Our big black cat has been losing his fur on his back due to excessive licking, and closer examination has revealed a kind of spot

It looks like a mosquito bite would look on a human, I suppose, the skin isn't red around it but it's clearly irritating him.

Does it sound like a tick? We can't see any 'join' between the skin and this spot, that's what's making us think it's probably not, but we've never seen one before..

Ticks are vile, vile, vile. Our dog had one when we went camping in Dorset - apparently they have a lot of them there. It looked like a little round blister of skin on his neck and if you touched it you could see the little legs wiggling. Ugh it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. I removed it with a complicated tool made out of a plastic spoon.

Google tick images and you can see lots of pics, but it sounds like your cat has knocked off the body of the tick and got the head stuck inside, a trip to the vet to get it removed and some antibiotics is the next move or it can become very sore and infected.

Ticks vary in size according to their age. But they only bury their heads into the skin. The rest of the body is clearly seen on the surface.

They are milky grey-brown in colour with a very smooth exterior. No wings.

It could be a flea bite.

You can treat your cat with Frontline which is dropped onto the skin at the back of the neck. It helps to prevent fleas and ticks, and also prevents the type of allergic reaction which your cat may be suffering from. If the bite is itching your cat will keep licking it.

Hmm. I've just gone and had a closer look, and it definitely looks more like than a spot ON his skin rather than anything attached.

He's otherwise happy and healthy, not off his food, rest of his coat nice and shiny - he's a very stressy cat when it comes to going to the vet so I don't want to put him through it unecessarily but at the same time, if it's going to cause loads of trouble for him if we leave it...

I wish cats could talk!

I can only tell you my experience - our Mollie dog had one and we missed it, the first we knew she had a small swelling like a large spot, we weren't sure what it was but thought it we would keep an eye on it.
Three days later it was redder and slightly angry looking so we popped along to the vet just to check it out antibiotics and anti inflammatories were prescribed. After a few days she was off her food and we went back she had dead tissue around the bite and we then went through 13 weeks of this being debraded and trying to get it to heal - I wish we had acted earlier we could have avoided this painful time for her

it could have been a tick, when the mouth parts are left behind during improper removal it causes swelling, redness and leaves the area open to infection and even necrosis
the ticks saliva will no longer be numbing the area either, so kitty will feel it and go for it like hell

if it's bothering him, like always, take him to a vet. until then, bathe it with saline and put an antiseptic on there if you have any suitable for use on cats

vaseline could soothe it a little, and shouldn;t harm him if he were to lick it off

Thank you - I think that's what we're going to do. As I said, there is absolutely no redness there, his skin doesn't feel at all hot and it looks clean. To be gross, it looks like a little teenage spot which is about to burst.

But hubby's off work this week so it'll be easy to get him to the vet if needs be.

Thanks for all of the advice

I spent a week walking the coastal paths of north Devon last year. Got up one morning and discovered one of the little bas*ards firmly attached to my chest
Little blighter tried his hardest to remain attached as I removed him . . . .

OOoo nasty - luckily I have avoided the little boggers they look awful on the dogs I think I'd faint if I actually had one on me

When I was a child Tortoises were common pets in pet shops and I always had tortoises. One year I had acquired two new ones from a local pet shop and the soft skin at the top of their legs was covered in ticks.

My dad got them to drop off with something hot but I have this image of him smashing one with a brick on the path (the tick, not my tortoise) and it did not want to die ... it just kept moving. They are horrible, horrible things!!

making them let go with something hot isn;t a recommended method really

it can cause them to regurgitate some of the blood they've eaten, infecting the animal or indeed person with things such as lymes disease and other parasites that use the ticks as vectors

You can get tick removal tools from any vet.

As has been said, any attempt to burn them, suffocate them by coating them in vaseline, or gripping them by their body, can cause them to regurgitate the blood they've drunk back into the host, along with any other germs they've picked up during their life span - not nice . . . .

I removed the one that was using me as lunch by bending the tips of my wifes eyelash tweezers inwards so that I could grip the little beauty by the head, so close to my skin that it was painful. As I started to pull him free he struggled and squirmed like hell, not wanting to let go, and it took quite a bit of force to remove him. I placed him on a piece of white paper and checked with a magnifying glass that I'd got him out in one piece, which luckily I had - any head or mouth parts left in the host can cause all manner of infection.
I spent the next few weeks in a paranoid state, waiting for the symptoms of Lymes disease to appear, but fortunately they didn't show . . . .
My advice to any person who manages to find a tick hitching a ride is not to panic - take your time and get the thing out of you in one piece . . . .

Heres a lovely image

http://www.southbostonanimalhospital...nDogTick_2.jpg

That's horrible! and thank God, it looks nothing like Charley's spot!

ooh N34 that's a beauty, looks like it's been feeding for a few hours.
our hounds have had 2 years of tick issues, even though big dog went 8 years without ever getting one.

we find if we camp near a field of sheep then we'll get them- especially in the Lakes and the Isle of Wight. Now we don't go anywhere without our 'tool'.

urgh, they're so vile, whoever invented them?