A Michael Broad Blog
This is an underreported but a serious matter which I think should concern cat owners. The problem is that the ectoparasite, the tick, carries zoonotic diseases which they transfer to cats and dogs when they feed on the host animal. And these are serious diseases. The best known is Lyme disease. About a dozen …
The tick, an unpleasant ectoparasite, is back in the news. We all know about Lyme disease carried by ticks but this is different. It’s a disease called babesiosis and it can be fatal to people in 20% of sufferers. And it’s on the increase in America where the incidence of the disease has more …
Mary Dandruff – clearly a made-up name – has a Facebook page full of videos of domestic cats covered in objects such as beans or other fruits perhaps (I don’t know what they are). She claims that these cats are covered in ticks (a nasty blood-sucking skin parasite) and that the ticks need to …
Cat Parasites – does your cat or kitten have them? Prevalence In China, for instance, a study found that 41.39% of cats had intestinal parasites. 2.78% had toxoplasma-like oocysts. Hookworms were present in 3.06% of the cats (360 cat faeces were analysed). Toxocara cati was the most prevalent species of parasite detected in 17.78% …
There is a story in the Australian news media about the rise in tick paralysis in Gold Coast dogs and cats. I immediately discovered that it is an incredibly serious disease. Certain species of tick cause paralysis in their hosts. In the US tick paralysis is most common in the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky …
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 …
Do ticks cause pain in cats? The answer is, yes, but they cause pain indirectly because they transmit diseases to cats and it is these diseases which cause pain. The act of a tick attaching itself to the skin of a cat or dog is not in itself painful or is not discomforting enough …
A Japanese woman has died of a tick-borne disease believed to have been caused by bite from a stray cat. This is serious cat news from Japan. It is unexpected. It is perhaps the first case of this kind of mammal to human transmission. But it is not yet certain. It has been reported …
