Can house cats get fleas? In short yes. Now you are probably wondering how? There are a few potential ways this could happen. First and most probable would be if your cat goes out of your flat / house. No matter where, even if it is just into a shared hall or if it walks on a window ledge there is a potential risk of getting fleas. The reason for this is because other animals carrying fleas might visit the same places as your cat.
Another possible way of bringing fleas into your house is that, without even knowing, you or your visitors could bring them in. You could have come into contact with an environment / people with fleas. The probability is not so high, but never zero.
The same thing happened to our cat. I typically walk outside with my cat every day, usually for a short of period of time, about 15-20 minutes. We had done this for months without catching fleas. However after my cat spent two weeks without going outside suddenly fleas appeared.
How is that even possible?
We have two theories. I was ill at that time and so just at home with my cat, my girlfriend however went outside to work, I think that she brought the fleas from someone she had come into contact with. My girlfriend however thinks that this would be impossible, she believes we could have brought fleas back when walking outside 2-3 weeks before. I think that both scenarios are quite possible, but we will never know. The fact is that your house cat can get fleas too even if the odds are low.