The Dangers Of Fleas And Ticks For Cats
Of all the pesky nuisances out there that your cat might face, fleas and ticks are two of the most troublesome. For cats, fleas and ticks pose a variety of potential health issues, including:
Another danger of fleas and ticks for cats is infestation of the home and possible transmission of disease to humans through sharing a living space. Many people believe that indoor cats are somehow immune to fleas and ticks, but this is not true. Fleas and ticks can enter homes on visiting pets and people's clothes. Fleas and ticks will seek out your cat to feed and live. Once a flea is on your cat, it stays and will produce 30-50 eggs within 24 hours. These eggs are the consistency of sand and will fall off the cat, land in the carpet or bedding and become an adult flea in 14 to 365 days depending upon the environmental conditions. It is easy to understand how the house can become quickly infested with fleas.
Ticks will get on your cat by brushing up against vegetation outside or by crawling onto the cat from something brought into the house. Depending upon the stage of the tick (eggs, larvae, nymph and adult), it will feed and either climb off the cat for the next molt (molting is how ticks move from one stage of development into the next stage) or if at adult stage, the tick will produce eggs that can contaminate the house. Ticks primarily transmit disease in the nymph and adult stages. Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are just a few of the diseases transmitted by ticks. The plague and cat scratch fever can be transmitted by fleas.
This is why flea and tick prevention is important for every cat. Prevention helps reduce the risk of exposure to both your cat and your home.