How do you get rid of ticks?

Question

I have just moved to the country, whats the best way to get rid of these horrible little bloodsuckers on my cats!

Answer 1

you have two options.a long term option and a short term option depending if the problem is now.
the first is front line which is purchased from your vet you get 6 ampules or 12 in a pack you break the end off and put it on the scruff of your cats neck this also treats fleas in cats as well.for the front line to be effective you need to apply it once a month for ticks ,unlike if you are treating and preventing fleas it would be every two months.the second option is a tick puller you can purchase this from your vet or local animal store it is a hook like device,and it pulls the whole tick out not leaving he head.i would never advice pulling a tick out by your fingers.if you leave the head in you can get an infection and your cat would be very ill.the tick puller is an effective short term measure but for long term use front line.

Answer 2

There are special kinds of tweezers that are made to get a hold of ticks and pull them out. You can grab the tick very close to the skin with these, then pull the tick off; this way there is only a very small risk the head till break off and get infected. I use tick-tweezers I got at the drugstore that are used on humans too. The sooner you remove the tick, the less infecteous fluids are exchanged, the less risk of disease, so do not leave them to drop off by themselves.

Absolutely do NOT use alcohol, soap, fire or anything to make the tick let go! This causes the tick to 'throw up', it'll insert much more of its fluids into the cat's, dog's or your own bloodstream, actually increasing the risk of lyme disease or other diseases. This used to be a common advise but with a better understanding on how such diseases spread, doctors are now strongly advising against it!

I like Frontline a lot to keep new ticks from attaching, too, but you should remove any that are already there.

Answer 3

DO NOT try to burn tick's off with a lighter/cigarette - you'll singe your cat's fur, if you don't in fact set the whole cat on fire! Stupid people for suggesting this.

You can use frontline or stronghold - they will both make ticks drop off within 24 hours. Frontline spray will make the ticks drop off quicker, as with the drops you have to wait for it to spread through the skin first. You could get a vet to remove them for you with a special little fork - don't do it yourself in case the mouth parts are left behind.

Regular use of Frontline/Stronghold will prevent ticks in future.

Chalicec

Answer 4

Whatever you do, DO NOT pull the tick out! It will be very painful for your cat, and you won't get the head out anyways. Try drowning the tick with hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, or mineral oil. This will cause the tick to loosen its grip. Very gently use tweezers to extract the tick, and make sure you get the whole thing. Afterwards, disinfect the wound and keep it clean until it has healed.

Answer 5

I had a horrible time with ticks (and fleas for that matter) on my cat. Now I use Frontline regularly and it seems to work very well and is easy to use. The best way to remove existing ticks is to pull them off carefully using a pair of pliers.
You can always consult your veterinarian and see what he/she recommends. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Visit your vet and get some frontline or advantage, you can get some spot on as preventative for the future but in the mean time ask the vet to spray the ticks with frontline, this anaesthetises them and they will drop off and die. You can tweezer them off with special tick tweezers but be really careful not to leave the head in as this will cause major problems (infections etc)
Be really careful with using peroxide, alcohol etc as they are highly poisoness to a cat should he clean herself afterward.

Answer 7

Get a cotton ball and douse it in rubbing alcohol. Rub it all over on the tick and the skin around it. Then use your tweesers to pull it out carefully. The alcohol will sometimes make the tick start to back it's head out of the skin so you can get a better hold on it. Also, drop the ticks that you pull off in a small jar of rubbing alcohol. If I remember correctly, it kills them. You can start to add small amounts of fresh garlic to your cats food...ticks and fleas hate the smell and taste of it.

Answer 8

I got a small gadget from a pet store that hooks round the ticks and pulls them clean out I squash the tick and flush it down the toilet.I can't remember the name of it as I've had it for a while but if you ask I'm sure they would know what you wanted.

Answer 9

When the tick attaches itself to your cat, it burrows it's head under their skin to drink it's blood. The body remains outside and fills up with blood and then eventually drops off. With this in mind, I would not necessarily recommend trying to pull them off, because if you snap it and the tick's head remains in the cat's skin, they could become infected.

Your vet can treat ticks easily, or recommend a product for home use. My vet said that you can also try smearing vasoline around the base of the tick, this prevents the tick from being able to breathe and it drops off the cat quickly

Good luck.

Answer 10

Get the vet to remove it/them and then invest in some repellant called Stronghold, available only through the vet, which you put on the back of the neck. It keeps away fleas, ticks etc. I use it on my dogs and its excellent. Have found it to be superior to other treatments - one of my dogs picked up a terrible skin mite from foxes and nothing but Stronghold would sort the problem.