My cat keeps getting horrible looking insects stuck on his head?

Question

My cat likes lazing around just about anywhere, but mostly in the flower beds. For several weeks now he has had these horrible looking blood sucking insects stuck to his head. He gets about 4 or 5 a week. My husband has to pull them out - they have wiggly legs, their body is grey and the more blood they suck the bigger their body gets - gross eh! We dab infected area with disinfectant, but am a bit worried. Could they be causing damage? They don't seem to annoy him at all. Has anyone else encountered this problem with their cat picking up parasites from outdoors? Thanks

Answer 1

They are ticks, and they can spread disease. There are many available products from the pet store or vet to repel them. Flea & tick collars, pills, etc.

Answer 2

Hi ali, your cat has ticks! Horrible little bleeders they are and your husband is doing the cat no favours by pulling them off --- he may be leaving the head inbedded in the cats skin and thats dangerous, it will cause an infection at that site! Ticks will jump on the ' host ' and immediately bury itself, head first, under the skin. Whats left outside is the body and the more the tick sucks the blood, the bigger the tick will grow. Once its engorged with blood, it will fall off and live off the blood it has until its empty and the cucle starts again! you can buy a tick remover from a good pet shop which, if used correctly, will remove the body of the tick, along with the head! Its vital that the head is removed because if its left under the skin, it will die and cause no end of problems! Until you can get to the shop, and if theres ticks on your cat now, get some cotton wool, soak it in neat vodka or whiskey and liberally douse the tick with the alcohol, moving it aside with tweezers so that the alcohol goes into its head. This will encourage it to un-bury itself from the cat and if it doesn't un-bury itself, it will at least loosen the tick enough to remove it safely, head and all! Discourage your cat from laying there but, knowing how bloody stubborn they are ha ha, put pots of plants that cats dislike, your garden centre will be best able to advise you on those. Good luck.

Answer 3

Ticks are nasty litle insects and can cause the unpleasant Lymes disease. They are too firmly entrenched for a flea comb to do any good. You should not pull them out, if the head is left, it can give your cat nasty problems. Frontline is a good preventative for ticks and fleas. Anything biting the cat for the next month dies. You can also get it without prescription now.
My vet also sells a little gadget (wasn't that expensive) that you can hook around the ticks neck, twist it around and literally unwind the tick out of the host.

Answer 4

Yes these are bloodsucking ticks and they can transmit diseases to your cat,,, They do not jump but just lie in the long grass waiting for a host.. You have to be careful removing them. use tweezers, as if you leave part behind it can become septic...A treatment called Frontline, which is a pipette of liquid applied to the back of the cat's neck will eradicate them and stop them breeding on the cat, but of course if the cat gets more in the garden it will be necessary to treat the animal again Frontline is available from your vet or you can buy it on line much cheaper...I paid just over £11 for 3 pipettes, each treatment is usually good for a month. So for one cat 3 pipes would do for 3 months...They are also effective against fleas. and midges.

Answer 5

If they are round and flat, that sounds like ticks. There are flea and tick products you can get for your cat, like the topical treatments you get from the vet, and these do a pretty good job of repelling ticks. Ticks usually live in tall grasses, so mow any grasses or weeds in your yard. Not much you can do about the flower bed, if that is where the ticks are.

Answer 6

They are ticks. My dog used to get them all the time. As other people have said get some frontline, that will help. Do you live in the country, we are near sheep and I'm sure the ticks came from them. Another answer mentioned using vaseline to smother the ticks, another trick, although you have to be careful, is to light a match, blow it out and quickly burn the tick - it literally goes 'ouch' and withdraws its head, allowing you to remove it.

Answer 7

It sounds like you cat has ticks, you need to get some stuff from your vets that will kill them, if you pull them out yourself you have to make sure you get all of it out because it burrows into the animal (dogs get them to) and it is really hard to get the head out as well but you can get some tick killing stuff from the vets, I brought a kitten last week that was covered in them and the vet game me Frontline spray to kill them and within 24 hours they were dead

Answer 8

They may not be ticks. My cats are getting them too. They have a different body shape than ticks- longer, and they are more prevalent in the Fall, whereas ticks are most prevalent in the Spring. A vet told me they are a parasite that mainly bothers wild rabbits, but I can't remember their name.

Answer 9

These sound like ticks - you actually need to buy a tick remover as just pulling them off leaves their heads in your cats skin! Also you should be wearing gloves as ticks can carry lyme disease x

Answer 10

They sound like wood ticks. Make sure you flush them down the toilet because they can get out of garbages... they breathe out of the top of their body so you can put peanut butter on them and they'll suffocate. It's a little less painless for the kitty than pulling them off. It won't hurt kitty... but it's best to check him well every night and get them off.