Cat Exposed To Ticks

[ArtNJ]

My former indoor/outdoor cat was converted maybe 6 months ago, but will likely never stop escaping now and then. He is very vigilant about it and will exploit any moment of weakness. Wherever he goes, there are ticks. Today, I got distracted by an amazon package when returning from a job, and that moment was enough. He came back two hours later. I put him up on the table, and examined him, and ran my fingers all over. I removed two ticks, both basically on the surface of the fur. Obviously, tick meds just dont kill fast enough when there are ticks crawling on the fur and the cat wants to jump right on you. I shut the doors to the family bedrooms, and have not allowed him on my lap in the 3-4 hours since then. He gave me a tick once, and only the bullseye rash saved me from untreated Lyme. A major reason for his conversion to indoor only.

Anyway, just wondering if you all have a process you go through in situations like this. Should I be using a comb rather than my fingers? Agree that I should not allow him on my for say 12 hours?

 

[jen]

So I believe it takes 36-48 hours for a tick to transmit disease to a cat after attaching. I also believe it takes up to 36 hours for a product like Revolution Plus to work to kill parasites. So keeping on a monthly flea and tick prevention, would be a good idea.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

instead of just leaving it for a few hours why don't you take him a dawn bath?

 

[ArtNJ]

instead of just leaving it for a few hours why don't you take him a dawn bath?

Had to google it, didn't know that was a thing. I do see one ref to ticks, but its mostly about fleas, and even there petmd is less than enthusiastic although they admit it can have its uses. Even if it works, I'm not sure how practical it is since he will likely continue to escape every week or two, as he is really really good at it.

I don't think I've seen tick sacs form on him since I've been hand checking him after escapes, but then again, this is really the first escape this year where I've checked and found loose ticks. Earlier, during the unexpected warmth, I didn't check, wasn't yet giving him meds (he is supposed to be indoor only now) and he had a tick sac. So I put him back on tick meds. I guess we will see if a thorough hand-check is sufficient after he has been out a few hours.

 

[jen]

Couple things I wanted to mention, there is a device I tell everyone to pick up called a Tick Tornado. It is under $5 from most pet stores or online and it safely removes ticks.

Also with Dawn dish soap... it stuns the fleas allowing them to be drowned, rinsed down the drain or combed off the cat. I don't like to bath my cats but I will make a bowl of sudsy water with the Dawn and dunk the flea comb in and brush through the cat, then dunk back into the soapy water. Works pretty well but doesn't directly kill them and doesn't do anything for prevention.

 

[ArtNJ]

We have never had fleas on our cats thankfully. Well aware of the various devices like Tick Tornado, they are great. Every pet store tends to sell a different brand, I had a great one years ago and now have a plastic piece of junk, but they are all the same idea and get the job done when the tick attaches and forms a sack. I am more concerned about loose ticks because this cat love-love-loves the lap. One bullseye rash was enough, thought I solved this problem by making him indoor only, but he is a flipping Houdini at the door. When I think about it, its easy enough, but when you are going out and the cat is a sufficient distance away, it seems safe. Then I'm all like "oh, the Hello Fresh box is here, food in there, shouldn't sit, I'll grab it" and Usain CatBolt is gone before I've finished bending