Cat fleas might have been serious issues for some cat owners. Despite its small size, cat flea is not something you can take easily. Cat flea is one of the blood sucking animals that give you horror.
Not only horror for your cats, but it can be harmful for you, too as it might suck your blood. Cat fleas is one of the common diseases of a cat you need to treat seriously.
Cat fleas, when they are removed from the host’s body, which is the cat, will encourage them to find another host to feed them blood. When they don’t get any blood from the cat, they might start exploring your body to suck your blood. Is that dangerous? Well, it can be dangerous and you cannot take this matter easily, but seriously.
How Do Cat Fleas Look Like?
Cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) fleas might be similar to common fleas that will affect dogs. Its adult size is 1/8 inches in length. They have flattened and brownish black to black body.
When cat fleas are full of blood, their body will be seen reddish black. Cat fleas do not have any wings and they have six legs. Their eggs are white and oval with size about 0.55 mm in length.
Can Cat Fleas Bite Humans?
When cat fleas don’t get any blood as their source of nutrients, they will start seeking another host, which can be the cat’s owners. The cat fleas are surely be able to bite humans, just like they bite your cats.
The difference is cat fleas will not stay for a long time in your body as cat fleas love to stay on furry hosts, unlike human’s hairless body. So, once they bite us, they don’t stay and breed on your body.
You might be wondering, how cat fleas bite look like on your skin. Cat fleas bite usually give itchy and swollen impacts. It will create swollen red bumps on your skin.
The bites of cat fleas will bring saliva that contains anticoagulant into your skin and blood flows so that it is easier for the cat fleas to feed on the blood. Itchiness is a reaction of foreign substance that comes into your body and it is normal.
Another reaction is swelling skin. It is a form of reaction to the allergy. Watch out the other cat diseases that can be contagious to their owners. Make sure your cats are healthy as you are.
When you get a cat flea bite, try as much as you can not to scratch the itchy area as it will create worse reaction. Try cleaning the area with soap and water and press ice pack into the swelling skin to make it better.
Other impacts of cat fleas can be more serious than reddish swelling skin. It can bring worse allergic reaction, such as shortness of breathing, wheezing, swollen lips and tongue, dizziness, nausea and pain the chest area. Once you experience one of these allergic symptoms, contact emergency number or doctor.
What Should You Do Once You Get Cat Fleas Bite?
After looking at the symptoms of cat fleas bite, then it is time to know what ways you should do to reduce the effect of it. Don’t get panic once you find the cat fleas bite. There are some remedies you can do to solve this problem.
Maintaining body hygiene is important. Take a shower and wash your clothes you are wearing along with the house things, such as tablecloths, cat’s bed, carpet and others. Make sure they are clean. Then, vacuum the whole house.
Once you get the flea bites, use some gels that are able to calm your itchiness, such as Aloe Vera gel or cream. It will surely be beneficial to reduce the itchiness on your skin. Don’t ever scratch your itchy skin as it might create another wound.
As stated before, cat fleas love to stay in furry places. One possible spot on your body that might be the place for them to stay is your hair or beard. If you are suspicious of the presence of cat fleas on your hair, use flea shampoo for cats or dogs (that’s is not harmful though, so don’t worry), or if you have lice shampoo, it will also work. Apply the shampoo to your hair and rest it for about 10 minutes. Then comb your hair with flea comb and finally wash it out.
To prevent any cat fleas attacking yourself, make a DIY natural anti-flea spray with 90% boiled water and 10% essential oil.
Cat fleas are not that dangerous for humans, but they can bring serious problems if they are not treated immediately and seriously. As a responsible owner, you need to provide comfort for your cat and yourself as well.
When the cat is comfortable and living well, the owners will have the same thing for sure. If your cat experiences another problem such as on its diet, you may want to know about the reasons why your cat refuses to eat dry food.