Cat hairling

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Cat hairling
Felicola subrostratus, ♀ larva

Felicola subrostratus, ♀ larva

Systematics
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota)
Order : Animal lice (Phthiraptera)
Subordination : Ischnocera
Family : Hair lice (Trichodectidae)
Genre : Felicola
Type : Cat hairling
Scientific name
Felicola subrostratus
Burmeister , 1838

The cat hairling ( Felicola subrostratus ) is a wingless ectoparasite from the hairling family that only affects cats and feeds on skin flakes and wound secretions. An infestation occurs especially in weakened and neglected animals and leads to alarm and itching . Regular grooming and avoidance of contact are usually sufficient precautionary measures. An infestation can easily be combated with insecticides .

biology

The cat hairling is about the size of a sesame seed , 1 (♂) to 1.3 millimeters (♀) long, 0.5 millimeters wide and wingless. The body is flattened and pale yellow in color.

The head is pentagonal with a forward-pointing, notched tip and tripartite antennae. The head has a longitudinal groove on the underside that serves as a slide channel for the hair. The cat hairling has biting-chewing mouthparts and feeds on flakes of skin or secretions from skin injuries. The mandibles are like other Ischnocera to the head base, Maxillentaster missing.

The six legs are short and have strong claws with which the cat hairling can cling to hair.

The cat hairling shows an incomplete metamorphosis , so the larvae are very similar to the adult hairling and are only slightly smaller. The entire development cycle takes three to five weeks and takes place on the host . The female sticks an oblong oval egg with a lid to a hair every two to three days. The larvae hatch from the eggs after five to eight (up to 20) days. These moult three times and are then sexually mature. The adult hair lice have a life expectancy of about a month; outside the host animal, the parasites die within a few days.

Hair infestation

A hairling infestation with Felicola subrostratus occurs especially in neglected, exhausted animals in the winter months, and mass infestation can also occur in young animals. The infection occurs through direct or indirect (combs, cat toys, sleeping basket) contact with parasite carriers. Transmission by flies or mosquitoes to which the hair pieces cling has also been observed. In contrast to the cat flea ( Ctenocephalides felis ), the infestation with hair fleas is rather rare, in a study on feral cats it was only detected in one percent of the animals.

The head, neck and back are the preferred locations for the parasites. Since lumps of hair are very mobile, the crawling of the parasites will cause the cat to worry and the reaction to the saliva will make it itchy . For more severe skin changes, the triggered itching is of particular importance, which leads to scratching, licking and gnawing and thus to self-harm. A very heavy infestation can lead to the development of eczema with crust formation and to hair loss . Affected areas of the skin can be subject to further changes due to secondary bacterial infection. But there are also asymptomatic parasite carriers.

The cat hairling is a possible intermediate host for the cucumber seed tapeworm .

The diagnosis is made either by detecting the eggs ( nits ) on the hair or the parasites themselves. The nits are attached to the base of the hair by the hair lumps and can only be found here in the case of fresh infections. As the infection progresses, the nits can also be detected higher on the hair than mostly empty egg capsules due to the growth of the fur. They can quickly be overlooked in thick hair, which is why a hair sample by combing out or plucking out with subsequent assessment under a strong light source or the microscope (see picture in the taxobox) is a good idea. Since the cat also eats the hair pieces when cleaning, hair pieces can also be found in the faeces of infected animals, as their chitin armor survives the passage through the cat's gastrointestinal tract undigested.

Combat

Regular grooming and avoidance of contact with neglected cats are generally sufficient to avoid infestation. All insecticides approved for cats , such as fipronil , imidacloprid , propoxur or selamectin, are suitable for control . Agents with a short-term effect that are insufficiently effective against the eggs must be reapplied after one to two weeks in order to combat the parasites that hatch. In contrast to fleas, environmental treatment is not necessary as the entire development cycle takes place on the host.

literature

  • M. Löwenstein, A. Hönel: Ectoparasites in small and domestic animals . Enke Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-7773-1425-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h F. Rochette: Cat Parasites and their control. Janssen Animal Health, 2004, OCLC 1022195846 , pp. 54-57.
  2. a b Bayer Health Care: Felicola subrostratus
  3. ^ A b J. Boch, R. Supperer: Veterinary Parasitology. 3. Edition. Paul Parey Verlag , Berlin / Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-489-66116-8 .
  4. LH Akucewich et al: Prevalence of ectoparasites in a population of feral cats from north central Florida during the summer. In: Vet Parasitol. Vol. 109, Nos. 1-2, Oct 16, 2002, pp. 129-139. PMID 12383632
  5. ^ M. Pollmeier, G. Pengo, M. Longo, P. Jeannin: Effective treatment and control of biting lice, Felicola subrostratus (Nitzsch in Burmeister, 1838), on cats using fipronil formulations. In: Veterinary Parasitology. Vol. 121, No. 1-2, 2004, pp. 157-165. PMID 15110413
  6. DJ Shanks et al.: Efficacy of selamectin against biting lice on dogs and cats. In: Vet Rec. Vol. 152, No. 8, Feb 22, 2003, pp. 234-237. PMID 12625538