CreatureData

Cat flea

Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché, 1835)

Status not recordedinsects

The cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is a species in the family Pulicidae, order Siphonaptera.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the cat flea

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the cat flea live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the cat flea as introduced in 8 countries, and flagged as invasive in 1 of them.

  1. Estoniainvasive
  2. Canary Islands
  3. Cyprus
  4. Czechia
  5. Denmark
  6. Ecuador
  7. South Africa
  8. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the cat flea endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the cat flea classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderSiphonaptera
  5. familyPulicidae
  6. genusCtenocephalides
  7. SpeciesCtenocephalides felis (Bouché, 1835)

Synonyms Pulex felis

Other names and names in other languages (25)
  • برغوث القططArabic
  • pulga los gatosAsturian
  • Mačija buhaBosnian
  • blecha kočičíCzech
  • KatteloppeDanish
  • KatzenflohGerman
  • Pulga de gatoSpanish
  • kissankirppuFinnish
  • Puce du chatFrench
  • macskabolhaHungarian
  • Pulce del gattoItalian
  • ネコノミJapanese
  • 고양이벼룩Korean
  • KattenvloDutch
  • Pchła kociaPolish
  • Pulga-dos-gatosPortuguese
  • Блоха кошачьяRussian
  • blcha mačaciaSlovak
  • kattloppaSwedish
  • หมัดแมวThai
  • Kedi piresiTurkish
  • Блоха котячаUkrainian
  • 貓蚤Chinese
  • رأس الأمشاط الهريArabic
  • タイワンイヌノミJapanese

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the cat flea

Other species in the same genus Ctenocephalides.

Dog flea

Ctenocephalides canis

PulicidaeNo free photo yet

CompareCat flea vs Dog fleaCat flea vs Ctenidiosomus eckerliniCat flea vs Ctenocephalides arabicusCat flea vs Ctenocephalides brygooi

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the cat flea an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the cat flea as invasive in 1 country: Estonia. It lists it as introduced in 8 in all.

What kind of animal is the cat flea?

The cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) belongs to the family Pulicidae in the order Siphonaptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cat-flea

MLA

“Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cat-flea.

BibTeX
@misc{cat_flea_2026,
  title = {Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cat-flea},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}