How to find and remove ticks from a cat at home

Why you need to remove ticks

There is no need to remove a tick from a cat. Firstly, it will fall off on its own when it is full. Secondly, the cat can pull it off itself when it itches. In both cases, there is a high risk of contracting dangerous diseases. When bitten, the tick releases saliva, which contains anesthetic substances. Because of them, the cat does not feel the bite. This saliva also contains microorganisms that cause dangerous diseases: piroplasmosis, tick-borne encephalitis, hemobartonellosis, tularemia, etc. The longer the tick is on the cat’s body, the more saliva with pathogens it manages to release, the greater the risk of infection.

In addition, if you pull out a tick alive, it can and should be immediately sent to the laboratory for testing. If it turns out that he was a carrier of diseases, you can immediately begin treatment for your pet.

If you do not remove a tick from a cat, the animal will most likely brush it off when scratching, tearing the body of the parasite. In this case, the head with the proboscis may remain under the skin. This will increase the risk of infection, and a lump with redness will appear at the site of the bite - this means that infection has begun. Since such a place cannot be detected immediately, an abscess will begin, which will have to be opened by a veterinarian.

What does the ixodid tick look like and what is dangerous?

Ixodid ticks belong to the class of arachnids. They have an oval brown body with four pairs of legs. The length of the female’s body in the hungry state does not exceed 4 mm. Males are smaller - about 2.5 mm in length. After saturation with blood, the parasite increases in size to 10–15 mm and acquires a light gray tint.

On the back of the insect there is a dense shield. The head is equipped with a proboscis with spikes that are directed towards the body. With its help, the tick pierces the skin of the victim and is firmly attached to it, so that it is not easy to pull it out.

When are ticks most active?

Ticks are activated when the thermometer rises to positive values. Their wintering takes place in the surface layers of the soil and in fallen leaves. Ixodid ticks cannot fly or jump, but simply sit on the grass or low bushes and wait for a cat, dog or person to pass by.

In direct contact with fur or clothing, mites cling to it with their paws, and then move closer to the body, guided by temperature.

Many people are mistaken when they think that a carrier of infection can only be picked up in a forest or park area with dense vegetation. In fact, mites are found wherever grass grows. Even in the city center, any person or pet can become a victim of arachnids.

Ticks are most active from early spring to early summer, as well as in August–September.

Diseases carried by ticks

Ticks are very dangerous as they are carriers of infectious diseases. These include:

1. Hemobartonellosis is a cat disease in which anemia develops due to the death of red blood cells.
2. Piroplasmosis is a deadly disease of cats and dogs caused by intracellular parasites.
3. Anaplasmosis is more common in dogs than in cats. The disease is caused by intracellular bacteria and transmitted by ticks.
4. Lyme disease affects dogs, cats, horses and humans.
5. Tick-borne encephalitis (occurs in humans).

If the insect is not removed in time, there is a high probability that an infection will occur. Pathogenic bacteria and viruses are contained in the saliva and intestines of the bloodsucker.

How to detect ticks on a cat

If your pet goes for walks outside, you need to carefully examine it after each walk. They can be found anywhere on a cat’s body: on the neck, stomach, groin, on the inside of the paws, on the ears – outside and inside.

Short-haired cats just need to be examined, long-haired cats need to be felt by parting the fur. In order not to miss even a small tick, you need to inspect it in good lighting. When ticks drink blood, they noticeably increase in size, so it is simply impossible not to see them.

Examination of the animal

If the animal often goes outside, then after returning to the house it is necessary to conduct a thorough examination in order to detect the parasite in time. For someone who has never encountered ticks before, it is useful to know what they look like. On the body of the animal, the attached insect will appear as a flat brown drop. The size can vary significantly, depending on how much blood the tick has already drunk; it can even reach one and a half centimeters and resemble a large wart. If you look closely, you can see thin legs and a small head.

It is advisable to detect the parasite as early as possible, because it does not immediately bite the animal. A tick can crawl over a cat’s body for a long time in search of the most convenient place to bite (up to 2 hours). Therefore, if you examine the animal immediately after coming home, you can avoid unpleasant consequences.

There are places on a cat's body where ticks bite most often - these are the armpits, stomach, thighs, and behind the ears. Cats suffer from bites in the groin area.

When biting, the tick first makes a small incision on the skin, and then inserts its proboscis into it and tries to push it deeper. The insect's mouthparts are equipped with teeth and hooks, with the help of which it is attached to the body very securely in order to begin sucking blood and lymph from the animal.

While feeding, the parasite gives its victim a kind of anesthetic injection so that it does not feel pain from the bite, and therefore cannot throw off the insect. Therefore, you should carefully examine the animal, probe the most dangerous areas and thoroughly comb the fur in different directions.

How to remove ticks from a cat at home

If your cat is very worried about a tick bite, and if you can’t restrain it and calm it down, it’s better to go to the clinic. You need to act carefully, confidently and quickly. The problem with cats is that you can't get them to sit or lie still. It can be very difficult to cope alone. It is good to work together, so that one person holds the animal, and the second takes out the tick that has drunk blood.

Removing a tick is possible using improvised means. You need to prepare for the procedure:

• prepare a tool for removing ticks, scissors for cutting hair around the wound, a magnifying glass;
• prepare a container with a wet cotton pad and a lid in order to submit the tick to the laboratory;
• antiseptic for treating wounds (Medilis-ASEPT is suitable for these purposes. Skin antiseptic "Medilis-ASEPT" has been produced since 2015 and is officially registered as a medical disinfection product by Rospotrebnadzor and is a professional product, not a cosmetic product);
• Wash the hands. wear gloves, and if possible, protect your eyes with goggles, since if removal is unsuccessful, blood may spray out from the crushed parasite.

The cat must be calmed and, if necessary, swaddled if this does not interfere with removing the tick. It is advisable to trim the hair around the bite site so that it does not interfere with removal.

There is no need to give your cat any sedatives or pills.

Seizure procedure

When a tick is found on an animal, remember that you should not pull it or try to simply unhook it; such actions can lead to complications.

There are rules that must be followed when carrying out the procedure at home:

• Be sure to wear rubber gloves, since the insect may be infected, which is dangerous for the person himself.
• When removing the parasite, the animal should be calm, not twitch or try to escape. Therefore, calm the cat down, give him a treat and make him comfortable. In this case, no one's help would be superfluous.
• When removing, you should not make sudden movements, pull or crush the insect too much.
• When removing, the method of twisting the parasite is used, which is the safest method.
• Before the procedure, be sure to disinfect your hands, the bite site and the instrument that will be used for removal.

How to remove a tick from a cat: step-by-step instructions

To remove a tick, you do not need to pull it out of the cat's body. The main rule to follow is: pick up an insect, turn it and pull it out with a twisting motion.

There are several ways to remove ticks at home:

1. With a thread. They make a lasso-type loop out of it, throw it over the pest, tighten it, but not too much, and then pull it out, unwinding it from side to side or twisting it counterclockwise.
2. With tweezers. They grab the tick as close to the cat's skin as possible, while it is better to hold the tweezers parallel to the skin, without squeezing the body too tightly so as not to tear it.
3. With a syringe. The head of a small syringe is cut off and placed against the skin so that the tick is inside. Pull out the piston, creating a vacuum. The tick should be pulled out of the skin under pressure. This method is quite dubious, since the pressure may not be enough to pull out the insect, and it will go even deeper under the skin.
4. A twister. This is a special device that is sold in pharmacies. It looks like a small nail puller, which is used to pick up the parasite and twist it out of the pet’s body. The device is made taking into account the anatomical features of the tick, so there is no risk of crushing or tearing it.

When removing ticks using any of the above methods, the most important thing is not to tear the parasite. It is quite easy to crush and separate the head from the body. If the head of the tick remains under the cat's skin, it should be removed.

The most convenient tool is a twister. They come in two sizes - for small ticks that have not yet had time to increase in size, and for large ones that have sucked blood. The tick is fixed between the teeth of the twister, so it won’t go anywhere. However, it cannot be crushed. It is turned with a handle around its axis, so that it unclenches its jaws and comes out of the wound entirely.

What is the danger

Are ticks dangerous for cats or do they only bite dogs?
Many people doubt whether ticks bite cats and believe that this type of parasite does not affect them. It is a myth. Representatives of Ixodidae bite everyone. It’s just that dogs constantly visit the street and parasitic diseases are recorded more often in them.

The Ixodid tick is a small spider with a disk-shaped body, a small head and 8 legs (see photo).

Color – all shades of brown. Females drink more blood. If the parasite is hungry, its body is approximately 2-4 mm in size. But the gluttony is surprising. The body weight of females increases 80-120 times during feeding. When she drinks blood, she is able to swell into a ball up to 1.5 cm, and the color changes from brown to dirty gray.

The danger for cats lies in the ability of ixodids to be carriers of various serious diseases. The culprits of diseases are protozoan parasites and viruses that live in the body of an ectoparasite.

The consequences of a bite are manifested by such infectious diseases as:

• hemabartonellosis;
• borreliosis;
• theileriosis;
• piroplasmosis;
• babesiosis

Any parasitic disease does not develop immediately after a bite. Time must pass - on average 2-3 days, sometimes more.

How difficult the disease will be depends on a number of factors:

• the general well-being of the animal and the state of immunity;
• age;
• number of bitten bloodsuckers;
• timeliness of measures taken by the owner.

Pregnant cats and kittens are especially at risk. If an infection or virus enters the body of a pregnant animal, then the offspring will also be affected.

What not to do

After tick bites, you should never remove them in the following ways:

• cauterize;
• fill with oil;
• pour with gasoline, turpentine, vinegar, and other liquids.

It is believed that when poured with oil, the tick will begin to suffocate and crawl out on its own. But that's not true. It can go even further under the skin. Cauterization can injure your pet. When poured with caustic liquids, the tick will die, but during its agony it will squirt even more infected saliva into the wound. In addition, these fluids will get into the wound and cause suffering to the cat.

You should also not simply pull the tick out with your fingers. Firstly, it is so easy to crush it. Secondly, when crushed or torn, drops of infected blood can fall on a person. And if there are microtraumas on the fingers, then you can get infected. When you pull, you will likely tear the insect apart, leaving the head underneath the skin.

How not to pull it out

Seeing a small spider on a pet, many owners panic and often make mistakes:

• They fulfill their first desire - to rip off the parasite

There should be no sudden movements or jerks. They pull it out with twisting movements in one direction so that the spines on the proboscis do not puff up, but press against it. This is the only way to remove the parasite along with the head.

• Lubricated with oil

Vaseline, vegetable oil, and machine oil are used to cut off oxygen to the parasite. The effect will be that the tick will not like this method, and it will begin to move backwards, perhaps even falling off the cat’s body. However, while this happens, he will have time to inject infected saliva. The moment has passed.

• They're putting pressure

By crushing a tick with your fingers, the cat owner increases the risk of infected blood getting into the wound.

What to do after deletion

After removing the tick from the cat's body, it is necessary to treat the wound. A variety of antiseptics are suitable for this. You can take what you have on hand: brilliant green, iodine, chlorhexidine, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide. Please note that iodine is not applied directly to the wound, but is treated around the bite site.

If after removal the tick remains alive, it is placed in a container and taken to the laboratory for analysis. This must be done within two days after removal.

If you do not want or cannot send it for research, then the parasite must be destroyed, but this must be done carefully so that its particles do not fall on anyone.

The cat should be monitored for approximately two weeks after the bite. During this time, symptoms of the disease may appear. If an animal refuses to eat, becomes lethargic or restless, strange movements appear, or orientation is disturbed, this is a reason to contact a veterinarian. Symptoms of infection also include fever and vomiting.

Bite site

Detecting a tick is not so easy. If a person has a rash and redness on the skin, then in an animal this is not visible behind the fur. Therefore, after every walk, inspect your cat for ticks. This is especially true for those who live close to fields or forests - the main habitats of parasites. But even if you live in an urban area, you shouldn’t relax. There is a chance of catching a parasite in urban areas.

Today, the species diversity of ticks reaches 50 thousand. Not all of them are dangerous. Some people generally believe that they only bring harm to humans. But in fact, the bite of an infected tick is fatal in animals. Even if a tick is not a carrier of diseases, it will cause a lot of inconvenience to the animal.

The cat will try to pull it out, which will lead to irritation and the tick will burrow even deeper. Therefore, you need to immediately get it when found.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you need to lubricate the tick with oil. There are also options with wax or kerosene. So: it is strictly forbidden to treat the bite site! This way you deprive the parasite of access to oxygen. Yes, it will fall off, but while this happens, the tick will secrete even more toxic saliva from stress, which will lead to more poison entering the cat’s body. And if he is a carrier, then the clock counts. Therefore, you can treat the bite site only after the tick has been completely removed.

When removing yourself, do not crush the tick. This way the poison will still reach its target. Don’t try to pick it apart with something sharp or take it out piece by piece. All this will cause great harm to your animal.

Prevention

Unfortunately, there is no effective prevention to protect cats from ticks. They are not vaccinated. Treating them with repellents before each walk is ineffective; besides, the cat will lick off any products applied to the fur, and this is dangerous.

You can wear a special collar that protects against ticks and other parasites, or acaricidal drops on the withers.

If a cat has limited time walking in a garden plot near a dacha or private house, it is advisable to treat it against ticks. For this you can use, for example, Medilis-Ziper concentrate. A working solution is prepared from it, which is poured into spraying equipment and the surface is treated with grass, shrubs up to 50 cm in height. It is necessary to strictly follow the instructions when preparing the solution and treating the area, and be sure to use personal protective equipment. One treatment is enough for 1 – 1.5 months. All this will protect not only your beloved cat, but also people from tick attacks. Insects will not come to the treated area.

What mistakes should you not do?

Due to possible infection, all procedures that involve contact with insects must be carried out only with gloves. If there are none, you can wrap your fingers with a bandage or any cloth.

Everyone is familiar with the method when an insect is doused with oil, kerosene or other oily liquid. It is believed that the oily liquid will block the air supply, the tick will suffocate and can be easily removed. This method is very dangerous for the animal and should not be used.

The fact is that the parasite can indeed suffocate and die, but you also need to be aware of possible complications. When he doesn’t have enough air, he will go deeper into the wound even further. In addition, in a stressful situation, he will secrete a large amount of saliva, which contains the infection. Therefore, in this case, we, on the contrary, expose the cat to greater danger.

Do not make sudden movements, do not pull, do not jerk the insect. If you tear it out, fragments will remain in the wound. This is quite dangerous, because if they are not removed, inflammation and rot will develop, which leads to serious consequences.

You cannot crush them, because the liquid that is in their digestive system, just like saliva, contains infection. Contact with human or animal skin can lead to infection.