The Worst Tick Season In Years

A Big Tick Season

The 2026 tick season represents a measurable escalation compared to prior years, not just in volume but in duration, geographic spread, and exposure pathways. Epidemiologists and entomologists are pointing to consecutive mild winters, early layers of thermally protective snow, earlier spring thaws, and extended fall warmth as key drivers allowing multiple tick life stages to survive year over year rather than resetting seasonally. As a result, tick activity is no longer peaking narrowly in midsummer but persisting across much of the calendar year, with higher baseline populations entering each season.

What distinguishes this season from earlier spikes is more wide spread environments and higher exposure rates. Expanding white-tailed deer and small mammal populations, coupled with suburban habitat fragmentation, are increasing tick–host encounters in residential and recreational environments. This has shifted tick exposure from a trail-specific risk to a routine part of yard, pasture, and paddock management. From a public and animal health perspective, this translates to higher likelihood of repeated low-level exposure rather than isolated events, which complicates prevention and early detection strategies.

Effects On Dogs & Horses

For dogs, this environment increases the probability of multiple tick attachments over time, elevating risk for co-infection with more than one tick-borne pathogen. For horses, especially those kept on pasture or conditioned outdoors, ticks are being identified with greater frequency along the mane, tailhead, girth, and under tack. Horses are affected by some of the same diseases as dogs or humans like Lyme’s disease, alpha-gal sydrome and anaplasmosis. In both species, prevention is best understood as part of an integrated care routine that includes environmental management, routine inspection, and appropriately selected repellents rather than a single intervention.

Fight Back

As part of a comprehensive tick management strategy, products like UltraShield Green and UltraShield EX are designed to support consistent protection for both dogs and horses when used appropriately.

UltraShield Green offers a plant-powered option formulated with seven essential oils and is approved for use against ticks on dogs and horses, making it a practical choice for routine, frequent application—particularly in environments where animals and people are in close proximity.

UltraShield EX both kills and repels ticks, is formulated for more advanced tick pressure and is also approved for use on both dogs and horses. In addition, it is designed to be used as a premise spot treatment, helping to address ticks on premise using crack and crevice applications where reinfestation commonly occurs.

The Takeaway

Tick management must now be approached as an ongoing, systems-based practice. The ecological conditions driving this surge are cumulative and persistent, which means effective protection relies on consistency, informed product selection, and alignment with broader seasonal care programs.