges from the pupa.

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

On a note

At the pupal stage, fleas can overwinter in conditions middle zone Russia in the cold. Their development stops at these temperatures, and fleas emerge from pupae only during spring warming.

The reproduction cycle from egg to egg in a cat flea under suitable conditions lasts about 10 days. Such high speed observed only at high temperatures and abundant nutrition. Sometimes due to frost and lack of food, the duration of the cycle 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.

It cannot be said that humans are the most preferred victim for cat fleas. However, due to its relatively low mobility and large sizes body, he often catches the eye of fleas living in living quarters, and therefore often gets bitten.

The photo below shows a flea on a human body at the moment of a bite:

How to deal with cat fleas?

Due to their rather specific lifestyle, fighting cat fleas can be quite difficult.

Getting rid of cat fleas in an apartment is only half the task, but preventing them from re-entering the room can sometimes be much more difficult. To do this, you should keep your house clean, summer period Wear flea collars on pets and regularly wash and shake out bedding and rugs.

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 body: legs, buttocks, back and abdomen. 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 worms white. 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 temperature regime indoors: be it a house or apartment rooms and the amount of feed. 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 allergic reaction, skin irritation, itching, and also when scratching - 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. One more important point is to prevent them reappearance, and this is much more difficult.

The cat flea is a wingless insect with kicking hind legs. Powerful legs allow it to jump up to 30 cm. The body, elongated in length and compressed on the sides, is designed by nature for rapid movement through cat, dog, and rat fur. Do fleas jump from cats to people? How and how dangerous is such a neighborhood for humans?

Jumping and mobile insects easily land on the human body, but do not live there. The reason is the lack of fur, like that of pets. The insect is immediately visible on the skin - it cannot hide in the hair.

If a person is nearby, the pest jumps on him and bites him several times. Having had enough, it jumps off, finds a secluded place and hides until it gets hungry again.

Flea bites are localized on all exposed areas of the body, including:

• on the stomach;
• back;
• buttocks;
• legs;
• feet

Danger

Cat fleas are dangerous to humans not only because of their bites - they are carriers of serious diseases, including:

• Massive dermatitis. Symptoms of the inflammatory process are multiple skin rashes, itching, dryness, peeling. This is how the body reacts to insect bites.
• Intoxication. It often occurs when a flea enters the body through food.
• Brucellosis. The insidiousness of the infection is that it affects internal organs and systems, even to the point of death.
• Creeping erytherma - manifests itself as ulcers on the skin, resembling compacted nodules. When contacting them, pain occurs. The bacterial infection is called creeping because it gradually spreads to new areas of the skin.
• Allergy. Reactions vary from redness and rashes to high temperature, fever and anaphylactic shock.
• Anthrax is a serious pathology that affects internal organs, causing severe intoxication and death of the patient.

The consequences listed above give a clear idea of ​​how dangerous cat fleas are for humans. To avoid irreversible consequences bites need to be treated properly.

Treatment

Treatment of the affected area is carried out in several stages:

1. The wound is washed with warm soapy water.
2. The bite site is treated with hydrogen peroxide or another antiseptic solution.
3. Ice is applied (to avoid hematoma) or a cold compress is used. It should be changed every 20-25 minutes.

The greatest discomfort is caused by itching at the site of the bite. A weak soda solution or sulfur ointment will help you cope with it. You can treat the wound with iodine or brilliant green.

It is important! You should not scratch flea bites - they are located on your hands and under your nails. more quantity bacteria. Their entry into the wound leads to suppuration and other complications.

If the rash and itching do not go away, symptoms characteristic of dermatitis, anthrax and other pathologies listed above appear, you should immediately call " Ambulance» or go to the nearest hospital. The earlier treatment is started, the higher the chances of recovery.

Fighting the Root Cause

The presence of insects can be determined by changes in the behavior of pets. At first, it hardly changes, but as the number of fleas increases, the cat begins to get nervous, tear out the fur in shreds, meow more often than usual, and sleep restlessly. Sores appear on the body from biting and scratching.

The cat's behavior changes as the disease progresses: from an active and cheerful animal, it turns into a lethargic, irritable creature. Some individuals develop bald spots, lose appetite, and lose weight. The condition is critical, fraught with death of the animal.

Special concentrates are used to kill insects indoors. The drugs are diluted with water in the required proportion and sprayed from a spray bottle around the apartment.