Other External Parasites In Cats00:00

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We talked about fleas , how can fleas affect cats and what diseases can they transmit to cats. But cats can be affected by other external parasites also.

Fleas are the most common skin parasites found on cats, but cats can also be affected by ticks and by mites.

Ticks are found on cats less frequently than on dogs, as cats tend to groom themselves more then dogs. In most cases they only cause local irritation and localised infections. In most cases ticks cause local irritation and localised infections. Once a tick manages to attach on cats skin, it can feed on their blood for several days, potentially transmitting diseases in the process. This happens quite rarely, but it can happen. Ticks can transmit to cats 3 diseases that might seriously affect their health. Depending on the area where you live, ticks can transmit to your cat: Cytauxzoonosis that is an infection that affects cat’s blood cells. Other two diseases that can be transmitted to cats by ticks are ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Ehrlichiosis is a bacterial disease that’s more common in dogs than cats, but cats are not immune to it. Anaplasmosis is another bacterial infection ticks can be transmited to cats by ticks. The symptoms include lethargy, fever, loss of appetite.

If a cat experiences a large tick infestation, the cat can develop anemia as well.

The best thing that you ca do for your cat is to prevent ticks by using easy to apply preventive products.

Other type of external parasites that can affect your cat are mites. Mites come in different shapes and sizes. The most common mite to infest felines is ear mites. Most commonly this type of mites can be found the in the ear canal, but the mites can also live and feed outside the ear, causing itching elsewhere on the body. If a cat is infested with ear mites, the cat’s ears will look dark brown on the inside, bad-smelling, and the cat will be scratching a lot and frequently shaking the head. Sometimes you can notice some winds right near the ear, wounds that are caused by excessive scratching. Your vet will diagnose ear mites by taking a sample of the discharge and examining it microscopically. Of course the vet will offer the proper treatment.

Mites can also appear on cats skin but this kind of mites is more frequently met in dogs than in cats. Of course, a vet can diagnose any kind of mites and give the proper treatment for it.

Lice is an external parasite that can affect cats also, but is actually very rare in cats. Cats have different lice to humans, so humans cannot catch lice from cats and cats cannot catch lice from humans. The symptoms are hair loss, itchiness. Lice can be treated with most of the spot-on preparations that are used to treat or prevent fleas.

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