A Flea, not to be confused with the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a common annoyance amongst cat owners and their pets. We all know this, but why are they bad news bears for your favorite feline friend? There are many reasons why fleas are bad news for cats. And I’ll tell you about all the reasons fleas are horrible for Fifi.
They drive your cat and you crazy. They make your cat extremely uncomfortable and can cause them hairloss and damaged skin. And you’re driven crazy seeing your beloved pet going through this.
Did you know? Fleas don’t actually bite. It’s true. Actually, they stick their proboscis into the skin to suck blood out. The proboscis is the nose in case you were wondering.
Blood loss and anemia
Fleas can cause blood loss and anemia in cats. The blood suckers are known to make cats ill by ingesting blood faster than it can be replenished. This is what leads to anemia.
It usually takes a lot of fleas to lead to extreme illness, but there usually are a lot of them when they start to breed. There can be a lot of generations of fleas that live on your cat as they live only a few months each.
The symptoms of anemia include:
- Pale gums
- Weakness
- Lethargy
When this happens, the main goal is to stop the flea infestation using a veterinarian-recommended flea treatment. Blood transfusions may also be required if the blood loss is very severe.
Kittens are particularly likely to get this condition.
Flea allergy dermatitis (FAD)
Flea allergy dermatitis happens when your cats immune system gets compromised by overreacting to proteins in flea saliva.
The bite itself can cause the allergy, but the inflammation caused by the bite can cause the symptoms to be most severe.
The symptoms are:
- Intense itching
- Hair loss
- Red, scabbed, inflamed, or crusty skin
- Excessive grooming
- Chewing and biting of the skin especially the hind end and hind legs
- Open sores or scabbed skin around the head and neck
This condition just comes with the territory where flea infestations take place. If your cat likes to venture into the great outdoors (what cat doesn’t) and comes back scratching and biting it’s skin then FAD might be happening.
They can cause cats to get tapeworms
Fleas hop around to all places and sometimes find tapeworm eggs that they ingest. So they are now carrying those eggs around in their bodies. They serve as kind of an incubator for those eggs and sometimes these tapeworm-egg carrying fleas get swallowed up.
What happens then? These eggs do what eggs do- they hatch. They hatch right in their new host which can be an animal or even human. That’s how some people have the bad luck of getting tapeworm. Ew!
Cats are natural groomers and that explains how fleas accidentally get ingested. The tapeworm eggs within that infected flea then hatch and attach themselves to the hosts intestinal wall robbing it of nutrients.
Diseases
Can fleas make cats sick? Absolutely. We already covered anemia and dermatitis, but there is other nasties that can happen to the cat from fleas. Here are a few:
For humans…
Bartonellosis. This is a bacterial infection. Cats who have it don’t usually show symptoms. Humans do though if they get it. People can contract cat-scratch disease from it. Cat Scratch Fever is a good song (In my opinion), but Ted Nugent wouldn’t actually want it IRL.
The symptoms in people present themselves as fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, mouth and gum disease, eye inflammation, and even heart disease.
Plage is still a thing. This nasty bacterial disease plagued (pun intended) Europe a long time ago. It took out a large chunk of their population as you probably know. Well, infected fleas were one reason for this deadly disease.
So, it can be fatal and still exists to this day. Plague affects cats and other mammals too. It’s rare though because of advancements in medicine. Thank goodness.
For cats…
Flea allergy dermatitis (FAD). This is a common allergic skin disease that causes intense skin irritation, hair loss, and skin infections. Even just a few fleas can cause this condition if the cat is really sensitive.
Anemia. It’s a serious condition that can cause weakness, lethargy, and rapid breathing. Severe flea infestations can lead to a large amount of blood loss over time. This is especially true in kittens, elderly, and sick cats.
Flea-borne Typhus. This kind of typhus is a bacterial disease transmitted by an infected fleas bite. It’s found in the fleas that inhabit animals such as cats, opossums, skunks, and racoons.
A vet is your best friend. If your cat has a flea-borne disease, then it’s a good bet that it is also suffering from a flea infestation. Treat all of your animals for fleas. As for severe flea infestations, treatment of the home and surrounding area may also be in order. This will eradicate all flea life stages and break the flea life cycle.
Excessive grooming
Fleas are parasites that can cause an intense itch for cats. This leads to excessive grooming and chewing on the skin to get relief. Fleas don’t seem to serve any purpose except to make a pets life miserable. They can also get dislodged and humans can get them on them causing similar irritations on their skin too.
Fleas also cause infection in hypersensitive felines who get open wounds from all the scratching and biting they do.
These little pests also hold the bragging rights(if you call it that) of being the most common external feline parasite of all. So fleas are pretty often the cause of your cats scratching struggles. They are mean little buggers that want your cats warm, moist environment to put down roots.
They want a place to call their own, a good food supply, and a place to continue raising their family. Disturbing, right? They are also unfortunately pretty clever for their size, as they quickly learn the best place to make themselves at home are behind the head and the top of the base of the tail since cats are natural groomers but cannot reach those places easily
So, excessive grooming can be really hazardous to a feline’s health.
Final Thoughts
Fleas are annoying to all parties they come in contact with. They affect us because we care for our pets and feel bad for them. They affect our pets with all the intense scratching sessions, grooming sessions, skin conditions, flea-borne disease, and other ilk.
Since they don’t care how we feel about them and decide to live anyway we need to how to deal with them. That requires a visit to your vet if an infestation has happened. They will guide you on what to do from there.
Thanks for stopping and reading this article. If you liked reading or want to give your own thoughts on why fleas are the pests that they are please feel free to drop a comment and enjoy your day, week, and year. Take care.
