One of the common diseases of our furry pets is scabies. Scabies in cats is accompanied by itching, severe skin irritation, scratching and loss of hair. The cause of the disease is ticks that can live on various parts of the animal’s body. But especially often they capture the ears, genitals and belly of the pussy.
Types of Ticks
The following types of ticks can parasitize on the body of an animal:
- Earplug. Parasites cause otodectosis disease.
- Ticks Scabies. Rarely encountered insects. Are carriers of sarcoptosis.
- Mites Cheyletiella. Another rare variety. An animal that has been attacked by these parasites is infected with hailethiosis.
- Ticks Demodex cati provoke the development of demodecosis.
- Mites of Notoedres cati cause a disease called notoedrosis.
Otodectosis
Ear scabies in cats (we will consider treatment a bit later) is a fairly common disease. Even a domestic cat can catch an ear tick that causes this disease . For this, simple contact with a sick street animal is enough.
The causative agent of the disease is a microscopic tick no larger than 0.5 mm in size. Parasites live and reproduce exclusively on the body of animals. For humans, they are completely harmless.
Insects for their place of residence choose the inner surface of the animal’s ear, capturing the eardrum and the ear canal itself. The cat at the same time experiences severe itching.
The following animal behavior will help diagnose the disease:
- the cat is very restless;
- constantly rubs ears on objects;
- shakes his head;
- constantly scratching ears, tearing them into the blood;
- meows and clings to the owner.
Scratched ears begin to fester without proper care.
If you look into the ears of an animal, you can see a strong coating on the inner surface of the auricle. In addition, it emits a characteristic putrefactive odor.
Initially, ear scabies in cats spread to the outer and middle ear. If no measures are taken, the inner ear is drawn into the infection process. And in the most advanced cases, the meninges are affected.
Ear Scabies Treatment
After the diagnosis of ear scabies in cats is established, treatment should be started immediately. First of all, you need to clean the ear of crusts. For this, you can use chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Just soak the swab in the liquid and gently clean the auricle. Fresh fluid and a swab are taken for each ear. This will help to avoid infection of a healthy ear (if the disease has not affected both).
As drugs, special drops are prescribed. More rarely, the veterinarian prescribes gel preparations and sprays. The medicine is administered in both ears of the animal, even if symptoms are observed in only one. Be extremely careful with the dosage. Otherwise, you can cause irreparable harm to the animal.
Demodecosis
Demodex ticks are present in the hair follicle and sebaceous glands of the animal constantly. The disease develops if their number increases significantly, and the cat's immune system can no longer control them. Demodecosis brings a pet a lot of physical torment. The disease affects the area around the eyes, face and neck of the animal.
Diagnosing a cat with this disease is not difficult. The first bell is a restless behavior that provokes severe itching of the skin. The fact is that ticks begin intensive work on gnawing moves in all layers of the skin. Therefore, the cat intensively combes the affected skin. Quite often, infection of damaged surfaces joins the disease.
There are three forms of the disease:
- scaly;
- papular papular;
- mixed.
The scaly form of demodicosis is characterized by mild itching and loss of hair at the lesion site.
Having noticed the first symptoms of the disease (scratching the animal, accompanied by loss of hair), the owner must take the cat to a veterinary clinic. The demodicosis revealed in the initial stage is cured quite quickly.
How to treat scabies in cats
A mild form of demodicosis is treated literally in 10 days. For external use, it is recommended to use the drug "Sulfodecortem" or ordinary sulfuric ointment. They are simply carefully rubbed into areas damaged by ticks.
To accelerate recovery, the animal is additionally prescribed general strengthening agents: vitamin complexes and immunostimulants, as well as antiparasitic injections. If the affected area of the skin occupies a large area, then the pussy is prescribed a course of antibiotics intramuscularly.
Sarcoptosis or itchy scabies
Itchy scabies is a contagious, i.e. contagious by touch, diseases. Called by ectoparasites of the Scabies family. The diagnosed itchy scabies in a cat is transmitted to humans and manifests itself in the form of papular rashes on the skin surface that disappear after the termination of unprotected contact with an infected animal.
Symptomatology
As a habitat, ticks choose the areas of the ears, abdomen, elbow and knee joints of the animal. If untreated, the affected area extends to the entire body of the cat.
The skin in the area of infection is covered with papules. Its additional combing by animals only exacerbates the situation. If no measures are taken, then blackening and thickening of the skin with subsequent degeneration into a neoplasm are observed.
Diagnostics
Diagnosing yourself is not possible. In a veterinary clinic, a specialist makes a diagnosis based on clinical symptoms and laboratory tests of deep scrapings from the skin of an animal. But even with the study, it is not always possible to identify a tick, so quite often a trial treatment is prescribed. If the condition of the animal after this improves, then a confirmed diagnosis is made, and the procedure is repeated.
Sarcoptosis treatment
Here, many drugs from a number of antiparasitic drugs are used. Itching is relieved with antihistamines and hormones. It is also necessary to disinfect the place where the cat sleeps.
Hayletiellosis or vaginal dandruff
Cheyletiella mites are a fairly rare type of parasite that belongs to the category of living on the surface of the skin. They do not invade the skin of the animal, but parasitize on its surface, feeding on epithelial cells, lymph and tissue fluid.
The disease most often affects young animals. Adult cats can be carriers of the disease without symptoms characteristic of it.
Chayletiellosis infection
The full life cycle of the tick is 21 days. This should always be considered in the treatment of the disease.
Infection occurs in the classical way: during a walk and in contact with a sick animal. Outside the host, an adult tick can remain viable for up to 10 days. Characteristic flakes appear on the skin of the animal, very similar to ordinary dandruff. Hence the name of the disease. As the disease progresses, the scales become larger.
Cheyletiosis is not characterized by severe itching. Sometimes it is completely absent. The animal can itch strongly due to an allergic reaction to the parasite itself.
Is the disease dangerous to humans? You can get sick. A man will get infected from a cat with scabies only with close contact, when the animal is sleeping nearby, touching the open surface of the skin. In this case, rashes in the form of papules are possible, accompanied by mild itching. The lack of open contact with a sick cat contributes to the disappearance of rashes.
Treatment of ailment
Diagnosis is based on laboratory tests. For this, surface scrapings are taken and a trichogram is performed. But cats are extremely clean by nature, because mite eggs are sometimes not found. In this case, a trial treatment is used.
As therapeutic agents, drops, sprays and shampoos are used to treat cat hair. Additionally, the administration of tablets is prescribed. In advanced cases, injection courses are prescribed. Also, thorough disinfection of the premises and bedding of the animal is mandatory.
Treatment is for all pets that come into contact with a sick cat.
Knothedrosis
The disease provokes the tick Notoedres cati, which settles in the skin of the animal. Infection occurs according to the standard scheme: during the contact of a cat with a sick individual. The disease is contagious and contagious to humans.
Young cats get sick much more often than adults, due to their unstable immunity. Noothedrosis is a fairly common scabies in cats. Symptoms at the onset of the disease can be as follows: a papular rash is observed in the pussy, located on the surface of the superciliary arches, occiput and nose. The cat, experiencing severe itching, begins to comb them, spreading parasites over the entire surface of the body.
Treatment
The disease detected at an early stage is treated quite quickly. As therapeutic agents, ointments and gels are used. Aversectin ointment, which is applied only twice a week , has proven itself perfectly .
If the wounds began to fester, then the appointment of antibiotics is mandatory. The treatment in this case is chosen by the veterinarian.