How Do I Know If My Cat Has Ticks?

If your feline is completely domestic and never leaves the house, you have nothing to worry about, as it is practically impossible for it to catch ticks. These arachnids live in nature, so it is common to find them in fields, parks, gardens and forests with tall grass. If your animal does not frequent these areas, then you can rest easy.

How do I know if my cat has ticks?

Ticks on cats They are usually more common in:

• Felines that share the home with one or several dogs that do go for a walk in areas with vegetation or are in contact with other animals. In this way, the parasite can pass from the dog to the cat.
• Cats that spend part of the day outside, and therefore can wander through places with vegetation.
• Felines that go out to the garden of the house. Although not all gardens necessarily harbor ticks, there is always a chance that they are there.

If your cat falls into any of these groups, then it is essential that you know identify ticksthat you can extract them correctly and that you take precautions to avoid a new contagion.

Sometimes ticks they can be mistaken for a piece of skin or a wart, especially if we have never seen one before. These arachnids have eight legs, an oval body and a generally small head that they usually bury in the skin of their host to suck blood and feed.

We can find them in various colors such as gray, brown or black and the best way to distinguish them from a wart is look for legs. These parasites usually lodge around the feline’s head, neck, armpits and between the paw pads, although they can also be located in any other part of the body.

Ticks are not usually seen with the naked eye unless they have fed in large numbers, so they will increase in size due to the blood they suck from the cat. The saliva of this parasite has anesthetic properties so when it bites its host, it does not feel anything, does not scratch and does not show obvious signs of discomfort. Once the animal leaves the area and the anesthetic wears off, the cat may feel discomfort and start scratching the affected area.

If your pet is at risk of contagion, check his coat daily brushing the cat’s fur is the best way to rule out its presence. When the tick has left the area, it is also possible to identify a reddish and slightly inflamed bite, a sign that it has been sucking blood there.

If you identify a tick when checking your cat’s fur, it is important that remove it immediately so that it does not continue sucking blood. You should know that these parasites can transmit many diseases to your pet, however veterinarians believe that the tick must be attached to the host for at least 5 to 24 hours to get it, so the sooner you remove it much better.

In doing so, the most important thing is properly remove the head, if it remains buried in the skin, the area is at risk of becoming infected. In our video how to remove a tick you will see, step by step, how to remove it.

Once you have removed the tick it is recommended that you take your cat to the vet. A professional must ensure that the parasite has been adequately removed, and depending on the age and health of your cat, as well as the environment in which the animal lives, the professional will prescribe the best product to treat or prevent ticks. .

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