[3furbabies]

On Saturday I was petting my one cat Anna and found a pimple just behind her ear. I told bf about it and said just leave it. So yesterday I was petting her and the pimple felt like a flat skin tag. So I had bf look at it and it was moving and had legs! Yuck!!! I pulled the tick out with tweezers and killed it outside. I don't think Anna even felt it because she didn't move or make a noise when I pulled it out, it was definitely stuck in there though. There was a little red mark but I put poly sporn on it .

She is an inside only cat so the only thing I can think of is it went on my dog who is on flea/tick control and it jumped off of her... Anna likes to hunt bugs so it's very possible that's how she got it. I told a bunch of people about it and they all say we should be careful about getting Lyme disease now. I'm totally freaked out. It also says cats get get really sick from ticks. What am I suppose to watch for??

Thanks

 

[Mom of 4]

Call your vet. IF lyme disease is rampant in your area, he/she may want to start your cat on antibiotics. By treating early, it can usually be a shorter course of antibiotics.

 

[Jacq]

I'm not sure (there's no ticks here), but I thought only certain breeds of ticks carried Lyme disease?

When I lived in AR, the USA (10 years ago, mind) the dogs brought some ticks in and I was told they were only dangerous if they were brown with a white... dot or star or something.

 

[hoofmaiden]

There is really no need to panic. I get ticks on/in me all the time and I'm still alive. Around here cytauxzoonosis is the biggest tick-borne concern for kitties, but you guys don't have to worry about that (yet--eventually it will be everywhere, mark my words). In future, remove ticks ASAP when you find them--they have to be in for 24-48 hours to transmit disease so quick removal is the most important thing.

Frontline and other such things on the dogs work only to a point--ticks can come in on the dog but unless they BITE the dog they are not affected. And even after they bite it takes a while for them to die.

 

[3furbabies]

It was dark brown... Nice sure if there was a white dot on it but was definitely brown. I looked it up and I don't think this is the one with lyme disease. Yes, in the future I'll be sure to remove it ASAP now that I know what it is and what we look for. We will be checking the dog and all the cats daily nos

 

[Arianwen]

Be careful how you remove a tick. If part gets left in the flesh, it can turn nasty.

 

[doodlebug]

A tick passes diseases like Lyme via it's saliva. It must latch on, eat it's blood meal and when it releases that's when the saliva is passed into the host. A tick removed before the blood meal is complete cannot pass disease. Most cases of lyme disease come from the larvae stage not the adults. The larvae are extremely tiny, no bigger than the head of a straight pin. They are often not felt or seen...they have their meal and drop off completely unnoticed.

Frontline (and other spot on preventatives) will kill most fleas within 12 hours and ticks within 48. They do NOT need to bite your pet to be killed. In fact it takes most ticks 48 hours to latch on. During those 12 and 48 hour periods they can also drop off into the environment and then find a new host. So if you have a dog that can bring these parasites into your home, you should also be treating your cats. I just learned this the hard way and I'm currently battling fleas.

 

[hoofmaiden]

Frontline (and other spot on preventatives) will kill most fleas within 12 hours and ticks within 48. They do NOT need to bite your pet to be killed.

Are you sure about that? That is not what I was told (by a veterinarian who researches tick-borne diseases at a well-known vet school).

 

[hoofmaiden]

And yes, the larvae (what we call "seed ticks") are the worst. We've had a terrible year for them here--hot and dry, which they love. And they are simply impossible to find. They do tend to itch (only way I've found them on myself) but they are so miniscule that you cannot see or feel them absent knowing that they itch.

 

[Penny135]

My ex father inlaw and ex sister inlaw both got lyme diseasein the same year (3 years ago). They had never seen a tick on themselves so it must have come off in the shower or something. Horrible disease. Check the dog and cat regulary. Especially if you live in a wooded area. As far as fleas go, mine got them one year even though they were inside cats (all 3 of them). The vet said they can hop through screens in the window if they see a meal.

 

[doodlebug]

Are you sure about that? That is not what I was told (by a veterinarian who researches tick-borne diseases at a well-known vet school).

Well that's what Frontline claims, maybe in practice it's different. Jake came to me with one embedded tick that was huge and I took about 16 more off him (some slightly embedded, some not at all) in the first 3 days. They had told me they used Frontline Plus on him, I had also heard that they had to bite in order for it to work. I was horrified that I would be bringing that many ticks into my house over the course of the week and that he would get bitten by that many before they died. So I started researching and found this in their FAQ on their website:

Per the Frontline Plus website:

Fleas and ticks do not have to bite your pet for FRONTLINE Brand Products to work. FRONTLINE Brand Products kill fleas and ticks if they simply come into contact with your pet's haircoat. The fleas will die within 12 hours of contact with your treated pet1, and ticks will die within 48 hours2.

Even though he wasn't due for almost another week, I applied another dose. He picked up a couple more over the next 2 days and I haven't seen another once since. Obviously whatever the rescue used on him wasn't working.

 

[doodlebug]

I've heard that too. But it may also be because there is so much fake product out there. People buy it cheap on eBay, it doesn't work and word gets around that it's losing it's effectiveness when in reality it was imitation product to begin with. Once I put the new dose on him it worked just fine, so I have to wonder where the product that the rescue used came from.