Paralysis tick occurring exclusively on the eastern coastline of Australia is a lethal parasite causing paralysis and eventually death in pets. Therefore, pet parents should be very careful about the health of their four-legged kids and should inspect their coats daily for this parasite. Should they fail in this, they have to face tragic consequences. If caught early,the parasitic infection can be cured,set an appointment for cat vaccinations at Gordon Vet Hospital as they have effective paralysis tick treatments for cats, for example. Detecting the tick at the earliest can save your pet’s life. Here are some tips.
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How to Identify Paralysis Tick?
Understand that the paralysis tick looks different based on if it is engorged with its host’s blood or not. Remember that upon being engorged, the tick will look light grey or grey to bluish in colour.
Removing Paralysis Tick
You have to take care while removing paralysis tick from your pet’s body. Never try to squeeze the body of the tick. Instead focus on removing it by its head where it has inserted in the pet’s skin. Get a tick remover which is a device resembling a fork which you can slide under the tick’s head and easily remove it without squeezing its body.
What to Do After You Find a Tick?
After you find a tick, you should immediately remove it and take your pet to the vet at once. But before taking the pet to the vet, you can also try to check if there are more ticks on your pet’s body, as the pet can be infested with multiple ticks at a time. Remember to stop giving food or water to your cat because the tick poison can hamper swallowing and that can result into choking. You should hurry up in taking the cat to the vet as the longer you take, the worse will be the effect of the poison.
Protective Measures
Protective measures available for paralysis tick until recently were products that needed a fortnightly or a monthly topical application, tablets, collars, sprays and washes. In 2015, a new innovative category of parasiticides was introduced in the Australian market that delivers up to 4 months protection from paralysis tick and 3 months protection from fleas. Pet parents are recommended to seek advice from their vets on the best solution for tick prevention for their pets depending on the pets’ medical history. While administering the medication, they should also consider the correct dosage for their pet’s weight. Getting yourself educated about the action of the drug is also a good idea.
Precautions
An important thing to remember that never use any tick control product meant for dogs on your cats. This is because some of these products for dogs are extremely harmful for cats and can even kill them.
It is also important to remember that no product is 100% successful in stopping paralysis ticks from getting attached to pets or feed on them. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential that you keep on searching your pets’ coat everyday and remove ticks immediately if you find any.
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Treatment for Tick Poisoning in Cats
Treatment given to your cat depends on symptoms and their severity; so, it may differ from case to case. The intensity of the treatment however will depend upon the severity of the symptoms.
- In case of difficulty in breathing, the cat may be given oxygen.
- To save the cat from dehydration, IV fluids may be given.
- The cat will almost definitely be hospitalised and antiserum will be administered to treat the parasite. This serum is obtained from dogs made purposefully super-immune through repeated encounter with paralysis tick.
- Cats improving from tick paralysis should be kept as free from stress as possible.
Take advice of expert vets like that inhttps://gordonvet.com.au about how to remove paralysis tick from your pet’s body and what measures to take immediately to save the valuable life of your pet.