Having passed from the larvae to the adult stage, fleas begin to search for a food source. They move mainly by jumping, deftly jumping into the fur of animals. With a body size of 2-4 mm, the flea's jump height reaches 20 cm and length - 40 cm. Among insects, only pennies surpass fleas with record jumps of up to 70 cm in height! This is a hundred times their own height. The body of both types of insects contains resilin, a protein with the ability to accumulate elastic energy, which helps when jumping.
Interesting fact: in proportional terms, for a man 2 meters tall, a flea jump is equivalent to jumping 48 meters in height and 90 meters in length!
The effects of a flea bite vary in intensity depending on the person's level of sensitization.
Sensitization is the acquisition by the human body of increased sensitivity to foreign substances, for example, to flea bites and irritants contained in their saliva. The time of onset of allergies varies in proportion to the frequency of bites. The body gradually gets used to flea saliva, and with each subsequent bite the reaction intensifies.
Sometimes flea bites are very itchy, and then secondary skin infections from scratching appear as a result of bacteria entering the bite site. Infections appear as ulcers or abscesses. Children, as well as elderly people with weakened immune systems, are more likely than others to develop infection.
With the blood of sick animals, fleas acquire various pathogens and become carriers of infection. There are two known ways to become infected from fleas: orally - through contact of insect saliva with human blood, and through infected flea feces.
The danger of contracting infectious diseases does not come from any one type of flea, but a proportion of each species poses a threat. The risk to humans is mainly associated with the following species:
Despite numerous Scientific research, knowledge about how fleas transmit diseases is still insufficient. But what is known today makes the seriousness of the threat clear.
Plague - acute infectious disease, characterized by severe intoxication, fever, damage to the skin, lungs and other organs. Plague is deadly dangerous diseases. The first plague pandemic broke out in 527-565 and claimed more than a hundred million lives. The causative agent of plague, the bacterium Y. pestis, is spread mainly by rodents and hares.
The pathogen is transmitted to humans through the bites of fleas infected by blood-sucking on rodents. On the territory of Russia, foci of the plague cover the Caspian lowland, the North Caucasus, the Altai Mountains, the Republic of Tyva and Transbaikalia. The time from the moment of a flea bite to the appearance of signs of the disease is 7-10 days. There are three forms of the disease:
If treatment is started on time, the chances of recovery increase dramatically. But without treatment, the mortality rate from plague pneumonia reaches 100%.
Fleas carry the causative agent of this disease - a bacterium Ricketssia typhii- from gray rats, voles and house mice. A person becomes infected when flea feces come into contact with a damaged area of skin. The time from infection entering the body to the appearance of signs of the disease varies from 5 to 15 days.
A typical manifestation, as the name of the disease implies, is a profuse rash on the torso and upper extremities. The rash is preceded by an increase in body temperature to 40 degrees. The disease occurs without complications and is usually curable. The photo shows a rash on the torso typical of typhus.
Cat scratch fever or Molar granuloma is an infectious disease that in some cases is transmitted by fleas. The causative agent of the disease is the bacterium Bartonella. Characterized by enlarged lymph nodes, increased body temperature and weakness.
The causative agent of this helminthiasis is a tapeworm or cucumber tapeworm. Dipylidiasis affects dogs, cats, arctic foxes, foxes and wolves. A person becomes infected when they accidentally ingest cat or dog fleas that contain tapeworm larvae. Fleas serve as intermediate hosts for worms. In the human intestine, they live in the lower part of the small intestine and mature in 20 days, reaching 70 cm in length and 3 mm in diameter. The average lifespan of worms is 1 year. In most cases, the disease is asymptomatic.
Signs that often appear in children:
The causative agent of the disease is the rat tapeworm (Hymenolepis diminuta), the intermediate host of which is also fleas. The larva swallows the helminth egg, and then the worm develops from the egg inside the flea's body. Then the flea, along with helminths, accidentally enters the person’s mouth, and he becomes infected. This happens to children because they tend to put everything in their mouth. The disease is unnoticeable, in rare cases, depending on the number of helminths in the intestines, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, diarrhea, itching of the anus and weight loss appear. The rat tapeworm reaches 60 cm in length.
As you know, fleas first feed on the blood of an animal, and then jump off the cat and find a secluded place to lay their eggs. Until hunger occurs, insects will live in piles of garbage, dust, litter and similar locations. Having become hungry, they again go in search of a food source, and it may turn out to be not only the pet, but also the owner.
Considering how nasty the little bloodsuckers are, people are worried about their health. As you can already understand, it is unusual for fleas to live on the body of a host, so they jump on it only when hunger appears. The rest of the time, insects live in furniture, near baseboards, in bedding, and carpets.
Now we can return to the question, can cat fleas live permanently on a person. From the above we can conclude that bloodsuckers will not linger in public for long. Human skin lacks thick hair, so insects have nowhere to hide. Therefore, they will try to drink faster required quantity blood and go to shelter. They won't stay in public, so you don't have to worry about it.
If your pet's hair is falling out, then you need to see a veterinarian immediately. The doctor will prescribe restorative treatment in order to return your pet to a full life.
A person should treat any bites they find on their skin. This is necessary in order to prevent infection and quickly get rid of unpleasant symptoms. You will immediately need to wash the affected area with soap, and it is desirable that the product has a disinfecting effect. Next, you need to lubricate the area with vodka or alcohol. To eliminate itching and pain, you can apply ice by wrapping it first in cotton fabric. If the itching does not go away, then it is recommended to use a weak soda solution or sulfur ointment.
Cats affected by fleas in cities and populated areas in Russia it 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 have Brown color, female size 2-2.3 mm, male size 2-2.5 mm. Oral apparatus piercing-sucking appearance, simple eyes, epipharynx and antennae 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 stomach of a flea is capable of digesting not a large number of After drinking blood, 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 notice 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 unfavorable factors external environment, they are easily tolerated, and as soon as they occur favorable conditions begin to multiply rapidly. 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 those sold in pharmacy chain flea collars will not be able to solve the problem of a cat being infested with fleas because... 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 may cause an allergic reaction in a cat to chemical elements collar At the same time, electronic flea collars have shown their low effectiveness in practice.
Now veterinary pharmacies offer flea control big choice anti-flea products, including shampoos, drops on the withers and various sprays from both Russian and foreign manufacturers.
When carrying out treatment to reduce itching, in initial stage treatment using glucocorticoids (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 analog Methoprene. Its application in 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 into oral cavity. 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 contributes to the gradual destruction of fleas in your home.
When treating cats for fleas, a number of drugs that have an effect on fleas are used:
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.
TO folk remedies fleas include:
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. Data medicines 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 into the blood of the cat and its internal organs. Fleas die as a result of direct contact with the drug.
IN veterinary pharmacies Frontile can be purchased 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 in kittens younger than 6 weeks of age or in cats with certain infectious disease, as well as convalescent animals.
Advantage. This drug belongs to medicines 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.
Fleas can cause great damage to the well-being of the owner. If there are a lot of insects, they drink so much blood that anemia develops. The owner is losing weight and may die.
A flea can attack a person in the house, at a picnic, during a hunt or in contact with animals. The highest concentration of adult insects is observed in places where the pet regularly rests. Almost all larvae concentrate in the litter.
Bites cause the body's immune response to the irritant, which is expressed by the following pathological changes:
A flea bite is a focal point of redness with a pink border. The enzyme from saliva, getting under the skin, provokes an allergic reaction. The resulting blister gradually resolves. Most bites are located on the lower legs and feet. When attacked during sleep, fleas bite the skin of the arms, armpits, and neck.
An allergy to bites is accompanied by a rise in temperature - 40° C, insomnia, headache, difficulty breathing, anxiety, and diarrhea.
Cat fleas can transmit the pathogens of the following diseases to humans:
Typhoid is characterized by the appearance of a rash, fever, and indigestion. Requires long-term antibiotic therapy.
anthrax- a dangerous disease of humans and animals, characterized by high mortality. At the site of infection, a red spot appears, which itches and transforms into an ulcer. There are carbunculous, intestinal, and pulmonary forms.
Brucellosis affects animals and humans. The chronic form of the disease is difficult to cure. The pathogen strikes the motor system, deforming the spine. Neurotic damage disfigures the joints of the hand. Urogenital disorders occur.
Viral encephalitis is transmitted by ticks and fleas. The most dangerous are meningoencephalitic, poliomyelitis, and polyradiculoneuritic forms.
Affected nervous system. Mortality reaches 30%.
The following pathologies occur more often in children than in adults:
Treatment of the apartment for fleas is preceded by next preparation:
The person processing the room puts on protective clothing, gloves, goggles, and sprays the surface of the floor, walls, wallpaper, and furniture with insecticide. Carpets roll up. The shelves of closets, balconies, and the floor under the carpet are treated with special care. Leave the room for the time specified in the instructions for using the insecticide. Conduct wet cleaning. Linen and clothes are washed in hot water. The procedure is repeated at intervals of two weeks.
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:
Rapid reproduction and massive attacks by bloodsuckers often lead to the death of the animal. Fleas are especially dangerous for kittens. After numerous flea bites, they develop anemia, which is fatal.
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:
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 the temperate climate zone, except sandy ones. The habitat of the latter is tropical countries, coastal sea sand. The peculiarity of this type of flea is that females penetrate human skin and dig into blood vessels. circulatory system, eggs are laid there under the skin. After the larvae emerge, the females die and rot.
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 for a 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.
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 of 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.
