hi, i had great support here recently when my elderly cat Tigger was ill so thanks so much everyone for your support.

Unfortunately my other cat Hicks has decided its his turn to be poorly. He is a gorgeous 8 year old black cat who thinks he is human and is a great big wussy pussy when it comes to the vet.

He came home last Thursday (a week ago yesterday) limping and obviously in pain with a horrible tick attached between his toes on his front paw. There was no way my son and I could get it off as he was in so much pain and we couldn't get near it, so it was off to the vet again.

With four of us holding a terrified and screaming cat down wrapped in a towel and after several attempts and one launch off the table, the vet finally removed it intact. He gave him an anti biotic shot and a pain killing shot and said he should now be fine.

Unfortunately he is still limping and it is getting worse rather than better. We can't even touch his front paw with the lightest touch without him squalling as if he is being tortured. He seems a bit subdued but is still eating and drinking.

Has anyone ever experienced this, a cat with a tick on its paw? We don't know what to do - to get him back to the vet will be extremely difficult and agony for him because he will fight like a madcat if we try and get him in the cat carrier and I am genuinely unsure we will manage to get him in it.

The vet was really rough with him last Thursday, he didnt really have any option as Hicks was fighting so much but I am worried he may have broken his toe or something.

I dont know whether to leave him and hope he gets better or risk doing him more damage by trying to get him to the vet. If we get him there I really dont know how on earth the vet will get anywhere near his paw to examine him.

All advice hugely appreciated

Have the vet come to your house would be better.

Would they come out for something like this? I thought they would only do home visits for emergencies? Thanks

They have a duty of care to animals and limping is an emergency.

He could also give a tranquiliser and then make it easier to take the cat to the vets afterwards.

Ask for a tranquiliser for the puss before you take him to the vet, administer it to him and he will be fine when you take him there. Alternatively take it yourself and you will think it's all OK anyway (joke don't do it lol).

As a tip, if he gets another they are really easy to get out with little or no trauma to the animal...put some liquid soap or shampoo or washing up liquid on a some cotton wool and hold on the tick covering it completely for about a minute. After this use a pair of tweezers and get the tick in them with the ends as near the buried bit as you can....one very quick twist and pull and it comes out intact with no bother at all. Job done.

thanks everyone. My son reckons he is limping a bit less today and he certainly seems better than first thing this morning. We are going to watch him closely and see how he goes, the vet has an emergency branch that is open 24:7 so if he goes downhill over the weekend i will do the tranquilliser thing (for him not me ) so we can get him there.

Just wondering whether the vet got all of the tic out due to the cat going mental at the vet. It`s really important to get the head and body of the tic out. My sons` small dog had a tic at the top of her head between her ears last month. Luckily it was in an easier to get to area Horrible things!! .
If your cat is sedated at least you can see exactly what`s wrong with his foot.

Yes he definitely got the tic out whole, he showed us it on the counter after it was out.

Hicks is still limping but not quite as badly so we are going to watch and hope he keeps going in the right direction