If you see something on your cat’s body that looks like a skin tag, it might not be one.

Ticks look pretty similar to skin tags when they are full of blood. When you can prominently see a tick on your cat’s fur, it means that it has been feeding on their blood for quite some time now and should be immediately removed. Identifying a tick on your cat’s body can be alarming, yet you have to make sure not to touch it or try to remove it barehanded. As harmful ticks are to cats, they can also bite humans and attach to the skin. Removing ticks from cat fur requires safety measures and vigilant handling.

Before we talk about ways of removing cat ticks, let’s talk about how you can identify cat ticks.

What are cat ticks?

Ticks are parasites that feed like parasites on cats and other animals. They bite and stay on the cat’s skin to suck blood. Ticks are of two types, soft and hard ticks. Soft ticks usually look like a raisin and are easily identifiable. It is rare to find soft ticks in a cat’s fur, though. On the other hand, hard ticks look like seeds but blow up to the size of a pea when they are full of blood.

Ticks are different in appearance from fleas and look like spiders. While you can remove fleas by combing, you must immediately remove cat ticks with an appropriate device.

How do identify ticks in a cat’s fur?

You may not have to put extra effort to find the tick as the tick saliva is highly irritating, and your cat would itch aggressively on the bite spot. On the other hand, sometimes your cat might not express the discomfort, and the tick may go unnoticed.

If you suspect ticks on your pet’s body, inspect them thoroughly to avoid harm. You can do so by going through your cat’s fur with gloved hands in a combing manner. For pets with long fur, make sections and observe deeply. Cat ticks are easy to spot as they do not move once attached to the skin. Do not forget to check the back of the ears and areas down there as ticks like dark places to stay unnoticed.

How to Remove Ticks from Cat Fur

When you identify a tick on a cat’s fur, it is crucial to remove it as soon as possible to avoid health issues. You can remove ticks with either tweezers or tick-removing equipment. Both have the same procedure, only that you can substitute tick-removing devices for tweezers.

What do you need?

• A pair of tweezers or a tick-removing device
• Latex gloves
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Antibiotic ointment

How to remove ticks?

Here’s how you can remove ticks from your cat’s fur with six easy steps:

Step 01: Wear latex gloves.

Step 02: Restrain your cat gently or distract them with a treat to keep them still while getting rid of the parasite.

Step 03: Once you secure your cat immovably, slowly move your fingers through the fur to locate the tick. You must confirm that it’s a tick and not a skin tag.

Step 04: Hold the tick with your tweezers/ tick-remover as close to the cat’s skin as possible. Firmly remove it from the fur, ensuring that you do not squeeze the tick.

Step 05: When you have removed the tick, put it in an isopropyl alcohol container to kill it.

Step 06: Apply antibacterial ointment on the tick bite to heal the wound soon.

How to prevent ticks?

Your cat might get ticks when they go out, and they require immediate care to avoid serious harm to your pet. Apart from keeping pets inside, you can prevent ticks by taking better care of your cat’s hygiene and washing them with good-quality cat shampoo. Other than the regular pet shampoo, check these tick shampoos. It can also help prevent ticks from staying in the fur.