Cat flea

The cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is a blood-feeding insect that commonly infests cats, dogs, and other mammals. It can also bite people and transmit pathogens.

Flea life cycle: The sequence of egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages in flea development. Most cat fleas develop off-host before emerging as adults that seek a blood meal.
Flea control: Methods for reducing or eliminating flea infestations on animals and in their surroundings. Cat flea control often combines treatment of the host with measures that interrupt environmental development.
Flea-borne spotted fever: A human illness caused by Rickettsia felis and associated with flea transmission. The cat flea is a major vector associated with transmission of Rickettsia felis.
Siphonaptera: The insect order comprising fleas, which are wingless, blood-feeding ectoparasites. The cat flea belongs to this order of specialized jumping parasites.
Flea jumping: Flea locomotion in which elastic energy stored in the body launches the insect into a jump. Cat fleas use powerful jumps to move between hosts and escape disturbance.
Nitenpyram: An oral insecticide used for rapid killing of adult fleas on dogs and cats. It can quickly kill adult cat fleas but has little residual activity.
Dipylidium caninum: A tapeworm of dogs and cats whose life cycle uses fleas as intermediate hosts. Pets can acquire this tapeworm by swallowing infected cat fleas during grooming.
Ctenocephalides: A genus of fleas that includes the cat flea and dog flea. Its genus groups the cat flea with closely related fleas of mammals.
Flea blood meal: The blood intake an adult flea obtains from a vertebrate host. Adult cat fleas feed repeatedly, and females need blood to produce eggs.
Fipronil: A phenylpyrazole insecticide used in veterinary products against fleas and ticks. Fipronil products are commonly used to kill adult cat fleas on treated animals.

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Oriental rat fleaCompared with: It commonly bites humans but is not the classic rat-associated plague vector.