This is unpleasant: a tabby rescue kitten who acquired a blanket of gorged ticks all over his head. It is horrendous to look at. I hope you find it acceptable to view. There is a video but I am not allowed to present it here. The video screenshots do it justice. The vet nurse or vet (we are not told) patiently removes all of them using tweezers. She plucks them off one by one. I am sure the kitten was mightily relieved when he was finally free of these disgusting blood sucking parasites.
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She works well but I’d like to add some pointers about removing ticks with tweezers. As you can see, she is removing them individually. The blood of ticks can be dangerous to people (possible infection) and therefore removal should be carried out carefully. The ticks should not be crushed or squeezed with fingers. The veterinarians suggest that you wear disposable rubber gloves.
They say that when the tick is not attached to the skin tweezers can be used without problems. However, when their head is buried into the skin you have to be careful not to pull the body out but leave the head behind. To avoid this, you should grab the tick firmly with tweezers as close to the cat’s body as possible without pinching the skin.
A drop of alcohol or nail polish applied to the tick may help to release it. The whole head and mouthparts should be removed. If they are left in, they can cause a local infection.
The tick can be placed in a jar or plastic dish with a little alcohol. It should be sealed and disposed of in an outdoor garbage can. You should not flush ticks down the toilet because they may survive and end up infecting another animal.
Afterwards the tweezers should be thoroughly washed with hot water and alcohol.
Sometimes it can be useful to ask a veterinarian to identify the species of tick which may help to verify whether it carries a disease. If by chance the head and mouthparts do remain embedded in the skin that area may become inflamed due to an infection. The way to deal with this is to is to dab antibiotic ointment on the area. If that doesn’t resolve the matter you should see a veterinarian.
Ticks can attach themselves to any part of the cat’s skin but they are normally found around the ears and between the toes. In this instance they are all over his forehead between the ears. They also on the side of the face. This is a severe infection and they do happen. Sometimes there may be hundreds of ticks all over a cat’s body. Some ticks are removed by a cat when they groom.
During feeding the tick delivers its saliva into the cat which is how disease is transmitted from ticks to cats. The best-known disease that they transmit is Lyme disease which can be very serious. Antibiotics are the treatment for early-stage Lyme disease.
August 5, 2022: this is an update because I’ve been told in a comment that these are not kicks being removed by a veterinary nurse but they are beans which have been glued to these cats and then removed in order to give the impression that they are ticks and to try and make an interesting video for Facebook and YouTube. You can see in the photographs below that the woman uses other objects which look like skin parasites to generate interest. And of course, when she removes them, it looks like she is removing ticks with tweezers. But this is not the case apparently. Readers should be notified of that fact but it has only come to my notice recently as the images that I originally published looked genuine. They are intended to look genuine and to deceive readers and viewers.
Please click on the link below to read more on this disturbing story:
‘Mary Dandruff’ glues parasite-like objects to cats claiming they are ticks
This is a form of animal cruelty and the videos should be removed from YouTube and FB being in breach of their policies.
Please click on the links to see the photos.
- Beans stuck on a cat and removed to make a video that looks as if they are ticks. Screenshot.
- Beans stuck on a cat and removed to make a video that looks as if they are ticks or other strange parasites. Screenshot.
SOME MORE ON PARASITES:
Once again those photos are not ticks but glued on beans, they supposedly drug the poor cat and glue assorted dried beans on these poor animals and people,this happens to be the latest internet thing in developing countries to get likes and subscribes from people who cannot tell the difference. Here’s the Facebook page showing this abuse https://www.facebook.com/marydandruffvideos
Thanks Cheryl. I’ll investigate.
That first photo are not ticks but glued on beans,this happens to be the latest internet thing in developing countries to get likes and subscribes from people who cannot tell the difference,like yourself. Here’s the youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIbgzyQdYfgVDOmmyrG9-Yw