This tick was found feeding on a pet cat in late December in Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Samantha MacDonald

Kamloops resident Samantha MacDonald found an engorged tick feasting on her pet a few days after Christmas, and while ticks are common pests in the Okanagan and Kamloops, she’s never found one this far into the winter season before.

“It was definitely feeding on the cat,” she said. “We tried to brush it off with a wire brush, then we put alcohol on the tick with a Q-tip and ripped it out with tweezers.”

MacDonald has lived along the river in Kamloops for seven years. She's found ticks on her four-legged friend in the summer and fall months before, but said she was surprised to find one in the winter and is encouraging others to check their pets.

“I figured people should know about it, there may be more of them around because of the warm weather.”

Matthew Wright, manager of Kelowna’s ORKIN Canada, said he hasn’t heard of increased tick activity lately. He said it’s most likely the tick was already in the warm house and not brought in from outside at this time of the year, regardless of the unseasonably warm winter temperatures.

“They (ticks) are more of a desert type insect, they won’t be active now, we’d need another ten or more degrees for them to get active,” he said. “There are no insects active outside at minus one degrees except for midges and snow fleas. Ticks go dormant in a hibernation cycle and will stay that way until 15 degrees comes around.”

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MacDonald said she flushed the tick down the toilet, checked the bed where the cat sleeps and will be doing more regular checks for ticks on the cat going forward.

Staff at Riverside Small Animal Hospital in Kamloops declined to comment on whether or not they are seeing more ticks on pets this winter.

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Ticks are parasites found all over North America and are known vectors of diseases to both humans and animals.

They can enter homes when feeding on household pets, and some species can survive and breed indoors.

Ticks can cause serious illness with both animal and human hosts prone to tick paralysis that can cause loss of muscle function, according to ORKIN Canada’s website.

Lyme disease is the most common illness spread through tick bites and is a serious illness affecting humans and pets that compromises the nervous system. 

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