Hi all,
You all remember my partially adopted pet cat which I named proxy? Cool, I have got a new update about him. A little recall that I chose to name him Proxy because I was not permitted to take it home as a proper pet - no thanks to my wife and my toddler for being ailurophobic. I only meet him at the mosque whenever I go to pray. He moves about freely during the day and will only come around to the mosque during early morning and later evening prayers.
With the commencement of the rainy season, Proxy has been kind of more consistent in coming around as pointed out, primarily for feeding. He was largely inconsistent during the dry season because vegetations are dry and games are usually aplenty during this period. In other words, the dry season is a bountiful season for hunters - be it man or animals that predate on their fellow animals.
Even when he comes around during the dry season, he mostly comes to play and not to eat. Oftentimes, whatever food I arrange for him ends up being wasted because he must have hunted and eaten to his fill.
Talking about food, I often wonder what people feed their cats with considering that they are primarily carnivorous. Although it may seem that domesticated cats have become largely omnivores just like we humans. Proxy eats virtually anything given to him on the condition that adequate palm oil, also known as red oil, is added to it. I really do not know if this is what is generally obtainable with domesticated cats.
If you give proxy a food without manually adding palm oil to it, he will only binge eat it provided he is hungry enough. Otherwise, he will not even touch it at all and would prefer to go into the bush to look for meat alternatives. Interestingly, one would think that the cute little thing would prefer meat-based meals, but it does not appear so. The ultimate determinant of whether he will eat with gusto or otherwise remains the presence of palm oil.
Also, with the rain comes the parasite. I never knew that cats can also be plagued with parasites until now. All through the dry season, not once did I see any form of parasite on Proxy. Of recent, it is not uncommon to see Proxy with well-fed ticks on different parts of his body.
Ticks belong to the Arthropod phylum in the animal kingdom - Arachnida class to be precise. Their life-cycle consists of different stages which include the egg stage, larva stage, nymph stage, and then the adult stage. However, the life cycle cannot be completed without the sucking of blood. The scary part of ticks that now makes me stay away from Proxy as much as possible is that they can also attach and feed on human blood in order to complete their life cycles.
Apart from parasitizing on humans, ticks also have the tendency to be vectors for a host of diseases. In addition, a bite from a tick can also be dangerous depending on the human host. Diseases that can be transmitted by ticks have been found to include a bacterial infection known as Lyme disease, anaplasmolysis, Babesiosis, and many other diseases that might be too numerous to mention in this post.
I have been doing a lot by removing the ticks with a pair of tweezers but he always comes back with more the following day. I am currently in the market looking for the best option as far as prophylactic control of ticks on cats is concerned. I have an option of choosing among topical ointments, oral pills, sprays, or shampoo. I also learned that there are cat collars that can control ticks. I have not been able to find much around here.
How have you guys been dealing with tick infections on your cats?