Ticks and Fleas – Prevention and Controlling of Fleas and Ticks

Ticks and fleas
Ticks are small spider-like acarids and fleas are insects, but these two tiny creatures have at least one thing in common—they are both parasites that feed on your cat’s blood and can cause a lot of discomfort and more serious health problems.
Flea bites may go unnoticed on some pets, cause slight irritation in others and produce extensive itching, red lesions, hair loss and even ulcers in those animals with flea allergy dermatitis, which is the result of extreme sensitivity to flea saliva. Severe flea infestations can cause anemia, especially in kittens. Fleas can also transmit several diseases, as well as tapeworm. Ticks are “vectors” or carriers of a number of diseases, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever which can sometimes be transmitted to humans.

 

Adult fleas are wingless insects, generally smaller than a sesame seed, who feed on the blood of animals. Their proportionately enlarged back pair of legs gives them an extraordinary jumping ability. Hanging on to your pet’s fur with their claws, their needle-like mouth parts bite through the skin to suck up blood—in quantities of up to 15 times their body weight daily in the case of female cat fleas.

If one flea finds your cat an attractive food source, you can be sure that other fleas will, too! They mate, with females laying 30–50 eggs per day. These eggs will drop to the ground within 8 hours and, as soon as 2 days later flea larvae will hatch and hide in dark places on the ground, on carpets or in upholstery. After about a week of feeding on adult flea droppings, crumbs, flakes of skin, etc., the larvae spin cocoons to become pupae. The pupae can remain in this stage for very long periods of time. As early as a week later, the pupae develop into adult fleas and emerge from their cocoons when they sense that a cat or other animal host, is near. The cycle—which can take as little as 12 days or as long as 180 days—can then begin again.

When a parasite picks your pet for a meal
If, despite your best efforts at control, you find that fleas or ticks have crawled (or jumped) on board your pet, you will have to use a product that will kill and/or repel the parasites. These include once-a-month topical treatments, or more regular use of sprays, powders, dips, shampoos, collars and, to combat fleas, oral or injectable medication. Once again, you should ask your veterinarian for advice about what the most appropriate product is for your pet . And remember, it is perfectly normal to see live fleas or ticks on a pet immediately after a topical treatment, spray, shampoo, collar, etc. is applied. Many believe that this means the product is not working, but the fleas or ticks have to fully absorb the product before they will be affected, which may take from a few hours to a few days.