Ticks in cats

What are ticks?

Ticks are small, spider-like parasites that can attach themselves to the skin of people and animals and then feed on their blood. Ticks live mainly near trees, bushes, in tall grass or among dead leaves. A bite from a tick is often harmless and painless, but if the tick carries a pathogens, it can infect the host. Well-known diseases that ticks can transmit are Lyme, Ehrlichiosis and Babesiosis

How do you recognize a tick bite in your cat?

A tick bite in cats is a regular occurrence, but how do you recognise a tick bite?

• Ticks can bite all over a cat’s body. However, we see them most often on the head, ears, neck or legs.
• A tick is a small, spider-like creature, with a brown colour. The head is located under the cat’s skin after the bite, the 6 legs and body most of the time remain visible on top of the skin.
• After a tick fills up with blood, it grows larger and often changes colour. A sucked-in tick can become lighter brown in colour or grey.

How to remove a tick?

You should remove the tick from your cat as soon as possible because after as little as 16 to 24 hours, the tick can transmit disease. Below are instructions for removing a tick:

• Do not anesthetize the tick with alcohol or other disinfectants because the tick may empty its stomach contents into your cat’s skin. The stomach contents may contain pathogens.
• Make the tick highly visible by thoroughly separating the cat hair around the bite.
• Grasp the tick with tweezers or tick forceps, as close to the cat’s skin as possible. Try to keep the tick’s body whole, or the stomach contents may be released.
• Very gently pull the tick out of the skin. It often works well to loosen the tick with a twisting motion
• After removing the tick, check that you also removed the head and paws. If not, your cat may still suffer from itching and/or disease.

A tick remover is available at our clinics. If you do not like to remove the tick yourself, we will of course gladly help you!

Preventing ticks in cats

To prevent tick bites, you can purchase several products, such as a anti-tick collar, anti-tick drops and anti-tick tablets. You can use most of these preventively.

Tick collar cat

A tick collar is a cat collar that contains active substances. Your cat doesn’t notice anything from these substances, but insects absolutely cannot stand them. Thanks to this collar, ticks stay away.

Tick drops cat

Most products against fleas also work against ticks. That is why this remedy is the most commonly used. These products come in pipette form, or drops, which you apply to your cat’s skin. In most cases, these products work for 1 month and should be repeated thereafter.

Cat tablet dog

An anti-tick remedy also comes in pill form. You can give this to your cat as a snack, it also works for a month.

The above products are available at our clinics.

Does your cat go outside? Besides treating preventively with an anti-tick medicine, we also recommend checking your cat daily for ticks (bites), especially in the warm months, so you can take action in time. A ‘fresh’ tick bite is often nothing more than a dark lump on the skin. Only when the tick has sucked up the blood does its body swell. Often the tick is only then noticed. In addition, do not forget to de-flea and deworm your cat regularly, even if they don’t go outside. This, like tick control, is an important part of preventive care.

Consequences of a tick bite

Ticks can carry several pathogens that can be dangerous for your cat. There is even a chance that the cat could be infected with several diseases at once. If the tick is removed within 24 hours and in the right way, the risk of infection is small.

Diseases that can be transmitted by ticks include:

• Lyme disease
• Babesiosis
• Ehrlichiosis
• Anaplasmosis

Help, my cat has a tick!

Do you see your cat’s tick bite too late or have you failed to remove the tick? Keep an extra close eye on your cat’s health. If your cat starts to show the underneath symptoms, always make sure you contact us:

• Fatigue
• Low appetite
• Fever
• Pains
• Stiff joints

We will check your cat for tick-borne diseases. Then we will prescribe the appropriate treatment so that your cat will soon be back to normal.