Cat health

After Mylo's adventures in the Great Outdoors he did return in good health, albeit a bit hungry. However, he also brought back with him some little friends!! Hiding in the same place for 7 days and probably not moving from the one spot, undoubtlessly attracted quite a few ticks to hop on for some easy pickings. "In London? Never?!" I hear you cry, but regardless as to whether it be central london or the leafier suberbs, foxes are rife. And so are the critters they carry.

We didn't realise at first that he had become invaded and it was only 3 days later we spotted the first evil blighter latched on above his enucleation scar on his face. After removing one, over the next couple of weeks we persisted on finding more, the worst being the size of a grape!!! I was surprised to read on the internet that to remove a tick you shouldnt twist it off, shouldnt suffocate it with any substance (like vasoline or alcohol) and definately not burn it off. The most successful means of tick removal being to "catch it unawares" with a pair of tweezers or tick removal tool, grasp it as close to the skin as you can (beneath the swollen body) and whip it out as firmly as possible. Ticks have a nasty habit of digging in deeper and latching on tighter if they suspect they are going to be devilishly separated from their host. Suffocating them can cause them to regurgitate saliva back into the cat, which contains all sorts of bacteria which can make a cat ill. Removing them incorrectly can result in the body coming away but the head and pincers being left inside the skin, which can lead to infection and reaction.

So why not just leave them on till they drop off you may wonder? I certainly wondered this when reading about all the things that could go wrong whilst attempting to (especially when I looked at their blood filled bodies that just made me want to gag let alone actually touch one). The longer a tick is left on, the more chance of it giving your pet horrid infections. Once you know that, you know you cant just leave it. And the thought of it dropping off and crawling somewhere unbeknown, only for you either to squish blood everywhere (euuuu), to jump back on your kitty for another meal at a later date, or even worse onto you would be enough to put anyone off just leaving it!

I have to say it isn't easy to remove them, you have to be confident and not squeemish, and even then sometimes the body just comes away. Then you must be determined enough to sit there and poke about the wound with tweezers or a needle to get the head out. You'll know when you have got the head out as you'll see a little black blob with a pair of tiny pincers. However, while you are attempting all this, you may have one annoyed growling, mewling, struggling cat. Well, suppose you cant blame them really. Horrible!

After the trauma of removing it you may want to just disinfect the wound. You might also notice that a lump forms where the tick once was, which eventually crusts and forms a scab on. I found this with Mylo and promptly whisked him off to the vet. She pulled off his scabs (euu again!) and declared "aaa will heel much better now". I was provided with a tube of antibiotic/steroid cream and told to apply if i spotted any more new lumps which would take away any itching and prevent infection. I have since noticed loads more lumps other than the ones we had removed ticks from. Maybe he had lots more that we werent aware of? Am hoping they will go down, although the vet did say he had an unusual reaction to the tick bites and the lumps were like scar tissue.....So may look at changing his flea treatment to Frontline from Advantage as apparently it is more effective at preventing ticks than fleas. But then again its not like I am planning on him going out again to top himself up!!!!!