How to Find and Remove Ticks on Cats
Cat ticks are spider-like, egg-shaped, blood-sucking arachnids. They have six to eight legs, depending on their life stage (larval ticks start with six legs but develop eight after molting) and range in size from about 1mm to 1cm long.
Tick larva, also called seed ticks, are tiny six-legged offspring that require blood meals to develop into adults. Adult ticks look a bit like small spiders. Ticks live in tall grasses, wooded areas, or in decaying leaves and debris.
Ticks don’t fly or jump, but instead climb onto or drop onto your cat’s coat when they brush past the tick’s area. If they fall or climb onto your cat, they will attach themselves and feed on their blood. Once they have had enough, they drop off. They are rarely dangerous to cats but can transmit diseases such as Lyme Disease (rarely in cats) and cytauxzoonosis when they bite, so it is recommended to remove them as soon as possible and use preventative treatment.
The Center for Disease Control recommends checking your cat daily for these pesky little pests. If your cat likes to frequent the great outdoors, or even just goes out on the patio for some sunshine, they need to be checked regularly for ticks. It is very common for ticks to latch onto a cat as they slink under bushes, through the dead leaves. Let’s discuss how to find, remove, and prevent these blood sucking parasites from being an issue for you and your cat.
How to Check a Cat for Ticks
To find a tick on your cat, gently run your fingers through their fur, feeling around for little lumps or bumps. If you notice something, part the fur and examine the area visually. You may see a little black, brown, or grey dot, almost like a small skin tag. You may see the body or even the body and legs.
Tick sizes vary depending on how much they are engorged and how long they have been feeding. Tick bites can become irritated little red welts that cause irritation, itchiness, or pain.
Ticks like dark moist environments, so be sure to check the armpits, groin area, and between the toes very thoroughly. They also tend to commonly attach to the head or face, in the ears, or under a collar. Be sure to check all the crevices of the ears, as there are many hiding places for the tick, and you can even look in their mouth or gums.
How to Remove a Tick from a Cat
So, what happens if you find a tick on your cat? You need to remove the tick as soon as possible. You can call your veterinarian if you are not comfortable removing the tick; Usually, a nurse or technician can remove it for you. But it’s not a hard skill to learn, and best to do so because you never know when you may find one of these blood sucking parasites that need to be removed.
You want to try to remove the tick in its entirety: Body, head, and mouth parts. If the mouth parts or head are left behind, it could cause continued irritation.
To remove the tick, you will need:
- A helping hand
- A tick removing tool, which works very well, or a pair of fine tipped tweezers
- Antiseptic, rubbing alcohol or soap and water
- A pair of latex gloves
- A container that can be sealed in order to dispose of the tick.
What’s next?
Step-by-Step Guide
- First, gather all your supplies so that they are at arm’s length.
- Put your gloves on.
- Have your helper calming hold the cat still.
- Feeding them treats may help.
- If you are using a tick removal tool, gently press the “forked” part under the tick, as close to the skin as you can get. Do not pull straight out, this could cause the tick to break apart and leave the mouth parts embedded in the skin. Instead, turn the tool clockwise multiple times until the tick releases its grasp from your cat’s skin. If you are using tweezers, grab onto the tick as close to your cat’s skin as possible. Pull straight upward in one steady motion with steady pressure. Do not yank, or jerk, or twist, as you can cause the tick to break up and leave the mouth parts behind.
- Once removed, place the tick into the container and seal it. You may want to bring it to the veterinarian for identification purposes, as different ticks transmit different diseases. Or you can hold onto it for a few weeks just in case your cat starts to show symptoms of illness.
- Now you can clean the bite area with the antiseptic, or a rubbing alcohol wipe, or soap and water. Do not clean the bite if it is near your cat’s eyes!
- Clean the tick removal tool or tweezers with rubbing alcohol. Remove your gloves and wash your hands thoroughly.
What Not to Do
There are a few old folk remedies regarding tick removal that should be avoided:
- Do not burn the tick out with a lit match.
- Do not smother the tick in petroleum jelly to suffocate it.
- Do not crush the tick, as this can cause it to break up and leave the mouth parts in the skin.
When a tick is burned, squeezed, or irritated, it can regurgitate its stomach contents into your cat’s bloodstream. This increases the risk of transmitting tick-borne illnesses.
What to Do After Removing a Tick from a Cat
Once you have removed the tick successfully from your cat, you will need to monitor the bite site for a few weeks. Look for redness, swelling, itchiness, or other signs of infection. Feel the skin to make sure it’s not hot and irritated or painful.
Over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for any symptoms of tick-borne diseases, such as:
- Lethargy
- Fever
- Lack of appetite
- Joint pain
- Stiffness
- Lameness
Inform your veterinarian that you removed a tick, so they can note it in your cat’s medical records. This way, if symptoms appear over the following weeks, they have an indication as to why. This is also why you want to hold onto the tick after removal.
How to Prevent Ticks on Cats
There are a variety of preventative actions that can be taken to avoid this situation at all. First, you can always keep your cat indoors. This is still not 100% effective, as we can carry ticks into the house on our clothing, but it’s as close to foolproof as you can get. Otherwise, be sure to keep your yard mowed short. Clean up all decaying leaves and debris from under shrubs and brushes. And try to keep your cat away from wooded areas or places with tall grasses. You can use a pet-friendly tick repellent for your yard as well. Other than environmental control, there are also several preventatives that you can obtain for your cat:
Monthly Topical Treatment
are all monthly topical treatments you apply to the skin between your cat’s shoulder blades. All are veterinarian-recommended and proven to kill adult ticks.
Bravecto is a topical that lasts for 12 weeks.
Oral Tick Preventive
There is also the option of an oral tick preventative. Credelio is a chewable tablet that kills most common cat ticks within 72 hours of administration. It lasts for 30 days and can be given monthly.
Flea and Tick Collar
You may prefer a tick repelling collar instead. Seresto collars are a great option if you are looking for long lasting prevention. It is a collar that is effective for eight months.
If you choose to use a preventative on your cat, you should still perform daily tick checks just to make sure they are clean and healthy. Removing them promptly, if found, will help reduce the risk of disease transmission. And if they are bitten, you should consult with your veterinarian about the additional treatments or recommendations they prefer.
