Ticks Life Cycle
The Life Cycle of Cat and Dog Ticks
Cat and dog ticks, although physically small in size, can do considerable amounts of damage in a short period of time, making it imperative to understand their life cycle as well as how to protect ourselves and our beloved pets from the serious diseases they carry.
With nearly 800 different species of ticks all over the world, there’s hardly a place for cats and dogs to hide from these tiny menaces. If you live anywhere in the United Kingdom, you or your pet may be at risk for coming in contact with ticks, particularly the most common kind found here, Ixodes ricinus, better known as the deer or sheep tick. Another type of tick that should be of concern to those of us living in the UK is Rhipicephalus sanguineus, a species you’ll need prove your pet does not have when travelling abroad.
Found in grassy areas, on the lower branches of trees, and in shrubs, ticks patiently wait for a potential host to brush past so they can easily climb aboard. Ticks must be safely removed, making sure that the entire tick is removed to avoid infection, so if you’re unsure how to do so, always consult with your veterinarian.
Common Health Problems Caused by Ticks
British pet owners should be aware that the three top diseases spread by ticks are Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Prevention along with regular treatments are the most effective way of ensuring that your pet does not succumb to one of these potentially serious ailments.
Lyme disease, an inflammatory disorder, is the most common disease transmitted to humans by ticks and causes symptoms similar to the flu. Babesiosis is an infectious disease of the red blood cells caused by a tick-borne parasite known as Babesia and is far less common in the UK, although it is found throughout other parts of Europe, making it necessary to take travel precautions. Ehrlichiosis affects the white blood cells causing serious symptoms in dogs like fever, weight loss, and bleeding.
After regularly checking your dog for ticks, especially around the head, ears, and legs, use a spot-on preparation, some of which may be intended for fleas, but they will also be effective for killing ticks. Just be sure to check the label to see that the product you purchase is intended for those species of ticks commonly found in the UK.
Although ticks can be found lurking about at any time of the year, their life cycle is dependent upon the temperature and they tend to increase in numbers during the months of March through November.
Just after climbing onto a host animal, female ticks begin to feed while the males set about mating. Once totally engorged with blood, the females fall off the host and lay the eggs. One female tick can lay as many as two thousand eggs in the spring, all of which are extremely small, about 0.7mm in length. After all the eggs have been laid, the females shrivel up and die.
In the summer, tick eggs hatch as larvae complete with six legs and are approximately the size of the period at the end of this sentence. These larvae will stay inactive until the following spring season when they’ll wait for their very first host, which may be humans or animals such as rabbits, mice, deer, livestock, and of course, cats and dogs, and feed from them for up to an entire week.
Tick larvae eventually morph into eight legged nymphs by the next spring after living all winter in a state of suspended animation referred to as diapause. Nymphs feed from their hosts for up to as many as 11 days before falling to the ground and maturing into the final stage of their life cycle, the adults. Nymphs become adult ticks in about a month’s time but won’t become active until the next spring when the search for the last and final host begins.
In relationship to their size, the approximate three year long life cycle of the tick is a rather long one that starts over again continually, making it important that we be diligent about preventing, finding, and removing ticks just as soon as possible.