Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 1/23/2007

Question
My cat goes outside for a day or two at a time, and last night he came home and as always I inspected him.  I have never seen a tick but when I did I knew what it was.  I grabbed it as far down as possible and pulled with all my might, and crunched the thing and put it down the toilet.  However....  I think the little sticker thing might have not come out because where it was is a bit raised, just enough for me to touch it and know.  There is also a little black dot, and I don't know if this is because it was stuck IN that hole, or because the sticker is in there.  Does peroxide make them bubble out?  Thanks much :)

Answer
If the head remains, it will take a week or so for the tissue over it to die and then it will come out.  The better thing to have done would be to use a tick spray for cats and after 1 hour, remove the tick.  They retract their mouthparts when they die.