Ticks on dogs in autumn: why the second peak of the year catches owners out
In short
Ticks are active in the UK all year, but activity peaks twice: once in spring and again in autumn. From September to November, leaf litter, bracken and long grass hold the moisture ticks need, and dogs walk straight through it. The tick found on the overwhelming majority of UK dogs is Ixodes ricinus, the sheep or deer tick. Check your dog after every walk, remove anything you find with a proper tick hook rather than fingers or tweezers, and note the date so you know what you are watching for over the following weeks.
Most owners file ticks under summer. The wellies go away, the walks get muddier, and the post-walk check quietly stops happening around the middle of September. That is the problem, because autumn is not the end of tick season in the UK. It is the second half of it.
Why autumn is the UK’s second tick season
Ticks do not care about the calendar. They care about temperature and humidity. They need damp ground cover to survive between hosts, and they become inactive when conditions get too hot and dry or too cold.
That gives the UK a twin-peaked year. Activity climbs through spring, dips in the driest weeks of high summer, then climbs again as the rain returns, the leaves come down and the ground holds water. September and October give ticks close to ideal conditions: mild, wet, and covered in fresh leaf litter.
Two other things stack on top of it. Deer and livestock move differently in autumn, carrying ticks into places they were not in July. And a milder winter no longer shuts activity down completely, which is why vets describe ticks as a year-round risk with seasonal peaks rather than a summer problem.
Where dogs pick up ticks
Ticks do not jump or fly. They climb to the tip of a grass stem or a bracken frond, hold out their front legs and wait for something to brush past. That behaviour is called questing, and it tells you exactly where the risk sits: at your dog’s shoulder height, along the edges of paths.
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Where |
Why the risk climbs in autumn |
What helps |
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Woodland and leaf litter |
Fallen leaves hold moisture at ground level and give ticks somewhere to survive between hosts. |
Stick to the middle of wide paths rather than the leafy margins. |
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Bracken and long grass |
Classic questing habitat. Bracken stays dense well into autumn. |
Avoid letting your dog work through bracken off the path. |
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Moorland, heath and hills |
Deer and sheep move across these areas and drop ticks as they go. |
Check thoroughly after any walk on grazed or deer-populated land. |
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Field edges and footpath margins |
The strip of rough grass between path and crop is where questing ticks concentrate. |
Keep your dog on the trodden line where you can. |
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Parks and urban green space |
Urban dogs are not exempt. UK surveillance has recorded ticks on dogs in towns and cities as well as the countryside. |
Run the same post-walk check you would after a countryside walk. |
If you are heading somewhere new this autumn, the same planning that goes into a day out is worth extending to what your dog will be walking through. Our guide to hiking with your dog covers the wider kit list.
Where to check your dog, and what you are looking for
A tick check takes under a minute once you know the route. Work from the nose backwards, running your fingertips against the lie of the coat so you are feeling the skin rather than the hair.
- Face, muzzle and eyelids
- Lips, gums and the gumline, lifting the lip on each side
- Inside the ears and along the ear edges
- Under the collar and around the neck
- Chest, armpits and the inside of the front legs
- Belly and groin
- Between the toes and around the pads
- Under the tail
An unfed tick can be as small as a poppy seed and easy to mistake for a scab or a speck of dirt. Once it has fed it swells to something closer to a small pale bean, and at that point it is often mistaken for a skin tag or a wart. The way to tell the difference is to look closely for legs at the point where it meets the skin. A skin tag does not have any.
The mouth catches owners out. Dogs push their noses and muzzles through exactly the undergrowth ticks quest in, so the lips and the gumline are a more common attachment site than most people expect. Lift the lip on each side, run your eye along the gum and check the folds at the corner of the mouth. A tick on the gum reads as a small dark lump on otherwise smooth tissue, so it is easier to spot than one buried in the coat, as long as you look.
How to remove a tick from a dog
Speed matters. The longer a tick stays attached, the more opportunity there is for anything it is carrying to pass into your dog, and there is no proven safe minimum attachment time. Remove it as soon as you find it, calmly and with the right tool.
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Use a tick hook or tick twister. They cost very little, they are the tool designed for the job, and one should live in your walking bag, your car and your first aid kit. Fine-tipped tweezers are a distant second choice.
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Part the coat so you can see the skin and the point of attachment clearly. Get someone to hold your dog steady and keep the whole thing low-key.
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Slide the fork of the hook under the tick, flat against the skin, so the tick sits in the notch.
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Twist gently, two or three turns in one direction, and lift. The tick should come away whole without any pulling. Do not yank.
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Drop the tick into a sealed bag or a small pot rather than crushing it, and dispose of it. If your dog becomes unwell later, it is useful to know what came off them.
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Clean the site with plain water and check it over the next few days for swelling that spreads rather than settles.
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Write the date down. Anything that shows up in the following weeks is far easier for your vet to interpret if the bite has a date attached to it.
One place is worth handing over: a tick attached to the gum or the inside of the lip. The tissue is delicate, it moves as your dog moves, and very few dogs will sit still for a hook in the mouth. If you cannot get the tool flat against the skin without a struggle, leave it and ring your vet rather than risk a torn gum or a tick broken in half.
Three things never to do
- Never pull it straight out with your fingers. The mouthparts are barbed and stay behind, leaving an irritated site that can become infected.
- Never burn it, freeze it, or smother it in oil, petroleum jelly or alcohol. A distressed tick is more likely to regurgitate into the bite, which is the opposite of what you want.
- Never squeeze the body. Compressing a fed tick pushes its stomach contents back into your dog.
What to watch for after a tick bite
The great majority of tick bites come to nothing. A small number do not, and the signs can arrive weeks after the bite, long after the owner has forgotten it happened. This is why the date matters.
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When |
Normal |
Worth a call to your vet |
|
First 48 hours |
A small red bump at the bite site that settles. |
Swelling that spreads, heat, discharge, or a site your dog will not leave alone. |
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First two weeks |
Nothing at all. |
Lethargy, off food, a temperature, or a dog that is simply not themselves. |
|
Two weeks to three months |
Nothing at all. |
Lameness that moves from leg to leg, swollen joints, pale gums, dark urine, or swollen glands. |
Lyme disease is the tick-borne infection most people have heard of, and UK surveillance of ticks taken from dogs has found the bacteria that causes it in a small proportion of them. Other tick-borne organisms, including Anaplasma and Babesia species, have also been recorded in UK ticks. The numbers are low, but they are not zero, and lameness that shifts from one leg to another in the weeks after a tick bite is worth a conversation with your vet rather than a wait-and-see.
Ticks on cats: what is different
Cats get ticks too, and a UK study across hundreds of veterinary practices found attached ticks on close to a third of the cats examined. Two differences are worth knowing.
First, the species mix. Dogs overwhelmingly carry the sheep or deer tick. Cats carry a much higher proportion of Ixodes hexagonus, the hedgehog tick, which is exactly what you would expect from an animal that goes under fences and through gardens rather than across open moorland. Urban cats are not lower risk, they are differently exposed.
Second, and this is the one that matters most: never put a dog tick or flea product on a cat. Several contain permethrin, which is highly toxic to cats and can be fatal. If you have both in the house, keep the products separate and keep the cat away from a treated dog until the application is fully dry.
Cats groom a good proportion of ticks off themselves, so the ones you find tend to be in the places they cannot reach easily: the head, the neck, the ears and around the shoulders.
Building the check into your autumn routine
None of this needs to be a project. It needs to be a habit that survives a wet Tuesday in November.
- Check after every walk, not every few walks, and do it while your dog is still settled from the exercise.
- Keep a tick hook where you will actually have one: lead bag, glovebox, first aid kit.
- Keep the grass short and clear leaf litter where your dog spends time in the garden.
- Talk to your vet about a year-round parasite control plan rather than a seasonal one, and be specific about where you walk. Two dogs in the same postcode can have very different risk profiles.
- Note the date of any bite. It is the single most useful thing you can hand your vet later.
The rest of the autumn routine
The post-walk check is one habit. The other is what stays the same every day as the weather turns and walks get shorter. Antinol® Joint Care Pro is a daily capsule formulated with PCSO-524®, a concentrated marine lipid complex cold-extracted from New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels. One capsule a day supports your dog’s joint care, coat health and everyday vitality as part of a healthy daily routine. Take a look at our dog joint supplements.
Frequently asked questions
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When is tick season in the UK?
Ticks are active all year in the UK, with two peaks: one in spring and a second from around September to November. Activity drops in the driest weeks of summer and in hard cold, but it rarely stops completely.
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Do dogs really get ticks in autumn?
Yes, and autumn is one of the two highest-risk periods of the year. Damp leaf litter, bracken and mild temperatures give ticks close to ideal conditions, and deer and livestock movement spreads them into new ground.
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How do I remove a tick from a dog without a tick hook?
Fine-tipped tweezers are the fallback. Grip as close to the skin as you can, avoid squeezing the body, and lift steadily without twisting or jerking. A tick hook is far better and costs very little, so it is worth having one before you need it.
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What happens if part of the tick is left in my dog?
A small piece of mouthpart left behind usually works its way out on its own, in the same way a splinter does. Keep the area clean and watch it. If it stays swollen, getshot or starts to discharge, speak to your vet.
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Can dogs get ticks in their mouth?
Yes, and the gumline is a well known spot among vets and nurses. Dogs nose through leaf litter and long grass, which is where questing ticks sit, so the lips, the gums and the corners of the mouth are all worth checking. Lift the lip on each side as part of your routine check. Removal in the mouth is fiddly and most dogs object to it, so if it does not come away easily, hand it to your vet.
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Can my dog give me a tick?
Not directly, but a tick can travel into the house on a dog and attach to a person afterwards. Checking your dog also protects the household.
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Do indoor cats get ticks?
It is far less likely, but not impossible. A tick can come in on a dog, on clothing or through an open door. If your cat has any outdoor access at all, check them too.
