Long Island Pet Owners and Tick Risk
Dogs and outdoor cats throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties face significant tick exposure from early spring through late fall — and the consequences can be severe. Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are all tick-borne diseases documented in Long Island dogs. Cats are susceptible to cytauxzoonosis and other tick-borne illnesses. And the ticks that feed on your pets also travel into your home and onto your family members.
Long Island's exceptional deer tick population — sustained by the county's large deer herds, Pine Barrens habitat, and extensive wooded suburban corridors — means that pets who spend time outdoors in Nassau and Suffolk Counties are at meaningful, repeated tick exposure risk from the first warm days of April through November, and on warm winter days year-round.
How Ticks Reach Your Long Island Pet (and Your Home)
Ticks do not jump or fly. They quest — climbing to the tips of grass, low vegetation, and leaf litter and holding their front legs outstretched, waiting for a passing host to brush against them. Dogs running through lawn margins, wooded edges, and tall grass on a Long Island property pick up ticks at every contact point with this tick habitat.
The tick then travels on the animal's body to find a feeding site — typically hidden in areas with thin, accessible skin: around the ears, between the toes, in the groin, around the collar line, and in the armpit areas. Ticks that are not found during a post-walk check can attach and feed for the 24–48 hours required to transmit Lyme disease bacteria.
Ticks that drop off your pet indoors — or that hitchhike from your pet to carpet, furniture, or your clothing — can then quest on household members. A dog that walks through a tick-heavy area brings that tick exposure directly into your Long Island home.
Veterinary Prevention: The First Line of Defense
Talk to your veterinarian about veterinary-grade tick prevention for your Long Island dog and cat. Options include:
Oral preventatives: Monthly or 3-month oral tablets (Bravecto, NexGard, Simparica) that work systemically to kill ticks after they attach and begin feeding. Highly effective and convenient.
Topical treatments: Monthly topical applications (Frontline, K9 Advantix) applied to the skin. Effective and widely used, though some have stronger repellent effects than others.
Tick collars: Seresto collars provide 8-month protection and are effective for dogs and cats. Good option for animals where monthly oral or topical treatment is logistically challenging.
Lyme disease vaccination is available for dogs and is recommended for dogs in high-tick-exposure areas — which includes most of Suffolk County and significant portions of Nassau County.
Post-Walk Tick Checks: Essential for Long Island Pet Owners
After every outdoor excursion — including time in your own backyard — check your pet thoroughly for ticks, even if your pet is on veterinary prevention:
- Run your fingers through the coat against the grain, feeling for small bumps
- Check carefully around the ears (inside and out), around the collar, between the toes, in the groin, around the tail base, and in the armpits
- Use a flea comb on short-coated dogs to help find nymphal ticks (poppy-seed size)
- Check yourself and family members at the same time
Yard Treatment: Reducing Tick Exposure at Home
Even with excellent veterinary prevention and thorough tick checks, reducing the tick population in your Long Island yard is the highest-leverage action you can take for your pet and family. Professional perimeter tick treatment targeting the lawn margins, garden borders, and wooded edges where ticks concentrate — applied in May and again in September on most Long Island properties — substantially reduces the tick load in the areas your pet and family use most.
For Long Island properties with wooded lot lines adjacent to parks, preserved land, or the Pine Barrens, consistent professional tick treatment combined with veterinary prevention provides the most comprehensive protection.
Rest Easy Pest Control provides professional tick control throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Call 888-927-9842 to discuss a seasonal protection program for your Long Island property.