How fleas reproduce in cats: features, cycle and interesting facts

Fleas belong to the category of parasites with complete transformation. In other words, young individuals that have just emerged from eggs are significantly different from their adult, sexually mature counterparts. Differences are observed both in the external structure of the body and in the way of life and food production.

How do fleas reproduce in cats? What are the distinctive features of their development cycle? How many of these parasites can be on an animal’s body at the same time? How quickly do fleas reproduce in cats? All this will be discussed in our article.

General information

Before I tell you how fleas reproduce in cats, I would like to say a few words about adult fleas. Sexually mature blood-sucking parasites can reach sizes of about 3-4 millimeters. Such insects have a dark brown tint. The soft tissues on their body are protected by a fairly durable chitinous shell. The body is somewhat flattened on the sides and covered with small fibers, which allows parasites to easily move through the animal’s thick fur. Fleas have three pairs of limbs. The longest legs are used for quickly moving over long distances.

Links[edit]

Report on European wild cat species. Archived March 8, 2013, at the IUCN Species Survival Commission Wayback Machine. Cat Specialist Group
» Ctenocephalides » . NCBI Taxonomy
. Bethesda, MD: National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
^ ab Sue Paterson (16 March 2009). A Guide to Skin Diseases in Dogs and Cats. John Wiley and Sons. paragraph 122. ISBN 978-1-4443-0932-4.
^ ab "Cat flea". Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
Rust, MK; Dryden, M. W. (1997). "Biology, ecology and management of the cat flea". Annual Review of Entomology
.
42
: 451–73. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.42.1.451. PMID 9017899.
^ abcd Dennis Jacobs; Mark Fox; Linda Gibbons; Carlos Hermosilla (October 5, 2015). Principles of Veterinary Parasitology. Wiley. paragraph 34. ISBN 978-1-118-97744-6.
Fleas. P. G. Koehler and F. M. Oi. Printed July 1993, revised February 2003. Courtesy of the University of Florida.
[1] Crosby, J. T. What is the life cycle of fleas. Accessed 6 August 2012
^ a b "Fleas". University of Florida. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
^ ab "Insects and mites: fleas". Department of Entomology at Purdue University. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
^ B "Biology, Ecology and Cat Flea" (PDF). University of California, Riverside. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 05, 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
Teltow GJ, Fournier PW, Rawlings JA (May 1991). "Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from arthropods collected in Texas." Am J Trop Med Hyg
.
44
(5): 469–74. PMID 2063950.
"Discover Entomology at Texas A&M University - Extension Publication E-433: Flea Control". Archived from the original on 2014-12-26.

Egg stage

Let's start looking at how fleas reproduce in cats (the whole process in detail) from the very beginning. The life cycle of such insects begins from the egg stage. The clutches of parasites are very small. The shell of the eggs has an extremely smooth structure. Therefore, after being laid by a flea, they are poorly retained on the animal’s body and often fall off to the ground.

Most often, blood-sucking parasites create masonry on the floor, taking a liking to carpeting and all kinds of cracks in the coverings. Under favorable conditions, it takes several days for the insect to mature in the egg. If there is a low ambient temperature or an unsuitable level of air humidity, the process may be significantly delayed.

Causes of fleas in the house

Mass reproduction of fleas occurs in the summer-autumn period. It is at this time that they begin their “resettlement” into homes. Most often, earthen fleas appear in private houses and low-rise apartments.

Many, after identifying parasites in their home, immediately go to the nearest insect control store to buy products to remove fleas from the house. But before you do this, you need to identify the main reason for their appearance:

dampness, moisture and dust in the entrance of a residential building,
entry into the house by rodents,
transportation from the street by pets,
“infection” from neighbors,
contact with the human body while in the basement.

Flea breeding most often occurs in the basement, where wet springs are constantly available. In most observed cases, the appearance of these parasites is caused by dampness in the room. Fleas love warmth, so they often live in heated rooms.

The individuals are very small in size, so entering the house is not a problem for them. Basically, they crawl into all possible cracks and are located in the most suitable places, where it is warm and humid. Fleas do not need to be constantly on the human body. They wait for the right moment in different places: baseboards, carpeting, under linoleum, furniture, clothing and soft toys.

Larval stage

How do fleas reproduce in cats in an apartment? After the eggs mature, larvae emerge from them, which, according to their appearance, resemble miniature worms, barely visible to the naked eye. The latter are able to maintain vital activity by absorbing all kinds of organic substances, be it dead epidermis, small grains of food or the excrement of adult fleas. During development, the size of the larvae increases significantly. Having gained weight, such individuals pupate, protecting their own body from unfavorable conditions.

Prevention

Insects can enter an apartment on a cat or their eggs are carried by the owner on shoes. To prevent the penetration of ectoparasites, you should protect your pet from them. Door mats and shoe soles should be treated with insecticides. If you cannot remove fleas with your own efforts, seek the help of a professional.

We invite you to join our Zen channel and group on VKontakte or Odnoklassniki, where new articles for pet owners are published.

Pupa stage

The flea larva, which has formed a kind of cocoon around its own body, is the most tenacious stage of the parasite. If favorable conditions are observed in the development sites, an adult individual capable of reproduction can form within a week. When the life of a young individual is potentially threatened by negative factors, the process is significantly delayed. Based on the sensitivity of special receptors contained on its body, the pupa determines the appropriate moment for the birth of an adult flea.

It is worth noting that fighting blood-sucking parasites that are at the pupal stage is practically useless. Such individuals are absolutely insensitive to the effects of household cleaning products and all kinds of disinfectants. At this stage of development, the flea is able to survive in sub-zero ambient temperatures.

How to kill fleas in an apartment

There are many domestic and foreign drugs that allow you to get rid of parasitic insects in your home and apartment. Sprays, powders and solutions saturated with toxic substances will quickly clean the room in which fleas have infested.

When choosing a suitable remedy, you need to remember some of the features that distinguish these insects from other household parasites. Since fleas do not eat anything other than blood, the poisonous substance can enter the body only through the respiratory tract or through contact with the body of the insect. Therefore, any baits and traps for killing fleas are unsuitable.

Unlike adults, larvae are able to feed on semi-decomposed organic matter. They easily find food for themselves in the dust behind the baseboard or in accumulations of garbage. You will have to fight simultaneously with two opponents - mature individuals and larvae. The author of the website VredStop.ru has figured out what helps get rid of fleas in an apartment.

Flea sprays

Pyrethroid insecticides are considered the most effective means used in the fight against ectoparasites. Penetrating into the body through the membranes or respiratory tract, pyrethrin causes paralysis and rapid death of the insect. At the same time, the chemical is safe for pets and humans.

Here are some of the most effective drugs.

"Dichlorvos TM". The aerosol contains toxic substances such as cypermethrin, permethrin, deltamethrin.
"Raptor". An effective drug developed by German specialists contains cypermethrin. Odorless, non-toxic for people and animals.
Raid. One of the world's most famous preparations for crawling and flying insects in the house. The active substance is cypermethrin.
Combat Super Spray. A broad-spectrum insecticide, the work of which is based on the interaction of two toxic substances - cyphenothrin and imiprotin, which complement each other.

Powder insecticides

In cases where it is not possible to use aerosols in an apartment, you can use a powder insecticide (dust). True, working with such drugs is much more difficult than with sprays, and a positive result will appear only after two weeks.

Powders should be scattered in places where parasites and their larvae may accumulate: in corners and behind baseboards, on carpets and near the trash can. The powder can only poison an insect if it gets on the flea’s body. The most popular drugs at home are Pyrethrum, Delicia, Phenaxin, and Clean House. The cost of powder insecticides is much lower than aerosol ones, but you have to wait much longer for results.

Using Butox

“Butox” is a drug for killing fleas, developed by Dutch scientists and widely used in veterinary medicine. Few people know that this cheap product perfectly helps remove fleas from a house or apartment. One ampoule of Butox is diluted in one liter of water and the insecticide is sprayed with a spray bottle in places where insects accumulate. The treatment can be done several times in a row, combined with weekly cleaning. The effect of using this drug lasts for at least 3 years.

When working with chemicals, the following instructions should be followed.

Remove people and animals from the house.
Empty cabinets and drawers, move furniture away from the walls, unscrew baseboards.
Close windows and doors tightly. The room can only be ventilated 2-3 hours after disinfestation.
When working with chemicals, you must use a respirator and special protective clothing.
Treat the room and things with an aerosol.
After airing, it is necessary to do wet cleaning, wash clothes, and wash toys with soap.

If there are too many insects in the apartment and you are not sure that self-treatment will give the desired result, you can call a special service. Exterminators will quickly and efficiently clean the room from fleas and other insects.

Adult stage

If environmental conditions are satisfactory for the insect, a sexually mature flea emerges from the pupa. Such individuals immediately begin searching for food. Having gained weight, the parasites begin to actively reproduce. The result is the appearance of new clutches both in the animal’s fur and around the entire perimeter of the home.

Flea reproduction: what eggs, larvae and pupae look like

It is almost impossible to detect flea eggs with the naked eye. If you look at them through a microscope, they resemble small white specks. Each egg is no more than 1 mm in size.

It will not be possible to find the entire clutch in any specific place on the pet’s body, since the female scatters the eggs. Future offspring are found not only in animal fur, but also on any other surface that the female brings it to.

The larvae look like small light worms that reach 4-5 mm in length. Inside the translucent body of the larva a dark esophagus is visible. The larvae move independently, making the same movements as worms.

As soon as the molting ends, the larva spins a cocoon around itself. At first glance, the doll is not much different from a grain or a particle of tissue. It takes several days for an adult flea to emerge from the cocoon.

At first, the imago has a weak, loose body resembling a light brown shell. Over time, the flea's body becomes stronger and darker. The adult individual, having acquired a dark brown color, remains so until the end of its life cycle.

Mating process

We looked at how fleas reproduce in cats, the cat flea cycle. Now let's take a look at the mating process of such parasites. Having found a sexual partner, the female retracts the male’s special genital claw into her own body. Typically the semen exchange process takes about an hour.

After mating, about fifteen eggs are quickly formed in the female’s body. In cases where the female does not experience problems with access to food, the entire clutch is born simultaneously. If the flea suffers from food deficiency, the eggs reproduce gradually. If there is a good food supply, one sexually mature individual is capable of producing up to five hundred embryos.

How do fleas reproduce in cats? After the eggs mature, the latter are fired from the female's abdomen. Thus, masonry can end up on a wide variety of surfaces.

Harm to humans

The damage caused by ectoparasites to people is as follows:

Bites.
Transmission of contagious diseases.

Bites

A flea bite is regarded by the body as an irritant:

A rash appears.
Scratching appears, fraught with the development of suppuration.
Dermatitis occurs, which can transform into pyoderma.
Superficial lymph nodes become hypertrophied.
Insomnia, migraine, diarrhea, and difficulty breathing develop.

Fleas are stuck

Transmission of contagious diseases

Cat fleas transmit the following infectious diseases to humans:

Anthrax.
Tifa.
Encephalitis.
Brucellosis.
Worms.

Lifespan of fleas

To combat parasites, it is important to know not only how fleas reproduce. How long do these insects live? As noted above, much here depends on the level of humidity, temperature in habitats, and access to food.

Typically, fleas feel great in apartments, concentrate near heating mains in basements, live on the streets in the summer, and can live in hallways for a long time. The optimal ambient temperature for such parasites is considered to be within +20-25 oC. At the same time, the stage of transformation of the pupa into an adult takes a minimum amount of time.

On average, it takes no more than three weeks for a mature flea to appear, given favorable conditions. If during development the insect suffers from any negative factors, the stages of development slow down. In some cases, even fully formed individuals do not leave their protective cocoons for a long time. Under such circumstances, underdeveloped insects are capable of falling into inactivity for up to a year and a half.

As for adult fleas, their average life span is about six months. During this period, fleas show particular aggression towards potential victims. When there is a shortage of food, parasites can attack not only cats, but also other animals, and sometimes even inflict painful bites on humans.

Appearance

The flea is an insect, dark brown in color, 1...5 mm long. A female that has drunk blood grows up to 1 cm. The arthropod is capable of making long jumps - up to 50 cm in length, has a keen sense of danger, and quickly runs away. On the final segment of the insect's body there is a sensitive organ that detects air movement. The piercing-sucking apparatus allows the flea to make painful bites.

Eggs are white transparent grains measuring <1 mm. The female scatters the embryos everywhere, which increases the chances of survival. Insecticides do not affect flea eggs.

The larvae look like transparent worms with dark spots of swallowed food. They eat any debris of organic origin - flakes of exfoliated skin, excrement of adults, representing semi-digested red blood cells. The larva molts several times until it reaches 4...5 mm. 1…3 weeks after hatching, it spins a cocoon around its body, pupates and freezes. The future flea can stay in this state from one month to two years, maintaining its viability. Insecticides have no effect on the pupa. The cocoon gradually increases in size, and the moment comes when a fully formed adult individual emerges from it, ready for reproduction.

Biology

A cat can feed up to 100 insects. Air humidity of 70% at a temperature of 18...27 ºC is considered optimal for the reproduction of arthropods. Under such conditions, a flea can go from egg to adult in three weeks. If the temperature rises to 37 ºC, the insect's development speed is halved. Under unfavorable conditions, the flea remains viable in the cocoon for 24 months.

The female is ready for intercourse several hours after leaving the cocoon. Mating occurs where different-sex adults meet. In order for the eggs to form, the female needs to drink blood. This can happen within an hour or several months after fertilization.

A single feeding is enough to form 5...15 eggs, which the female shoots from her body, trying to scatter them over long distances. Fleas are individualists. They try not to compete with each other for food. The larvae hatch from the laid eggs two days later. If conditions are far from optimal, the timing of the birth of the cub is extended to two weeks.

Eggs and larvae are not adapted to extreme conditions. In hot, dry weather they dry out, and frost and dampness cause death from hypothermia. The doll is not afraid of climatic surprises.

Control of parasites

As you can see, fleas in cats can reproduce quite quickly. If small bloodsuckers are discovered, it is extremely important to immediately begin exterminating them. An effective solution to protect your pet from attacks by adults is the use of special collars impregnated with insecticides, as well as sprays and drops that are applied to the skin in the area of the animal’s withers.

However, the above actions are not always able to save the cat from subsequent flea attacks. Parasites are capable of returning again, developing from eggs that have spread throughout the apartment. Therefore, eliminating the problem should be approached comprehensively, resorting to disinfestation of the entire home.

Impact on hosts[edit]

A few fleas on an adult dog or cat won't cause much harm unless the owner is allergic to substances in the flea's saliva. The resulting condition is called flea allergy dermatitis. Small animals with large infestations may lose enough body fluid from flea feeding, which can lead to dehydration. Cat fleas may also be responsible for the transmission of diseases through humans and are suspected of transmitting plague. A severe flea infestation can lead to anemia due to blood loss.

Fleas in a pregnant and lactating cat

If fleas are found on a female during pregnancy, all measures should be taken to get rid of them before the kittens appear. Treat all soft surfaces in the house with steam, including bedding and animal toys (or boil them), wet clean the room and treat it with insecticides (the cat should not be in the treated room).

For a pregnant cat, anti-flea products are selected with special care and caution. It is better to seek advice from a veterinarian.

Before using the product, the cat should be thoroughly combed. Processing must be carried out strictly following the instructions.

If parasites are found in a nursing mother, then newborn kittens also have them, which means the situation is even more acute.

The use of any drug will lead to severe intoxication of animals - after all, the mother constantly licks herself and her babies. Therefore, you should use only approved products - it is most convenient to treat the female with drops on the withers for nursing cats. And, of course, boil the litter daily and clean and disinfect the room.

The use of a special anti-flea shampoo is also allowed, but not in the first week or two after birth.

What are the dangers for animals and humans?

Cat fleas not only cause discomfort for your beloved pet, but are also unpleasant for humans. Blood-sucking insects pose a potential danger to both pets and humans.

For cats

Flea dermatitis in cats
Blood-sucking parasites in your beloved pet can cause:

skin diseases (flea dermatitis, dermatoses, allergic reactions, etc.);

infestation of cats with helminths (fleas are carriers of roundworm eggs, flukes, tapeworms, etc.);

infection of the pet with such dangerous diseases as mycoplasmosis, rickettsiosis;

the development of anemia in small kittens (fleas are especially dangerous for newborns; infection with blood-sucking parasites leads to anemia, exhaustion and even death of babies);

exhaustion of the animal, nervousness, since constant itching from bites causes anxiety, loss of appetite.