Cat with tick, worried, advice please

[givemesteel]

My cat got a tick on the side of his mouth (about 3mm long so I'm hoping it's not been there long).

We've pulled it out (tweezers, didn't have a tick removal device, which I'll now get) but I think there is a bit of head in there so will take him to the vet tomorrow morning.

I feel upset about it, as he definitely got it from the garden (only is ever in our garden), which means we've got ticks in our garden.

How common is this? We live in an area with woods and deer but it's not really rural (suburban Surrey).

I'm worried about lyme disease, how concerned should I be?

I could be wrong but I think ticks are pretty much everywhere that there's grass etc and they live on rodents and animals that the cats could come into contact with.I think those tics that carry Lyme are more likely to be concentrated in rural areas though obviously not exclusively. I live rurally and I remove ticks from my cats fairly regularly even when they've been treated. I'm less concerned about catching anything from the cats' ticks than I am from being outside in the grass or ferns etc but even then I've never had a tick bite. I think if you're properly out in the countryside it's sensible to take precautions but I'd imagine you are at low risk. The thing to look out for is a bite that presents as a bullseye and get medical advice straight away.

OK thanks Ellen hopefully I'm overreacting but I just don't like the idea of ticks being in our garden when I've got small dc.

We moved here from London recently so ours the first time we've encountered these problems.

I totally get it, they are absolutely horrible things and that's even without the Lyme disease. You can probably get some info online about locations of local/regional Lyme concentrations. If your area should be at high risk it should be flagged up. There's also guidelines on how to safely remove ticks to reduce the chances of infection, as long as you catch the buggers quickly.

Over the years I've become so blasé about tick removal - and good at it on kids, rabbit and cats - that I think it should go on my CV as an 'additional skill'. But where we live is not that much at risk for Lyme disease - if it were I'd be less laid back.
Some flea treatments also offer limited tick protection for a few weeks, which means Archcat is only susceptible to bites 10 days a month or so. Would that be an option for you? And then get a decent pair of tick tweezers and learn how to extract safely!

You're much more chilled out than me Arch, I'd have a minor heart attack of I found a tick on one of my kids!

I think our area is medium risk for Lyme disease according to the website but this doesn't give me much of a benchmark (eg dues that mean 1 in 100 ticks carry LD or 1 in a 1000...?).

Vet said he'd not come across LD working in the area for a number of years, fingers crossed.

By yes yes, to the tick tweezers, going on to amazon now! Thanks

I'd really recommend the O'Tom tool rather than tweezers, @givemesteel.
www.amazon.co.uk/OTom-Twister-Silicone-Assorted-Colors/dp/B0037DD27U/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=tick+removal+tool&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1526592131&sr=8-2