Can a cat be a carrier of biting bugs?

Question

I have a 9 year old Norwegian Forest Cat with a naturally thick coat. He is very happy and rarely scratches. He is brushed with a soft brush once a day. He has no antibug treatment. It is different story for my 5 year old son. He has a series of red itchy marks on his leg and itches other places on his body. My wife is constantly on the war with mites, with putting out bedding to sun. It rains nearly every day here and often heavily. The cloud cover is enough to make our warm summer cool to cold.

With COVID and the general ineffectiveness of Japanese pediatrician (they don't have much medicines approved for children), we avoid getting our son to the doctor. Is it feasible that our cat is the source of biting bugs even with no evidence on his fur?

Answer 1

Cats are known to carry many biting bugs. Some of these can be very dangerous both to you and to your cats, such as ticks and some of these might just be nuisances, like cat fleas.

Cat fleas can be hiding in depth of your cat's thick fur, however if you don't see them in spite of regular brushing, there is little to no chance they might cause a problem neither for you nor for your son.

Mites usually live in cats' ear. They are usually smaller than fleas so it might be hard to see them by naked eye. If your cat is obsessed with scratching his ear, an over the counter mite medication may help your cat. Cat mites, however, are not dangerous to humans, so your wife's crusade against the mites is not related to your cat.

Ticks usually dwell to a single location and do not change its position unless it is disturbed. There is little (actually no) chance the itchy marks are due to a tick.

I suspect there are numerous types of itchy marks. A dermatologist can probably identify if the mark is due to an allergic reaction or due to a bite from a parasite from a photo.