Ticks on UK Dogs: What a 12,000-Dog Check Found
In a 2015 UK survey, about 30% of dogs checked at vet practices had a tick, even town dogs. Gundogs and herding breeds had higher odds.
Written by thecanineledger
This page carries no advertising, and nothing on it is for sale.
If you find a tick on your dog and aren’t sure how to remove it, or your dog becomes unwell in the weeks after a tick bite, contact your vet.
Our note: This advice is ours. The study doesn’t cover tick removal or which signs to watch for.
In 2015, vets across the UK checked 12,096 dogs for ticks. About 30% had at least one (Abdullah et al., Parasites & Vectors 2016).
While that figure is high, the authors warn it is “likely to have been inflated by the method of participant recruitment.” The survey was also run with help from a company that sells tick products, and one author worked for it.
→ Ehrlichia and Anaplasma: Tick-Borne Infections, and Why Where You Live Matters
1. The study
How it worked. Over 16 weeks in spring and summer 2015, 1,094 vet practices were asked to pick five dogs a week at random and search each one for ticks. They sent the ticks and a short history to the researchers.
Funding and interests. The lead author had a university PhD scholarship. An animal health company paid for consumables, helped recruit practices and paid for the publicity campaign. One author was its employee, and three others have had research funded by drug companies and animal health charities.
Our note: The company’s role in recruitment may have shaped which practices took part.
2. Which ticks
| Tick | Share of tick-carrying dogs |
|---|---|
| Ixodes ricinus (the sheep tick) | 89% |
| Ixodes hexagonus | 9.8% |
| Ixodes canisuga | 0.8% |
Rarer ticks. Ten dogs carried a tick the authors call the “primary vector of canine babesiosis.” Thirteen carried the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and some ticks were on dogs that had recently travelled abroad.
Almost all adults. 98.7% of samples were adult ticks.
→ Bringing a Dog Into Great Britain
3. Which dogs
Breed groups. Herding (pastoral) breeds had about 1.8 times the odds, and gundogs about 1.6 times.
Age and neutering. Dogs over a year old were more likely to have ticks. Neutered dogs were less likely than entire dogs.
Town dogs too. The authors found, “Surprisingly,” that dogs kept to urban areas were no less likely to have ticks.
Where. The highest rates were in south-west England, East Anglia and Scotland.
Our note: We name no tick prevention products, and the study doesn’t compare them.
→ Flea and Tick Tablets and Seizures: What the FDA Warning Means
4. What the study can’t tell you
Ten years old. Tick ranges change. The data are from 2015.
Not a true random sample. Practices joined through a publicity drive, and some sent only positive results that week. The authors excluded those weeks from the prevalence figure.
Small effects. The risk factors explained only a small part of which dogs had ticks.
Small slips. The paper describes the study as 16 weeks, but the protocol asks practices to check dogs for 8. It also gives the start as March in one place and April in another.
Our note: We haven’t searched for UK tick data beyond this study.
5. What we could not verify
| Commonly said | What we found |
|---|---|
| “Only country dogs get ticks” | No. Urban-only dogs were no less likely to have ticks. |
| “Ticks are a summer-only problem” | Not tested. The survey only ran from spring to summer. |
| “A third of UK dogs have ticks” | Probably an overestimate, the authors say, because of how practices were recruited. |
Sources
- Abdullah S, Helps C, Tasker S, Newbury H, Wall R. Ticks infesting domestic dogs in the UK: a large-scale surveillance programme. Parasit Vectors 2016: 12,096 dogs, 1,094 practices, 2015. An animal health company funded consumables and publicity and employed one author
Always confirm with your vet before acting on anything on this page.