How can I get a tick off a feral cat?

[Hazel]

Mama Cass who lives in our garden looks like she has a tick on her front leg. She's not feral as such but there's no way I can get near enough to get any treatment on her, she wont even let us stroke her when we put her food out. She'll eat stuff ok but the tablets/powder I can find all seem to be for fleas or worms only.
If we just leave it will she be ok? I really don't want to trap her for it, we had to trap her earlier this year when she lost a lot of fur (turned out to be overgrooming we think) and she wasn't easy, it was very stressful for all of us!

I did google the problem and although the answers gave me a good laugh thet are not much use:
Talk to her calmly and gain her trust before you put a spot on treatment on her,
Grab the tick with forceps
Put vinegar/alcohol/blah blah blah on the tick
My particular favourite- Get a friend to wrap her in a towel while you remove the tick or apply spot on (I don't have a friend that I hate that much)
My husband's particular favourite - don't let your cat outside in the first place.

I'm hoping there are some more sensible approaches on here!

[Lilith]

Ugghh! Ticks!

I've only ever encountered these dastards a few times but ugghh!

Once the thing has gorged, it will drop off and waddle away to digest its ill-gotten meal - but it may make poor Mama Cass feel quite ill in the meantime. However, if you can't get near her to attack the thing, I can't see any other option.

Vile things - and they cause disease as well. But I don't suppose this is the first tick she's had to deal with and it may not be the last.

With all very best wishes for disappearance of tick soon and Mama's continuing good health - girl sounds like a tough lady, born survivor!

[bobbys girl]

Ticks are a way of life over here! Bob came home from the bog last night with two of the little blighters walking on him . Last week he kindly left one on me, that I didn't notice until it had attached itself to my leg - I'm surprised you didn't hear the scream over there!

You may do more harm than good struggling to take the thing off. If you leave the mouthpart in place - and it happens often - that can get infected or it can end up injecting the site with infected blood (only a tiny amout but that is all you need)

Even if you manage to get a 'spot-on' type treatment onto her neck you may find that the revolting little blood-suckers still attach, then are poisoned and die. We have taken dead 'mumified' ticks off our cats in the past.

I wish there was an easy answer, but we haven't found one yet. BTW nit combs are a great tool for finding them before they attach. We keep one on the kitchen windowsill and use it whenever Bob has been in the bog. But you do have to have a cat that doesn't mind brushing!

If you do get 'got' - LOADS of TCP and several days application of antiseptic cream, and if a circular rash appears around the site, get to the doctors ASAP. The sooner it's treated with AB's the less likely it is to go 'underground' in your system and cause all sorts of problems. We've done our research!!!!

[Crewella]

Because ticks aren't actually insects (they're arachnids, so more closely related to spiders) many of the flea treatments can't be relied on to treat ticks. There don't seem to be any oral treatments around, but maybe a spray might work as you don't need the same degree of accuracy that you do with a spot-on?

[Lilith]

I wondered about a spray too, Crewella, if you could get close enough - all you need is to get the top end of the tick and hope to suffocate the little...errm I mean the little sucker.

The first tick I saw was on my long-ago terrier's leg (she'd been chasing rabbits) and I went by my very old cat book and doused the thing in surgical spirit and checked, as Bobbysgirl says, that the mouthparts were intact when I pulled it off. Though I wouldn't like to use surgical spirit on a cat.

The last one was on a very woozy hedgehog I met on a hike and the only weapon I had was a badge (I believe it said 'why be normal?') on my rucksack. So, not believing I could do much save spoil its meal, I stuck the pin of the badge into the vile tick - and it dropped off. Mouthpiece intact too! Another blow struck for hedgehogkind!

[Crewella]

Oh well spiked!

[Lilith]

Oh well spiked!

Thank you kindly

[meriad]

hmm in all honesty, once the tick has reached it's 'fill' for want of a better word they usually fall off; so whilst not all that pleasant, if it's only the odd tick here or there then it's OK. What you could do is try and treat any bedding / areas where Mama Cass sleeps with a suitable something? just so you kill of any possible ticks that may be hiding in her bedding?

Also, not sure if it has changed in the past few years, but I remember about 6 or so years back I was talking to a vet who was helping out at the surgery I take my cats to. He - like me - was from South Africa and not sure how we got onto the topic of fleas / ticks etc but he also said that the UK doesn't have the same really horrid tick borne illnesses that are back in SA so whilst treatment if your cat does have something is desired it's not critical (if that makes sense?)