>>>>>>>>Hate to tell you this *G* but as long as you have a child in school be ready for catching just about everything! :o)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Our daughter went to a sleepover the other week and caught fleas, through a very interesting channel. The bed she was offered was just too soft for her, so she opted for sleeping on the rug. They have cats there. It took us few hours of spraying stuff all over her room, rug and bed specially, then vacuuming it all.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Back home we had a dog which regularly caught fleas and ticks whenever he broke the chain and went for one of his binges (and last time we visited the neighborhood there were a lot of dogs looking like him :), but we never caught anything from him. Not a single flea jumped over. Probably because we never allowed him in. He was a purebred yardianer.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>It was my understanding that you don't "catch" fleas, as they live in bedding and carpets and under wainscotting, etc. i.e. if you were bitten at someone's house you wouldn't bring them home with you. Ticks and lice otoh do actually live on the body.
>>>>>
>>>>>Afaik, fleas need blood in order to reproduce, so they take up residence where the blood is - ie - on you or me or our pets. They lay their eggs on the host (us again), but the eggs fall off when we sleep or move around, and often end up in our bedding etc.
>>>>
>>>>AFAIK they lay their eggs in the carpets etc. (which is why a good vacuuming helps get rid of them). Maybe some live on the animal. They take up residence close to the regular blood supply, e.g. in pets' bedding.
>>>>
>>>>I may be wrong but, without my Raid leaflet I can't be sure :-)
>>>>
>>>>Ugh, I'm beginning to itch now!
>>>>
>>>>http://placervillevet.com/flea_life_cycle.htm
>>>
>>>Here is a quote from an Ohio State University fact sheet (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2081.html)
>>>
>>>Fleas pass through a complete life cycle consisting of egg, larva, pupa and adult. A typical flea population consists of 50 percent eggs, 35 percent larvae, 10 percent pupae and 5 percent adults. Completion of the life cycle from egg to adult varies from two weeks to eight months depending on the temperature, humidity, food, and species. Normally after a blood meal, the female flea lays about 15 to 20 eggs per day up to 600 in a lifetime usually on the host (dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, foxes, chickens, humans, etc.). Eggs loosely laid in the hair coat, drop out most anywhere especially where the host rests, sleeps or nests (rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, cat or dog boxes, kennels, sand boxes, etc.).
>>
>>Ah, OK. But the fleas don't actually stay on the host, do they?
>
>I think they try to find a host if they're born off one because they need the blood to reproduce. as much as possible, yes, I think they do live on the host.

Well I've well been bitten by cat fleas but never found one living in my socks!

>
>>
>>BTW, we must have fewer chances of catching them over her as, contrary to Disney's 101 Dlamations, we have no "... chipmunks, raccoons, opossums..." :-)
>
>We have raccoons, skunks etc. around here, and I live in an urban area. On the other hand, with four cats, I doubt I had much need in the way of other critters to have learned about fleas. Yep, that's me, "the crazy old guy down the street with the cats".

That was a joke.