Outdoor cats: what to do against ticks?

The most important things in brief

• Anyone who likes to let their cat roam around outside is of course taking a number of risks.
• Car traffic is just one danger, another comes from small pests: fleas and ticks that the animals bring home.
• Like humans, ticks pose a direct health risk to cats, but a bite can have other consequences as well.
• So how do you protect your cat from blood-sucking insects?

Like humans, cats can also contract Lyme disease if they are bitten by a tick and the bloodsucker is not removed quickly. Outdoor cats that like to roam around often bring the little animals home with them, although the bloodsuckers are not particularly likely to be passed on to humans. For cats, however, the danger lies elsewhere.

Tick bite in cats: the skin suffers first

A tick bite can also be a problem for the cat's skin, despite its thick fur. Because this is how germs and fungi get in, which can trigger infections or lead to skin diseases such as eczema, dandruff or hair loss. Although the velvet paws can remove a bitten tick with their claws and, above all, their sharp teeth almost effortlessly, the skin could have already suffered by then.

It would always be better to prevent a tick from getting close to your cat in the first place. And there are ways and means that this can even be achieved with natural active ingredients if you don't want to swing the chemical club (more on these preparations later).

Natural remedies can prevent tick bites in cats

The natural or biological weapons against ticks include, for example, brewer's yeast or coconut oil. Feeding your cat a food containing brewer's yeast changes the pH of the skin - and the little bloodsuckers are discouraged from biting. The food can be bought pre-mixed, but you can also buy brewer's yeast individually as a powder and mix it with your cat's favorite food.

Proceed in a similar way with coconut oil, which you mix into the feed. On the one hand, this keeps all sorts of bacteria away and is good for the intestines and the immune system. However, the oil unfolds its full power against parasites if you gently massage it – in small doses – into the coat twice a week. Ticks hate the lauric acid it contains, as do fleas and mites.

Keep the pests at bay with chemicals

Some cat collars contain plant extracts, such as mint, eucalyptus or citronella, which the collar constantly exudes and are also said to keep ticks away. However, chemical agents and drugs can also be secreted via collars or sprays, which are intended to drive the parasites away or kill them when they have already established themselves.

So-called spot-on medications work in a similar way, these are applied to the cat's neck (so that the animals cannot lick it there), from where they spread over the fur and skin or get through the skin into the blood and so on to distribute. This also deters ticks and other parasites thoroughly.

If your cat does get a tick...

...then the best way to help your furry protégé is to remove the insect very carefully and, above all, completely. You know, of course, there's no point just ripping out the body as long as the tick's head gets stuck in the cat's skin. With tick tweezers from PHA, the little beasts get down to business, and you can usually pull the whole tick out of the skin with ease. However, if this does not work, it is advisable to consult a veterinarian.