Fleas and ticks are a source of annoyance and potential health threat in every part of the US. While the seasons will affect the activity of these insects, it is possible to pick up fleas or ticks during most of the year. This is especially true because these insects can thrive in our homes. Dogs and cats which spend time outdoors are at equal risk of picking up fleas. However, because dogs spend a larger amount of time outdoors, they are at a higher risk than cats for ticks. While not as common, fleas and ticks can also enter homes from visiting pets and on people's clothes.
Another danger of fleas and ticks for cats is infestation of the home and possible transmission of disease to humans through sharing a living space. Many people believe that indoor cats are somehow immune to fleas and ticks, but this is not true. Fleas and ticks can enter homes on visiting pets and people's clothes. Fleas and ticks will seek out your cat to feed and live. Once a flea is on your cat, it stays and will produce 30-50 eggs within 24 hours. These eggs are the consistency of sand and will fall off the cat, land in the carpet or bedding and become an adult flea in 14 to 365 days depending upon the environmental conditions. It is easy to understand how the house can become quickly infested with fleas.
Ticks will get on your cat by brushing up against vegetation outside or by crawling onto the cat from something brought into the house. Depending upon the stage of the tick (eggs, larvae, nymph and adult), it will feed and either climb off the cat for the next moult (moulting is how ticks move from one stage of development into the next stage) or if at adult stage, the tick will produce eggs that can contaminate the house. Ticks primarily transmit disease in the nymph and adult stages.