Summer is an active time of year. School is out, the sun is high, and the weather is perfect for outdoor activities like camping and hiking. Your cat, just like the rest of your family, loves this time of year just as much as everyone else. But you want to remain vigilant, ticks and other bugs are super common during the Summer season. 

As many know, ticks can be difficult to remove leading to nasty diseases such as Lyme disease. So, as Summer approaches, let's follow the advice of Dr. Jennifer Kvamme, DVM, to see how you can help your cat avoid, or treat, ticks and have the furry best summer with FurryTail. 

How to Prevent Ticks from Biting Your Cat

Ticks are common in wooded areas. Areas with trees, lumber stacks, or dense brush can all be attractive homes for ticks. Unfortunately, these are the same types of places that cats like to roam most because it fulfills their need to climb and seek hidden, vantage points for hunting. 

Dr. Kvamme suggests keeping your cat indoors for the duration of tick season, but also acknowledges how that fights against a cat’s nature to patrol their territory. So, she offers some alternative ideas that might be more practical to most cat owners, “[Keeping] your lawn, bushes, and trees trimmed back will help reduce the population of fleas and ticks in your backyard. If there are fewer areas for these parasites to live and breed, there will be fewer of them to be concerned with.” 

If things are really out of control, you might consider hiring an exterminator to help weed out any colonies lurking nearby. Just make sure that the chemicals being sprayed are safe for your pets. Otherwise, you’ll need to keep them indoors until the toxicity has diminished. In the meantime, consider our Go Glamping Foldable Cat Backpack which you can use to explore with your cat while lawn treatments are settling in. 

How to Treat Cats When Bitten by a Tick

Dr. Kvamme suggests checking your cat regularly for ticks after they come back inside every day because “the longer the tick remains on the body, the greater the chance it has of transmitting a disease like cytauxzoonosis, or Lyme disease.” You’ll want to pay special attention to this because, according to the MSD Veterinary Manual “Many cats do not show noticeable signs, despite being infected.”

When you are checking your cat for ticks, follow Dr. Kvamme’s recommendations, “Look between the toes, inside the ears, between the legs, and around the neck.” This will help you spot ticks quickly, and you might even be able to stop them from fully engorging themselves into your cat. 

If you do notice a tick fully engorged in your cat’s skin, then it is best to seek a medical professional as quickly as possible. Trying to remove a tick yourself could cause additional problems. A medical professional will ensure that they’ve removed the entire tick, leaving no traces behind while keeping your cat as comfortable as possible. 

Best Cat Products to Fight Ticks

Fortunately, a large range of products are available to help you treat your cat, from shampoos and powders to oral medication and on-spot treatments. Preventative items such as repellents can be put on your cat’s fur or collar to help limit a tick’s interest in your pet. 

You can also consider using a brush to help check your cat. This can be especially useful if your cat has long fur that is difficult to look through or has dark fur that is similar to the color of a tick. 

Conclusion

Don’t let pesky ticks ruin Summer for you and your cat. All it takes is a few preventative measures and regular checking to ensure that your cat is enjoying the season while being as healthy as possible with Dr. Kvamme and FurryTail.