researchers from Columbia University<\/a> found that ticks were present in approximately 80% of parks in Brooklyn and Queens in 2025, a 40-percentage-point jump from 2022.<\/p>\nThis refutes a commonly held belief about ticks. Regardless of how affluent or spacious a neighborhood is, blood-seeking ticks can flourish wherever vegetation comes in contact with host animals, e.g., rodents or squirrels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that urban areas are tick-free, and that\u2019s really not true,\u201d said Dr. Kate Elden, DVM, chief medical officer at Dutch, a veterinary telehealth service company. \u201cThe ticks and fleas do not care about your ZIP code, and there\u2019s no force field on the sidewalk between you and the park. All pets can get ticks and fleas these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Generally, tick season runs from March to November, as harsh winters make way for the balmy spring. But as climate change prolongs warmer weather and softens the winter cold, New York\u2019s tick infestation will only worsen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe warmer environments allow [ticks] to go through their cycles and start laying eggs and breeding sooner and earlier,\u201d Dr. Elden said. \u201cThat\u2019s why they\u2019re creeping into these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Resized_Compressed_Remove_Ticks.jpg\")
New York City\u2019s health department reported almost 3,000 cases of Lyme disease in 2025, as warmer weather has accelerated the tick life cycle.Photo courtesy of rbkomar from Getty Images<\/p>\n
However, proactive measures can be taken, outside of tucking your pants into your socks. If ticks \u2014 usually tucked into the body\u2019s warm crevices \u2014 are detected and removed quickly, they won\u2019t have time to transmit life-threatening diseases. But if a tick looks engorged, with a big-looking body, that indicates it has already had a blood meal, which increases the likelihood that it has transmitted a disease.<\/p>\n
To remove ticks, use clean tweezers and press firmly towards the head. However, avoid squishing the body of the tick, as this is where it carries infectious diseases.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s especially important to stay calm in these situations, especially when removing a tick from a pet, who are especially adept at discerning human emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re panicking, [the pet] might freak out, and then it\u2019s going to be really hard,\u201d Dr. Elden said. \u201cThis simple process that I just described of removing the tick with the tweezers, it\u2019s much harder when the pet\u2019s moving and wiggling around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Elden recommends, if possible, having a second person distract the pet with a small treat or toy.\n<\/p>\n
Afterward, the pet should be monitored for several weeks. Pet owners should look for signs of lethargy, loss of appetite, or behaviors and routines that fall outside their usual patterns.<\/p>\n
Further preventative measures are encouraged, as well. For pets, this includes daily grooming and body checks, attentively checking areas like the toes and collar for potential ticks. Dr. Elden also encourages pet owners to invest in products such as Credelio Quattro.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I recommend to my friends and family that they put their dog on a Credelio Quattro product, they\u2019re like, \u2018Ah, it\u2019s so expensive,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018But it\u2019s a lot cheaper than going to the vet.\u2019 So, the prevention is always cheaper than treating the infestation and then a tick-borne disease later. It\u2019s way cheaper to prevent than it is to treat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With summertime in full swing, Queens residents have more to worry about than wearing sunscreen and air conditioning.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":936652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,377372,377373,377374,69116,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,143079,7926,19803,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-936651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-anaplasma","tag-dr-kate-elden","tag-ehrlichia","tag-lyme-disease","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-pet-owners","tag-pets","tag-ticks","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116924289302184242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}