Cats and ticks

[Caspianberg]

We use frontline at the beginning of each month.
But they still seems to be getting loads at the moment. Literally outside 5 minutes, come in with a tick, I remove with tick I twister thing, back out, new tick.

Is it just a case of constantly removing them the next month or so?

If we miss a tick, should it just naturally fall off after 24/48hrs with the frontline?

It's only Frontline Plus that kills ticks I think - not the normal one. And yes, I think they should fall out if you miss some. I don't think there is any way to stop the cat getting them in the first place. However I'm certainly not an expert on ticks.

@thecatneuterer - yes it’s frontline plus. It has ticks on the front.

Maybe get a prescription treatment from the vet.

@Toddlerteaplease - like what? The frontline plus came from the vets

Advocate and profender?

I've just discovered that Advocate doesn't protect against ticks. It seems not many do tbh. We live near lots of long grass and I've been looking for something to replace the Advocate but found nothing apart from frontline plus, which has mixed reviews. There is also bravecto but it gave my cat breathing difficulties and she had to have very expensive treatment after having it so I'm also really anxious about trying anything new. Really wish we didn't have to put pesticides on our pets!

Thanks. Tbh I’m pretty happy with the frontline plus, they both have used April-October the last 4 years with no skin reactions and they haven’t ever had fleas.

The ticks must be falling off if hidden, but yes nothing seems to stop them in the first place. They seem to only be small ones the last week or so just on fur, not attached. We live at the edge of the woods so no avoiding really. I’m hoping it’s just April-June as usual.

our neighbour recommended a tick collar, but mine don’t wear a collar and go crazy when we attempted, but might work for someone else

Frontline and Frontline plus take up to 48 hours to kill ticks.
Newer products like Nexgard combo, Bravecto plus and credelio kill ticks in around 6-8 hours, but are prescription only products.
Neither advocate nor profender kills ticks.

We live near woods and long grass and it's never occurred to me to check for ticks. Now I'm thinking I should! Do you just look through their fur with your hands? Or is there a special tool?

It takes a day or two for it to kill the ticks and doesn’t stop them latching on. Ticks are so gross.

Because of how ticks hook their mouth parts under skin (lovely) they stick on even when dead. And the poison doesn't work immediately, anyway. Physical removals still necessary.

Having grown up in flea-infested households, & being mildly allergic (I get big persistent welts), I'm extremely grateful for such effective & relatively harmless pesticides.

Tool like this, Beecham, pet shops sell them. Hook & twist (either way). Some people are good at pulling ticks off by hand, too. It's worthwhile to do regular inspections, but mostly the ticks get on easily noticed face or other places where animal has less dense fur. Dogs get ticks, too.

@Beecham - you would probably know if yours had them. Poor cat1 came in with two on his ear in full view the other morning, 5 minutes he had been outside..

I will ask the vets if they have anything else. But yes we have those tick o twister tools also. And in my bag as toddler bound to get one this summer outside ( toddler is fully tick vaccinated here as so many they require for nursery)

@Caspianberg you can get tick vaccinated?! I've never heard of this...

@CreatingHavoc yup. It’s against tick born encephalitis
Its really common where we live, but I’m sure you can in uk as well

Bravecto works wonders for my cat up here in the Scottish Highlands with sheep wandering through the garden!
Ticks have been really bad this year though and the two best things people recommend are seresto collars and bravecto.
I spray my house with Indorex, which although doesn't specifically advertise that it kills ticks contains pemethrin which does kill ticks, so even if a live one comes in and drops off the cat it should be killed by the spray.
Xx

Fortunately we don't current have tick borne encephalitis in the UK. Sadly the loss of tick treatment from the pet travel scheme lead to the arrival of some other tick borne diseases in the UK so I guess it is probably only time before it arrives here.