Dog Owner’s Guide to Types of Ticks

Nine tick species make their homes in various regions of North America. Besides being squicky to think about or, worse, encounter on your dog or yourself, some of the blood-sipping parasites—members of the arachnid family—can spread serious diseases to dogs and humans alike, including Lyme, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (which is not limited to the Rocky Mountains), anaplasmosis and more. That’s the best reason to know which types of ticks are out there, where they live, how to identify them, ways to protect yourself and your pets from them, and what to do if you find a tick on your dog.

Types of Ticks Dogs Get

Depending on where you live, these are the tick species you can encounter in North America:

• American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)
• Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis)
• Black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis)
• Brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus)
• Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum)
• Lone star tick (Amblyomma americium)
• Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) (not dementor, but close)
• Spinose ear tick (Otobius megnini)
• Western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus)

Tick populations are constantly on the move, finding new territory by way of migrating wildlife, traveling pets, and improved habitat resulting from climate change. Here’s what to know about the various species.

American dog ticks, sometimes called Eastern wood ticks, are found in the eastern United States as well as the Pacific Northwest and certain areas of Canada and Mexico. Grassy fields and trails are their habitat. They feed on dogs and humans and their bite can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia and canine tick paralysis. American dog ticks are brown to reddish-brown with gray or silver markings on their back.

Invasive Asian longhorned ticks reported throughout most mid-Atlantic states, are generalists that feed on livestock, dogs, deer, and other animals. While they can be found anywhere, they appear to prefer tall grasses and wooded areas. They aren’t known to transmit Lyme disease but have been shown experimentally to transmit the emerging Powassan and Heartland viruses. Severe infestations can result in fatal blood loss. Their appearance varies by feeding status. Asian longhorned ticks that haven’t fed are a light reddish-tan to dark reddish with brown. Adult females that have fed appear gray-green with yellowish markings and can be the size of a pea. Males are rare because these ticks can reproduce without them.

Black-legged ticks, commonly known as deer ticks, are found in the eastern U.S. and Midwest, as far north as southeastern Canada and as far south as northeastern Mexico. They can spread Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis to dogs and humans. Deer ticks favor forested habitat with low bushes and shrubs from which they can launch themselves onto their blood-filled feeding stations. They are reddish-brown with a black marking resembling a shield on their back and are about the size of a sesame seed.

Brown dog ticks are global. In the U.S., no state is free of them, including Alaska and Hawaii. Brown dog ticks can live indoors and outdoors, in urban and rural areas, and dogs are their preferred hosts. They not only spread deadly Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but also ehrlichiosis and canine babesiosis. Around the world, they show resistance to acaricides, products that kill ticks. Habitat management and pesticides help to keep them under control. As the name implies, they are brown with few distinguishing features.

Gulf Coast ticks live along the Gulf Coast and up into the Atlantic coast. They spread an emerging disease in dogs called American canine hepatozoonosis (as opposed to Old World hepatozoonosis), first identified in the U.S. in 1978 on the Texas Gulf Coast. Since then, the disease has been diagnosed in dogs in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Gulf Coast ticks live in grass prairies and coastal uplands.

Female lone star ticks can be identified by the bright white spot on their back, or scutum. They inhabit the southern and eastern U. S., hiding in leaves and mulch and rushing out when they sense potential hosts. Not-so-fun fact: They are the fastest and most aggressive tick species when it comes to latching onto a host. Lone star ticks spread a number of diseases, including tularemia and ehrlichiosis to dogs and humans, and Heartland virus, Southern tick-associated rash illness, and Bourbon virus in humans. Their bite may also lead to a meat allergy called alpha-gal syndrome.

Rocky Mountain wood ticks, found primarily in Rocky Mountain and Western states, northern Plains states such as North and South Dakota, and southwestern Canada, prefer shrublands, lightly wooded areas, grasslands and trails, generally at subalpine elevations. They can transmit RMSF and tularemia to dogs and humans (and cats) and Colorado tick fever virus to humans. In some instances, their saliva contains a neurotoxin that can cause tick paralysis in dogs and humans. Rocky Mountain wood ticks have a red body shaped like a tear drop. Females have a white, shield-like marking at the top of the body, while males have gray and white spots.

Spinose ear ticks, a type of soft tick, range in color from gray to light brown. They are found throughout North America, including Mexico and western Canada. The good thing about them is that they don’t spread any diseases. The bad? They’re ticks. Wounds caused by their bite can develop secondary microbial infections or maggot infestations in severe cases.

Western black-legged ticks are West Coast cousins to black-legged ticks, living in forested areas all along the Pacific coast. Like their eastern cousins, they are vectors for Lyme disease, feeding on infected host animals and then transmitting disease to other animals, including dogs and humans, in subsequent blood meals. They are oval-shaped with a brownish-black body and black legs. Although you wouldn’t want to examine one closely enough to find out, females have an orange abdomen.

Ticks and the Diseases They Spread to Dogs

Tickborne-disease diagnoses have risen steadily over the past two decades. More ticks in more places mean more close encounters with ticks by dogs and humans.

Most tickborne diseases are transmitted through saliva to the unwitting and unwilling host: your dog or yourself. If ticks have fed on an infected animal, the saliva they inject through a bite of the next host contains disease-bearing pathogens. Dogs don’t directly spread tickborne diseases to humans, but they can bring ticks into homes, putting their people at risk of tick bites as well.

For instance, Lyme disease begins with infected deer ticks on dogs. Approximately 50 percent of deer ticks are carriers of this potentially devastating disease and the ticks are difficult to find because of their small size. Fortunately, they must be attached to the host for nearly two days or slightly longer before infection occurs, so if they’re removed in a timely manner, disease risk is limited.

You may have heard that dogs don’t get Lyme disease, but that’s a misconception. Many dogs are asymptomatic or have only subtle signs, but they can become infected and some do exhibit serious signs that come on quickly: lameness from painful joints, depression, weakness, reluctance to move, enlarged lymph nodes and fever. Chronic cases can result in persistent polyarthritis, acute progressive renal failure, and—although they are not conclusively linked to Lyme borreliosis—neurological signs such as changes in behavior: think sudden or unusual depression, fear, or aggression. If your dog has experienced a tick bite and shows these signs, talk to your veterinarian about running a tick panel and instituting aggressive antibiotic treatment right away.

Lyme disease isn’t always easy to diagnose in dogs or humans. It’s a disease of exclusion, so your veterinarian may want to rule out orthopedic disorders or other potential infectious causes.

For instance, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, transmitted mainly by black-legged ticks, can cause clinical signs resembling those of canine Lyme. Anaplasma is seen most commonly in California and in the northeast United States. Signs include lameness, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Another member of the rickettsia family, Anaplasma platys, causes infectious cyclic thrombocytopenia in dogs, resulting in periodic platelet loss and problems with blood clotting.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is delivered by the bite of a tick carrying Rickettsia rickettsii bacteria. Signs of infection include high fever, appetite loss, muscle and abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and a stiff gait. Besides the Rocky Mountain area, it has been diagnosed in areas east of the Mississippi, including New York, and can be deadly in both dogs and humans.

Ehrlichiosis is a group of bacterial diseases caused by the rickettsia Ehrlichia canis or other types of Ehrlichia. It’s usually transmitted by lone star ticks and brown dog ticks. Signs can be short-term or long-term and include fever, swollen lymph nodes, appetite loss, depression, stiffness, and coughing or difficulty breathing.

Babesiosis is a protozoal infection transmitted by blacklegged ticks, with transmission taking 48 to 72 hours. It invades red blood cells, triggering fever, anemia and weight loss. It is seen in the South and in California.

Signs of tick bite paralysis, caused by the bite of an American dog tick or Rocky Mountain wood tick, include weakness, fever, a change in the dog’s voice, vomiting, dilated pupils, and incoordination. Removal of the offending tick usually brings relief.

American canine hepatozoonosis is unusual in that transmission occurs not through the bite of a tick, but when a dog ingests either an infected tick or an infected intermediate host such as a rabbit. The disease is lifelong, with signs including fever, depression, weight loss, muscle atrophy, soreness and weakness. Many dogs die within two years of diagnosis.

Finding and Removing Ticks on Dogs

Any time your dog has been outdoors in wooded areas or tall grass, a tick check is in order before you let them enter the house. Start with the head, face, neck, and inside of the ears. Look between the toes, at the junctures of legs and belly, and at the tail. Run your fingers through the coat in search of any bumps that aren’t normally there. Part the fur so you can see down to the skin.

Once you overcome the ick factor, here’s how to remove a tick. Put on latex gloves to protect your skin in case the tick bursts, grasp the tick with tweezers, as close to the skin as possible, and pull back with steady, even pressure. The goal is to remove the entire tick, including the head, in one go.

Kill the tick by dropping it in alcohol—no crushing or flushing. Crushing the tick can expose you to disease, and flushing isn’t good because ticks have air sacs that help them to survive in water. Then disinfect the bite area (and the tweezers) with soap and water or rubbing alcohol.

Don’t use the end of a burnt match or lit cigarette or try to smother the tick with petroleum jelly or nail polish. These old-timey techniques can hurt your dog, increase the amount of time the tick is attached, and cause the tick to release more bacteria or protozoa into the bite site—both of which increase the risk of disease transmission.

Keep Ticks at Bay

• Create a tick-unfriendly yard by keeping lawns short, lining the perimeter of your yard with wood chips or gravel, removing leaf litter and other brush that can shelter ticks in winter, and planting lavender, garlic, and chrysanthemums, which are natural tick repellents.
• Consider protective clothing for your dog—and yourself. Vests, t-shirts, and other items treated with dog-safe insect repellent can help keep ticks off your dog, or you can have them wear a onesie or similar item to reduce the amount of skin exposed to ticks. For yourself, wear shirts with long sleeves and socks pulled over pants legs. (And don’t lean against trees—ask me why.)
• If you live or hike in areas where ticks are common, consider putting your dog on a preventive product. Tick preventives come in oral or topical form, as well as a collar that lasts for eight months. Depending on the product, it may repel ticks, kill on contact, or kill ticks if they bite a dog. Just because a tick is on your dog doesn’t mean the preventive product isn’t working. If you have any questions about which products might work best for your dog and the area where you live, check with your vet.