Can you drown cat fleas?

It takes 24 hours underwater to drown a flea! This is an interesting question and a pertinent one because cat owners sometimes like to kill fleas by drowning them. There are two aspects to the question. If you place a flea onto water they don't sink into the water. Therefore they do not drown this way. Fleas are too light to break the surface of water. And they are covered in a water repellent wax. A flea left on the surface of water in a bowl will eventually starve to death because they can't jump out, but not drown.

If you force a flea underwater and hold it there for about 24 hours they would drown. Apparently it takes much longer to drown a flea than you might have imagined. Forcing a flea underwater for 20 minutes will not kill them. In fact a flea submerged for 12 hours may appear dead but will reanimate itself once removed. After 60 minutes or so they are revived. If a flea is underwater for up to 20 hours they can still revive themselves but it takes about 4 to 5 hours.

If you are flea combing your cat and you catch one, my preferred method of killing is to use my thumbnail to squash the flea against the comb. If the comb is a metal one with a ridge where the combs enter the plastic handle you can squash them against that ridge. It is satisfying because you can hear the exoskeleton pop. This method may be too grizly for some people. It gives me pleasure because I hate the bastards. But if there are a lot of fleas this method is unworkable. You'll need an insecticide but use it with extreme care please.

P.S. Fleas have flat bodies which makes it easier to move around their host in that forest of fur!

Sources: various and on the internet.

How long do cat fleas live without a host?

Adult fleas live for between one and two weeks in favourable conditions. The flea needs a host on which to feed continuously and they prefer humid and warm climates.

Fleas in a jar. Photo: PoC.

However, the flea pupae can live for up to 5 months without food or light. I think you need to understand the life cycle to know where the pupae fit into it. The mother flea is on a cat feeding on blood. She lays eggs because the blood provides the energy to do this. They are laid in clusters of 20 maximum. She can lay a maximum of 50 per day. The eggs fall off the cat as the cat walks around. They fall into, for example, carpet. 

The eggs hatch into legless embryos called larvae. They burrow deep into the carpet or the roots of plants in the wild. They live off pre-digested blood from their mother flea. They develop into cocoons or flea pupae. They can live in this state for up to 5 months without food or light.

They mature into adult fleas with a lowered metabolism so that they don't need feeding. A potential host passes by and the adult flea senses the change in thermal energy. The flea emerges from the cocoon and jumps onto their new post to feed immediately.

Fleas cannot fly but they have an enormous ability to jump. If they were the size of humans they would jump up to a thousand feet into the air. This is their mode of transport.

Stray cat sprints across finish line during 100m race in Turkey

The big questions are how and why did this cat get into the stadium but no matter. Nobody was hurt and I don't think that it affected the outcome of the race. Domestic cats are very good at avoiding things even faster moving humans.

The dependence and independence of the domestic cat

The domestic cat is both dependent and independent. In many respects domestic cats are far more independent than we are but in one major respect they are highly dependent: for safety, security, sustenance and warmth.

However, unlike us they are not dependent upon water, shampoo and soap in order to wash themselves (unless they fall into a paint pot). In this respect they are entirely independent relying, as they do, on their saliva and their comb-like tongue to do what is necessary. And they do a great job in keeping their coat in first class condition provided they are not overweight, infirm, ill or they have been bred to extreme with overly-long coats. Sometimes they do enjoy some help from a feline friend although this is not strictly required.

British SHs allogrooming. Photo: Karen Goldsmith (Germany)

The domestic cat is also completely independent with respect to clothes. Humans have a wardrobe full of clothes or they normally do. My wardrobe is incredibly small but I am dependent upon wearing something whereas domestic cats wear the same clothes day in day out, whatever the weather conditions and whether they are inside or outside the home. It is a self-generating coat. It is constantly being renewed and it never wears out unless, once again, they are ill in which case there could be hair loss.

Of course, the domestic cat's wild ancestor is entirely independent in every regard. It is only domestication which burdens the domestic cat with a reliance upon people the sustenance and safety. But for domestication, the domestic cat would be entirely self-reliant.

We should, perhaps, marvel at the purity of the self-reliance of the domestic cat in the clothes they wear on the showers that they do not need. 

Is your cat meowing too much?

An author on the website Catster.com asks whether your cat is meowing too much. My first thought was that a domestic cat cannot meow too much. It's impossible to envisage that situation. For a start off, domestic cats are not, in general terms, that vocal. Some cat breeds such as the Siamese are more vocal in others. The Siamese' rather raucous and harsh voice may grate sometimes but when you adopt a Siamese cat you know what you're getting. You are adopting a loyal, vocal creature and you like it. So no complaints. Cats start to meow at around 4 months normally. And they only meow at humans. Feral cats don't meow at each other.

The only time that a cat can meow too much is not when they're meowing but when they're howling at night at midnight in the morning! Yes, cats can be too vocal but it will be when they are vocal at times which are undesirable from a human's perspective.

Image: PoC

The reason why this should happen is because cats are essentially nocturnal hunters. Or to be more precise they are crepuscular creatures. They like to be active when we like to be inactive and fast asleep. The vocalisation aspect of this behavioural trait is an adjunct to the more important behavioural trait as described.

Howling at night, can be caused by a cat who is elderly and who may suffer from early-stage dementia and is therefore confused. The howl is a call for company. The response should be to provide them with company even if it is highly inconvenient. If you're awake because of the howling then it is not much of an added burden to get up and deal with it. We should be very sympathetic and sensitive to our cat's emotional problems.

However, if your cat wants to wake you up at four in the morning by meowing and you don't like it, the classic treatment is to ignore it. For the immediate future your cat will try harder and then eventually she will give up. That is the argument. The argument is to ignore demands that you don't want to meet because if you respond to demands you feed them and encourage more. Personally, I don't subscribe to ignoring requests from my cat. Maybe that's just me but if he is asking for something there's good reason for it and I feel duty bound as his caregiver to do something about it.

The cat's meow may irritate some people some time. This is because it is a demand or polite request depending upon your viewpoint for food. And sometimes cats can linger around your feet as you walk around the kitchen meowing at you and rubbing their bodies against you. They can get in the way. Cats are persistent and they will go on until they get what they are asking for. As I said, this may irritate some people if they are not in the mood to respond. The best response is to respond! Cats get their way. It's an example of the cat training the human rather than vice versa.

Caterwauling is rarely heard in my opinion. It is described as "an aggressive, threatening sound made by sexual or territorial rivals.... It may be heard at any time when two or more cats are fighting and may, on occasion, have nothing to do with sexual encounters". I am quoting Desmond Morris.

The author on Catster says that an indoor cat when seeing an outdoor cat may vocalise their frustration or excitement. My experience tells me that under these circumstances the indoor cat is normally quite silent. They may look intently and wish to get out side and do something about it. If they are allowed outside they will go but this is more about action rather than vocalisation. It's like the hunt: cats are silent when in pursuit.

If a cat owner is going to complain about meowing it will normally be because their cat is not meowing enough. And on this subject, some cats produce silent meows. If a person wants to adopt a cat and wants that cat to be relatively quiet then they should consider seeking out a cat who likes to meow silently. This happens when the cat opened their mouths as if to meow but no sound comes out.

My conclusion is that domestic cats can never meow too much. They can never vocalise too much and if you are irritated and consider their noise-making too much then I think you should look at yourself and ask whether you might be unreasonable.