Dotty0 Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 HelloBit of a strange one this I'm afraid and hope you are not eating. Here goes. Was stroking my 5 month old, long haired tabby cat and felt a lump on his back. On closer inspection, found a baked bean sized lump attached to his skin. It appeared greyish blue in colour. I gently moved it to see if I could persuade it to come off, but failed. After trawling through countless websites, trying to find out what it was, I gave up, defeated. This morning, I found another lump, this time on the base of his ear and a quarter of the size to the original. However the large one had dropped off and had started climbing, yes climbing the wall. It totally freaked me out and on closer inspection, I noted it had legs. I managed ot pull off the smaller one and this too had legs. Neither of these 'things' appeared to bother my kitty, but now I just want ot know what they are.Any clues?Thanks, Dotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viv Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 These sound like ticks , yuk.Hold your cat firmly exposing the tick. Heat up the tip of an old pair of tweezers in a flame, and clamp tick firmly. The heat will make it let go and you can them flambe the tick. It won't hurt your cat and is quicker , cheaper and probably less stressful for your kitty than a trip to the vets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opalienne Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 You can buy special tick removers at the vets. They are like small hooks which you use to pull them out. But make sure to get hold of the bit that is stuck into the cat - if you leave this in the site can become infected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viv Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Yes, you need to get definitely need to get rid of the head which will hold on, even if the body comes away which is where the heat of the tweezers works really well, it would make me scream! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotty0 Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Oh my gosh, that's so disgusting. Thanks for the info. But are ticks really that big. Where on earth do they come from and do they breed on the kitties. I have another cat, is he likely to have them. I do use front line on the cats, should that stop them.Many thanks again. I think!Dotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 The ticks where you live come mainly from the Roe Deer and they are only that large when they are gorged as in FULL OF BLOOD. The insect itself is quite tiny, it's its stomach that expands.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotty0 Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Chris I do live very close to a forest and I understand form my neighbours that they have roebuck there. Thing is my cats don't leave the garden, so how on earth did they get them. We certainly haven't seen any deer. Are you all quite sure that ticks get that big, I mean baked bean sized and they had a kind of grey/blue shell.Dotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 That's them alright, think of the colour of your veins only more grey. I get them on me quite frequently - hazard of the sort of things I get up to, worst of all they travel to the warm spots before "digging in". The roe deer come out of the woods at night and roam around in the fields, the ticks drop of when they are well feed and when hungry jump on to the next passing hot body, whether that be cat,dog or human. I am still trying to figure out their place in the scheme of things!!! I suppose birds eat them, that's something.Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 There was a programme on them once on television and it said they can sit and wait on a leaf or something for ages, I can't remember if it was weeks or months, but ages for someone or something live to come along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&S Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Hi DottyWe have six cats and two dogs, on occasions our cats have ticks but we find Frontline works very well as long as you administer it on your aniamls each month on a regular basis. Whilst the tick will still attach to the animal they do fall off dead after 48 hours without any due concern to the cat. We do try and remove them before they attach themselves and destroy them, you need to use a sharp implement as stamping on them doesn't work. Good luck and yes they can be the size of a baked bean when full with blood but as long as you have fronlined the animal you should be able to keep them under control. Sharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotty0 Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Thanks to you all.Have found a picture on the web. They are so disgusting. My kids love the cats coming in to them in the morning to wake them up. Well not anymore. This is the first time we've had pets and so its all a bit new. I've read that the large one is the female and the smaller one the male, that figures. Anyway, do they breed whilst, you know on board?ThanksDotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Coupling takes place "of the host" and the eggs are laid on the ground if that makes you feel any easier.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotty0 Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Gulp. Maybe. There was me worrying it might be something like a growth. Shows just how stupid you can be.Dotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hastobe Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 All I can say is eeeeeuuuuuuuuuuwwww and ack They sound gross!!Hastobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agenais Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Apparently they can live for months, off the host, just waiting, lurking for heat and movement..............Similar to fleas, they can lay dormant between floorboards etc, in empty houses, waiting for new activity, we had that treat when we moved into our house recently. Our house puss cats had never ever had such things, most disconcerting, more spray and frontline has been used than you can shake a stick at.........The vets said to frontline every two weeks when the weather is hot, once a month is not enough. Frontline only lasts two weeks against ticks anyway, supposed to last 4 against fleas. Not sure if that was a ploy to get us to buy more...........I was in there every two weeks, regardless, hopefully all sorted now. Ticks are certainly large when they are gorged on blood, used to get them on us when walking in Scotland. Off to have another shower now..........no more talk of crawly hoppy bugglies [:#] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suze01 Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Apparently they can get quite big. I remember seeing a guy being interveiwed on TV who had just come back from travelling, was in the shower washing himself down and thought OMG I've got three testicles [+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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