Ticks

[Tengu]

Ticks in January.

On my cat. I have just removed FOUR.

(very grateful for tick removers).

Isnt it too cold? Where are they coming from?

Its lucky he lets me handle him. He is a feral and fearful of most people.

 

[Dogoak]

Ive had the same up here before, they are around all year, just less active in the winter.

 

[Broch]

It's been a mild winter so far - sub-zero temperatures have only lasted a few days and even then only in the single digits.

 

[Toddy]

He's most likely brushing against grasses that have the ticks sitting waiting, along a trail perhaps where other animals pass too. That said, the reports say that there are ticks in suburban gardens now.

Where does he go ? The sheep/deer tick seems to be the one that's spreading most rapidly across England, and will feed from dogs, etc., but there are others that seem to be more specific to other hosts like birds or bats.

You can buy stuff from the Vet that's easy to apply to a cat to kill ticks and fleas if they try to bite. Not cheap though, and not every cat's happy about the stuff, but it works.

M

 

[Tengu]

Two more...in his ear....mercifully he is still friends with me.

And more on the outside...still small. I will wait until they area bit more grabble

Where has he been? Scotland?

 

[Toddy]

When I was little, and regularly played on hillfarms, in among bracken, long grass, etc., camped along lochsides, etc., we never had ticks. Not once.
The first tick I ever got was up Loch Aweside when we camped beside the river to do white water kayaking in my late teens. Never saw another one until nearly twenty years later.

You know what changed ? they stopped the use organophosphates to dip sheep, and the deer numbers kind of exploded.

Suddenly every where folks go now they have to be aware of ticks, even in suburbia.
I dread finding them in my garden, but if I do, I'm going to find someway to kill them off. Even if I have to buy quail and keep them for a couple of seasons. It'd be worth it to be tick free.

M