Ticks have 8 legs (just like spiders). They bite into the cat’s skin and suck blood.
Consequences of a tick
An infection
Anemia (caused by infection with Hemobartonella Felis)
Infection with Lyme disease
Infection with a tick on your cat
Ticks sit in bushes, fields and trees close to the ground. When a cat passes by, the tick crawls on the cat. He works his way through your cat’s fur and sucked himself into the skin. The infection of diseases takes place through the saliva of the tick. Ticks are living all year round, but they are most common from May to October. Do you remove the tick within 8 hours? Then the chance is greatest that no diseases have been transmitted yet. Speed is important!
What can you notice when your cat has a tick?
Generally a cat will have little trouble if he has a tick. He can lick the spot where the tick is. You will feel a bump where the tick is. The tick will suck up blood and therefore look like a pea but then white or brown in color. (So it can also happen that your cat has had a tick without you noticing because the tick fell off automatically after sucking blood).
Remove a tick from your cat
Always remove a tick as quickly as possible. The faster the tick is removed, the smaller the chance that an infected tick will transmit diseases. A tick remover is super useful to remove the tick. These are already available for a few dollars and are always useful to have at home (both for your cat and for yourself). Do not get started with your nails or tweezers, the tick cannot be removed properly by them. If you remove the tick in the wrong way, the tick can still cause infection.
With a pair of pliers you grasp the body and head of the tick well, then you make a circular motion, the tick will then release painlessly and naturally, then you pull the tick upwards. Make sure you have the entire tick including the head firmly before you remove the tick. You can also use a drawing spoon. This has a V groove that you slide as close as possible to the tick. If it is as close as possible to (the head of) the tick, you can sort the tick out of it.
Prevention is better than removing a tick
There are also means that preventively protect against ticks such as spot on (pipettes) and a collar. Also useful, combination means that protect both against fleas and ticks.
In general, a tick can be easily removed. Always check whether the head has been removed after the removal. Don’t you trust it or is your cat going to behave differently after it has had a tick? Then consult your veterinarian.
Also interesting: fleas with your cat
