Okay since we talking pets and bugs… here’s my PSA for all of you Missouri people with cats…
we just went through a week of having a very sick cat, due to a tick bite, and a very nasty disease called “Cytauxzoonosis”
we used frontline on our cats, but they still get bit with that… so we’re looking at a different solution going forward …
but this disease is pretty much a death sentence without medical treatment, and even with treatment it’s only 40-60% treatable
We caught it really early, but our cat was still given only a 50/50 chance… he was at the vet for 8 days , and for about 6 of those it could have gone either way… and while he was in there another cat that came in with the same thing died in just a few days
fortunately ours survived and he’s back home today, but our bank account came away bleeding
anyway… we’d never heard of it before this… and didn’t realize the risk… so I thought I’d pass along the ‘heads up’
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/circulatory-system/blood-parasites/cytauxzoonosis