Host association, on-host longevity and egg production of Ctenocephalides felis felis.
Host association, on-host longevity and egg production of Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché) were evaluated using fleas from a commercial laboratory colony and first generation, laboratory-reared, native Indiana fleas. Fleas were placed on cats that were declawed, fitted with Elizabethan collars and housed in specially designed metabolic cages. An average of 85% of the female and 58% of the male fleas stayed continuously on the cats for at least 50 days, indicating that the cat flea is a permanent ectoparasite. The maximum longevity of the cat flea was not determined, but it was shown that it can survive and reproduce on the cat for at least 113 days. A female cat flea may produce up to 1745 eggs during a 50-day period.
Dryden
M W
MW
Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.
D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D002415:Cats; D004478:Ectoparasitic Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D008297:Male; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*