How to Remove a Soft Tick From a Cat

Ticks are arachnids from the mite and spider family. Ticks come in two forms: hard- and soft-shelled. Hard-shelled ticks are more common, with 60 different species; soft-shelled ticks are less common with around 20 species. Soft-shelled ticks are fairly easy to find once on the feline, because soft-shelled ticks feed very quickly and blow up to 50 times their size within hours of attachment. Ignore old wives' tales and employ a few simple veterinarian-recommended steps to safely remove soft-shelled ticks from your feline.

Things You'll Need

  • Gloves
  • Tweezers or tick-removal tool
  • Glass jar
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Disinfectant (veterinarian-approved)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put on a pair of gloves.

    • 2

      Grab a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, or purchase a pair of tick-removal tweezers made specifically for this purpose.

    • 3

      Position the tweezers as close to the tick's head as possible without pinching your cat's skin. If you can grab the tick by the head and/or mouth with the tweezers, even better.

    • 4

      Pull the tick straight out of your cat's skin using a firm, steady motion. Do not yank.

    • 5

      Drop the tick from the tweezers into a glass jar filled with rubbing alcohol to kill it.

    • 6

      Cleanse your cat's tick bite wound with a veterinarian-approved disinfectant.

    • 7

      Wash your hands thoroughly and sterilize the tweezers and gloves used to remove the pest with rubbing alcohol.