Wednesday, May 4, 2011

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

As my cat laid on my lap last night and I was giving him a good massage, I felt a small nub behind his ear. I thought it was the growth he's had for several years behind his ear, but it was behind the other ear. My cat is about 15 years old, so I thought it was just another growth he's gotten in his older years.

I searched through is thick fur and saw something black, hard and almost a quarter inch long. I know he didn't have it long because my cat is almost always on my lap throughout the day and I subconsciously always give him pets, massages and hugs and kisses when he unknowingly to me, gets on my lap. He is truly a lap cat. It's like having an appendage to my body. He cannot be away from me not touching me in some way like leaning against me or on my lap unless he wants some serious nap time.

It scared me at first. I said, "What in the world?" I then realized it was a tick! How would he get a tick since now he doesn't go outside anymore since moving to this apartment? Well, sometimes he'll go out on the patio, maybe lay down there for a few minutes and then comes back inside. Sometimes when I clean his litter box, he'll sneak out the door and take a short walk, but quickly comes back to the apartment.

Yesterday I did let him out on the patio and he laid down in the sun for some sun time. I believe that's where he got the tick. There are trees that surround my patio and with the new plants out there now, the tick may have come from those sources. I guess he won't be going out on the patio and if he does, I'll just have to check him all over knowing there are ticks out there.

I ran to get a tweezers. I read that you should grab the tick's body and pull it out and the tick will let go. I've read if you leave the head of the tick in the animal, the site where the head of the tick remains will get infected. I grabbed the tick by it's hard body, threw it in the toilet, closed the top to the toilet bowl and flushed him down. I quickly then got the hydrogen peroxide along with the cat and flushed out the bite with the hydrogen peroxide.

I had a dog one time that had a tick and I believe I didn't know how to remove it properly and the head was left in, but with a needle I was able to get it out. I also flushed out the site with hydrogen peroxide.

In the high desert where I used to live, we had no ticks. Here, when the conditions are just right, there are.

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