Host association, on-host longevity and egg production of Ctenocephalides felis felis |
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| Authors: | M W Dryden |
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| Institution: | Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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