Host Grooming Efficiency for Regulation of Cat Flea (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) Populations
- 1 May 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Medical Entomology
- Vol. 35 (3) , 266-269
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jmedent/35.3.266
Abstract
Grooming efficiency was studied by infesting domestic short-hair cats, Felis catus L., with known numbers of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis felis Bouché, then collecting the cat feces and extracting the fleas to determine how many had been groomed off, varying the infestation level. Some hosts were found to be significantly more efficient at grooming fleas than others, with the best groomer removing 17.6% of its flea burden daily, compared with only 4.1% removed by the poorest groomer. Cats were more efficient at grooming fleas at infestations of 150 fleas. Mean on-host flea longevity was 7.8 d.Keywords
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