What to do if a cat is bitten by a tick. How to remove a tick. Rules for removing the parasite. Recommendations for removing the parasite yourself at home. What to do if the tick head remains in the wound. Danger to the animal. Security measures. Preventive actions.
Our pets are often attacked by blood-sucking parasites, which cause them great trouble. While going out for a regular walk, a cat can be bitten by a tick, which is very dangerous for both people and animals. If such a situation occurs, urgent measures must be taken.
Next, we will look in detail at how to remove a tick from a cat, what mistakes should not be made, how to protect the animal and the necessary preventive actions.
Tick detection
In order to detect this parasite, you need to know what it looks like so as not to be confused with other types of insects. So, the tick has a body in the form of a drop; they can be black or brown. If a young individual has only 6 legs, an adult has 8. Conventionally, blood-sucking animals are divided into the abdomen, head and limbs. The head contains a mouthparts with a proboscis. When biting, the parasite cuts the skin and penetrates under the skin with its proboscis. As it becomes saturated, it goes deeper and deeper under the skin.
If a tick has just landed on the skin, it is more difficult to notice and distinguish it from other parasites than in a well-fed state. The fact is that it is very small in size, but when the tick attaches itself, as it becomes saturated, it increases significantly in size.
So it is very easy to detect, it resembles a large pea or a large mole. In this state, only the abdomen is on top of the skin, the head is under the skin. Also, satisfying its hunger, it changes color; on the animal’s body you can find a “pea” of gray, red or pink color. You can see how they look in the photo.
To make it easier to examine the animal, use a comb that has sparse teeth. When scratching, it is quite easy to identify a blood-sucking insect, but you will also need to feel the cat with your hands. Most often, parasites stick to areas where the skin is thinnest and most delicate, and in these places it is very difficult to comb the fur with a comb. These areas include the neck area, behind the ear, muzzle, areas under the paws, stomach and groin. There are cases where owners mistook the nipple for a parasite. Remember that both male and female cats have nipples, there are 8 of them.
When such an unpleasant finding is discovered in a cat, measures should be taken immediately. The correct and safe decision is to visit a veterinary clinic, where they will carry out the procedure and give all the necessary recommendations regarding further actions. But, unfortunately, it is not always possible for cat owners to contact a veterinarian; in such cases, it is necessary to carry out the removal procedure themselves.
Carrying out the procedure at home should be carried out in accordance with the rules and recommendations. If we talk about the technique for removing parasites from cats, it is no different from the one used for people. The main thing is not to rush, not to worry, follow the recommendations and avoid mistakes.
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:
- Hemobartonellosis is a cat disease in which anemia develops due to the death of red blood cells.
- Piroplasmosis is a deadly disease of cats and dogs caused by intracellular parasites.
- Anaplasmosis is more common in dogs than in cats. The disease is caused by intracellular bacteria and transmitted by ticks.
- Lyme disease affects dogs, cats, horses and humans.
- 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.
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.
If the head of the tick remains under the cat's skin
It happens that the head remains under the skin; this is easy to notice upon careful examination of the bite site. A black dot under the skin indicates that part of the tick's body has not been removed. It is easier to remove the head than a live tick.
To do this, you need to take a sewing needle, disinfect it with alcohol or by heating it over an open fire. Next, simply pick out the head as you do with a splinter, and then disinfect the wound.
Monitor the condition of the affected area for a week or two; if pus or inflammation appears, take the necessary measures for treatment at home, or take your pet to the veterinarian.
Extraction Methods
For safe removal, tweezers or thread are most often used. Some people remove the parasite with their hands, but this method is not recommended by doctors. In this case, you need to understand how the parasite feeds and how it stays on the body of its victim. As stated earlier, it cuts the skin and penetrates under the skin. There it is sucked by the proboscis, which has microscopic serrations, thanks to which it is held. Along with the proboscis, the head of the tick also penetrates.
If you pull the abdomen, this will cause the insect to rupture and you will not be able to get it out. The head and proboscis will remain in the wound, which will also need to be removed, and in some cases surgical assistance may be required.
For the procedure to be safe, it is necessary to understand how to hold the insect during removal. To do this, if you use tweezers, you need to grab it as close to the skin as possible so that you can capture not only the body, but also the head.
Next, we carry out the following steps: we need to rotate the parasite, which will allow us to unhook it in the middle of the wound. When scrolling, you need to lightly pull it up. As soon as it unhooks in the middle of the wound, it will immediately slide out of it.
Once it is removed, the tick must be destroyed and the wound inspected to see if there are any insect fragments left. Next, disinfect, you can use brilliant green, iodine, alcohol.
What types of blood-sucking ticks can threaten cats?
All blood-sucking ticks, also called ixodid ticks, or ticks, pose a threat to cats. The most common types of ticks found in Russia are:
- Ixodes ricinus;
- Rhipicephalus sanguineus;
- Dermacentor reticulatus.
A cat can be bitten by any other ixodid tick - there is no fundamental difference in this.
Photo gallery: the most common types of ticks
The Ixodes ricinus tick is the most common type of bloodsucker.
The tick of the species Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the most common representative of this family in Russia
The mite Dermacentor reticalatus is a typical inhabitant of deciduous and mixed forests in Europe and Siberia
All these ticks have common properties: they necessarily feed on blood. Both adult, mature ticks and their larvae - nymphs - attack.
Typically, female ticks are found on animals - they need a lot of blood to reproduce, so they can remain at the site of the bite for up to several days. Nymphs and males need less blood, and often they leave the bite site on their own and unnoticed, thereby infecting the cat.
Ticks usually hide in grass, bushes, and low vegetation. They are found everywhere - from city courtyards and squares to fields and forests. Even if the cat does not leave the house, there remains a risk of being attacked by a tick brought into the apartment by people or other animals (usually a dog), as well as along with mushrooms collected in the forest, a wreath woven in a field, or greens collected at the dacha.
Ticks become active at air temperatures above +8 °C; their peak activity occurs in spring and autumn. But the possibility of a bite cannot be ruled out even in winter, for example, near a heating main or during a thaw on a thawed lawn.
The good news is that not all ticks are contagious. The range and frequency of diseases transmitted by ticks differ in different regions, and the most comprehensive information on a specific area can be obtained from the regional sanitary and epidemiological surveillance service.
Syringe
The syringe is used very rarely. The fact is that it will be ineffective when the blood sucker is sucked very tightly, the vacuum created will not be able to remove it. Also, the syringe is rarely used, due to the wool, which prevents the creation of that same vacuum. If you decide to try this method, you will need to trim the hair at the site of the bite.
You need to take the syringe and cut it off from the needle side. This needs to be done as carefully as possible to get the smoothest edges possible. Next, place the syringe against the skin at the site of the bite and pull the plunger several times, thus creating a vacuum, which pushes the bloodsucker out of the wound. After the procedure, do not forget to treat the wound.
How to remove a tick from a cat - step-by-step instructions
Once a parasite is detected, it must be removed immediately. If you decide to carry out the removal procedure yourself, you should follow simple rules.
- The procedure is carried out wearing rubber gloves - this will protect against accidental infection.
- It is necessary to secure the pet so that it does not move during the procedure. It is better to ask a second person for help.
- Under no circumstances should you pull out the parasite abruptly.
- Pull out the tick in a circular motion, clockwise.
- Before the procedure, treat your hands, instruments and the bite site with a disinfectant.
Extraction Methods
There are two ways to properly and safely remove a tick from a cat. The first method is extraction by hand , thread or tweezers . Regardless of which tool you choose, the algorithm of actions is the same. Use your fingers or tweezers to grab the insect as close to the proboscis as possible. You need to pull it out slowly, smoothly turning the body clockwise or rocking it from side to side.
Proceed carefully, making sure that the head of the tick does not remain under the skin. After removing the parasite, you need to treat the bite site with an antiseptic (iodine, brilliant green, alcohol) so that the cat does not develop bumps on the skin. After removing the insect, it should be destroyed immediately.
The second method is removal using a syringe . To do this, you will need a new medical syringe and a knife (preferably a stationery knife).
You need to take a syringe and cut off the part from the side of the needle with a knife. The edge should be smooth. Then press the syringe tightly to the place where the tick sits. Slowly pump out the air. The difference in pressure should pull the insect out.
After the procedure, you need to destroy the tick and treat the bite site.
This method is rarely used. If the tick is firmly attached, the vacuum inside the syringe will not pull the insect out, but will only provide additional blood flow.
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.
What not to do
When carrying out the procedure, we strongly do not recommend working with bare hands. Using gloves will protect a person from accidental infection and reduce the risk of damage to the pet’s skin. If there is a suspicion that an insect is infected, then you need to pack it in a sealed container and take it to the laboratory. This must be done no later than 2 days after the bite. According to statistics, every 5 ticks turn out to be a carrier of a dangerous infection.
- The use of oil and other lubricants is not recommended. Many people believe that if you lubricate the tick and the bite site with Vaseline, oil or kerosene, it will come out on its own. But that's not true. The insect may suffocate and die, making extraction more difficult.
- Do not suddenly remove the insect. If the head remains under the skin, inflammation at the site of the bite or infection of the entire body may follow. This is due to the fact that it is the tick’s saliva that is the repository of dangerous microorganisms and infections.
- You can't push him. When crushed, a tick is much more dangerous. If liquid from a crushed tick gets on the skin, infection cannot be avoided. The most reliable way to kill a tick is to burn it or place it in alcohol.
When the tick's head remains in the wound
If it was not possible to remove the bloodsucker from the skin correctly, then its head will remain in the wound. This is very easy to see because a black dot will be visible. You can remove fragments from the wound using a needle, which must be disinfected. In this case, you need to use a technique, as in the case of a splinter, just pick it up with a needle.
But it should be taken into account that in some cases, the head remains very deep in the wound, and if the bite area is also swollen, then the removal procedure is very difficult to carry out. Remember that in such situations you need to contact a veterinary clinic. You cannot expand the wound yourself and penetrate deeply with a needle, as this will cause pain to the animal and complicate the situation.
Common Mistakes
When removing ticks from cats, many people make serious mistakes. For example, they remove the parasite with their fingers or pour it with oil. If there is no device at hand that makes it easy to remove the tick, some cat owners try to do it with their hands. This is not the best idea - if you grab the body from both sides, you can easily crush the parasite. Then its contents will get into the wound. If the tick is infected, the cat will get sick.
Another mistake is to pour oil on it before removing a tick from a cat. Many people think that then the parasite will have nothing to breathe. The tick will actually suffocate under the oily film.
However, before he dies, he will regurgitate the contents of his intestines, which will end up in the wound. In this case, the risk of infection will increase several times. For this reason, you cannot use other oil-containing substances (gasoline, kerosene) to pull out the arachnid.
Danger to the animal
Everyone knows the danger these parasites pose. When an infected tick bites, it transmits the virus to its victim. The diseases they transmit are very dangerous for the animal and without proper treatment can lead to death. If you have removed it and want to find out whether it is infected, you need to put the bloodsucker in a hermetically sealed container and take it for tests within 2 days.
The animal’s symptoms do not appear immediately; the animal’s health should be monitored for a month. Symptoms vary depending on the disease, and quite severe allergic reactions can also occur.
The infected animal becomes weak, appetite decreases, and as a result, weight decreases, drowsiness, mucous membranes become pale, temperature rises, and the color of urine changes. If you have any symptoms, you should immediately contact your veterinarian.
The most common diseases include theileriosis, tularemia, and hemobartonellosis. Each of them is treatable, but it is very important to diagnose them in the early stages.
Prevention
There is no vaccination that can protect a cat from tick bites. Let's look at how to get rid of ticks in other ways. You can protect your animal using preventive measures (sprays, drops, collars, shampoos, etc.) and compliance with safety measures.
The most dangerous periods are considered to be April-June and August-October. The way ticks hunt is to “fall” onto the victim from high areas of grass, bushes, and tree branches. Ticks cannot jump, but they move from one animal to another when they come into close contact.
To minimize the risk of encountering ticks, you should limit your pet’s walks during periods of parasite activity, choose areas with artificial turf for walking, and also avoid contact with other animals.
Consequences of a bite
Are ticks dangerous for cats? The parasite's bite itself does not threaten the health of the pet; the danger lies in the pathogens that can get from it to the animal through the bite. The Ixodid tick can cause the development of diseases such as piroplasmosis, hemorrhagic fever, typhus and encephalitis, and borreliosis.
If treatment is not started on time, the infection can affect many body systems and internal organs of your furry friend.
If a cat is bitten by a tick, the consequences, symptoms and treatment depend on the type of infection. Some diseases only affect the cat’s immune system, it becomes lethargic and apathetic, but treatment in this case is 95% effective. Other diseases may not respond to treatment and lead to the death of the pet.
