Ticks and fleas in Belgium: calendar, diseases and protection

In early August, between two heatwave alerts, walks in the Sonian Forest or the High Fens are a treat for everyone, ticks included. And when the evenings turn cooler, fleas make the most of our heated homes. In Belgium, the external parasite season is long, and our mild winters stretch it even further. Here is the calendar, the diseases to know about and a simple protection plan you can stick to.

The Belgian tick and flea calendar

Ticks wake up as soon as the temperature rises above 10 to 12 °C. Sciensano, the Belgian public health institute, sees the same curve every year thanks to its TicksNet platform: the season starts in March, peaks in June and runs until October. In 2023, 5,896 bites were reported in humans, 41 % of them picked up in the garden and 40 % in the forest, most often less than 5 km from home. For our dogs and cats, ESCCAP (the European expert group on companion animal parasitology) describes two peaks in central Europe: March to June, then August to November.

The diseases your pet can catch

A tick is more than a nuisance: it is a vector. In Belgium, about 10 % of ticks carry the Lyme disease bacterium. For dogs, the conditions to know about are:

• Lyme borreliosis, often silent in dogs, sometimes causing lameness, fever and swollen joints several weeks after the bite;
• anaplasmosis, transmitted by the same Ixodes ricinus tick: fever, lethargy, bleeding;
• canine babesiosis, a red blood cell parasite transmitted by the Dermacentor reticulatus tick. Long regarded as a "southern" disease, it is gaining ground: local Dermacentor populations are established in Belgium and home-grown cases have been described. Dark urine, high fever, sudden anaemia: this is an emergency.

Cats, great groomers, remove many ticks themselves, but they are not spared. Fleas pass tapeworm on to them, are suspected of playing a role in feline haemobartonellosis (a red blood cell infection causing anaemia and lethargy) and trigger flea allergy dermatitis, the leading cause of itching in cats.

Fever, lameness or dark urine in the weeks after a bite: see a vet without delay, in the evening and at weekends via the on-call vet.

Removing a tick properly

The risk of transmission increases with attachment time. Sciensano considers it low if the tick is removed within 12 to 24 hours, hence the check after every outing: neck, ears, armpits, groin folds, between the toes.

1. Use a tick remover (hook) or fine tweezers, never ether, alcohol, oil or petroleum jelly: a stressed tick regurgitates into the wound.
2. Grip it as close to the skin as possible, without crushing it, and turn gently until it lets go.
3. Check that the head came out; if a fragment remains, it will usually work its way out on its own.
4. Disinfect the skin and the tool, note the date in the health record and watch the spot for a few days.

Choosing a parasite treatment and keeping to the schedule

Three forms dominate, all available from the vet or the pharmacy:

• spot-on pipettes, applied to the skin between the shoulder blades, active for three to five weeks depending on the product;
• chewable tablets, which work through the blood for one to three months and are unaffected by baths or cuddles;
• long-acting collars, up to eight months for some.

ESCCAP recommends continuous protection at least throughout the tick season for pets that go outdoors, and all year round where the risk is high, because Dermacentor stays active in winter and fleas never take a break.

Two absolute safety rules:

• never use a dog product on a cat. Permethrin-based pipettes are toxic to cats: tremors, seizures, drooling. Even a cat that licks a freshly treated dog can be poisoned, just as it can be by certain house plants;
• treat every animal in the household on the same day, otherwise fleas simply move from one to the other.

Before a holiday in the south, talk to your vet: other parasites come into play, and both the European pet passport and the compulsory vaccines must be up to date.

Fleas in the house: treat the pet and the home

A female lays around twenty eggs a day, which drop into carpets, skirting boards and the pet's bed. Eggs, larvae and cocoons can wait there for months before hatching in response to warmth or the vibration of your footsteps. Treating the animal alone is therefore not enough.

• Treat all pets for at least three consecutive months, until the whole cycle has died out.
• Wash blankets, cushions and beds at 60 °C minimum, every week.
• Vacuum every day, corners and cracks included, and throw the bag away.
• Use an environmental spray in the house and the car, ventilating well and keeping pets away during application.
• Deworm: fleas transmit tapeworm. Our guide sets out how often to deworm.

Never miss a treatment again

The real challenge is not choosing the product, it is renewing it on time, month after month. In the free Zoolinko health record, every parasite treatment you log automatically creates the next reminder, and your pet's file, linked to its microchip, keeps the full history to show the vet. Autumn is the ideal time to get back into the rhythm: ticks return with the rain, fleas come indoors with the heating.