What Does A Tick Look Like On A Cat

Keep in mind that ticks like to attach in dark and hidden areas of the skin so pay special attention to your cat s toes ears armpits and groin area.

They tend to attach themselves to areas around a cat s head neck ear and feet. They have a round oval or tear drop shaped body eight legs and a small head with two mandibles for feeding and holding tightly. They look like tiny spiders with a whiteish egg shaped body. Brushing also helps to remove them.

Hard ticks like the common dog tick have a hard shield just behind the mouth parts sometimes incorrectly called the head. Stroke your cat gently feeling for these bumps. Ticks are drawn to the dark hidden areas on the body. Unfed hard ticks are shaped like a flat seed.

Engorged paralysis ticks are typically grey or white in colour and rounded. Part the fur with your hands to get a closer look at your cat s skin. Ticks will typically look dark on the skin. Soft ticks prefer to feed on birds or bats and are seldom found on dogs or cats.

RELATED ARTICLE :

• what is the basic structural unit of the body
• what is the best cleaning solution for ceramic tile floors
• what is the best guard dog for a family

While a bite can happen anywhere similar to dogs ticks will be attracted to warm areas with more folds like your cat s head neck feet armpits and ears. Ticks are a kind of parasite. They come in many shades of brown gray black and tan. Tick species vary in size from as small as a speck of pepper to as large as a dime.

Soft ticks do not have the hard shield and they are shaped like a raisin. A tick will feel like a small bump on your pet s skin. Ticks bite beneath a cat s skin and suck blood back into their bodies. Unfed adults are about the size of an apple seed flattened and teardrop shaped.

Unfed ticks are tiny have eight legs and can be black brown red or tan but once they attach themselves to your cat they can swell up to the size of a pea as they fill with blood. The area may feel like a swollen bump. Ticks particularly well fed ones feel like small round bumps on the surface of the skin. They are typically brown in colour with a darker brown area around their mouthparts.

Run your fingers through your cat s fur. Starting at the head run your hands over the cat s body checking under the collar and using your fingers like the teeth of a comb thoroughly check all of the body making sure to look under the tail and around the anus. Ticks vary in size between 1mm and 1cm long depending on their age. Engorged ticks are noticeably larger than unfed ticks about 1 cm long.

RELATED ARTICLE :

• what colors should you not wear to a wedding
• what color shoes do you wear with a navy dress
• what did i do to be so black and blue

In longhaired cats you may need to delve into the layers of fur using your fingers like the teeth of a comb for a thorough check.