Ticks and Cats
If your cat goes outdoors it is a good idea to check them all over for ticks on a regular basis. Feel all over your cat’s body for any small bumps and take a good look to make sure your cat is tick free. Parts of the world that get a good freeze over the winter will see a reduction in tick populations, but if the first snow falls before the ground freezes ticks can easily hibernate all winter. Tick infestations tend to be common in the spring and fall when the weather is cool because your cat’s warm body can easily attract ticks. Ticks usually live in tall grass giving them a good vantage point to drop onto your cat’s body. A bite from a tick can be irritating by itself and can lead to skin infection, but ticks are also carriers of disease such as Lyme Disease, Babesia, Cytauxzoonosis and Mycoplasma. Lyme disease is rare in cats, but ticks can latch onto humans too and humans are very susceptible to Lyme disease.
Ticks come in a variety of sizes and colors. Some can be as large as a pea and easily spotted while others are very small. If you do see a tick, remove it with tweezers or a tick removal tool. When ticks latch onto your cat’s skin they imbed their head into the cat’s flesh so you need to make sure you get the entire tick out and kill it. Preventative topical medications are a good way to reduce ticks on your cat, but they are not 100% effective so still be sure to check your cat regularly!
Studies
Molecular evidence of Leishmania infantum in Ixodes ricinus ticks from dogs and cats, in Italy.
Lyme borreliosis: a review of data on transmission time after tick attachment.
Blood or water: how borrelia burgdorferi solves the dilemma for ixodes ricinus ticks.
Pathogens in ticks collected from dogs in Berlin/Brandenburg, Germany.
Dermatitis caused by ctenocephalides felis (cat flea) in human.
The role of cats in the eco-epidemiology of spotted fever group diseases.
