The short answer
You can, but you lose the specimen. In Ontario, knowing what species of tick bit your dog changes what happens next. Save it instead.
Ticks don’t drown easily
The University of Rhode Island’s TickEncounter Resource Center found that ticks can survive 2 to 3 days fully submerged. Some species are far more stubborn. Lone star ticks survived up to 70 days underwater. Gulf Coast ticks lasted 24. American dog ticks held on for 11 days on average. They pull this off through something called plastron respiration, where a tiny trapped air bubble lets them extract dissolved oxygen from the water.
Ticks can’t swim and can’t climb back up a porcelain bowl, so flushing does eventually remove them from your house. They won’t crawl back up the drain. But they may be alive for a while on the journey.
The real reason not to flush
The bigger issue is practical. In Ontario, where not all ticks carry Lyme disease but blacklegged ticks in the Halton Region definitely can, your vet needs to identify the species. A blacklegged tick warrants different follow-up than an American dog tick. Flushing destroys that information.
At Sixteen Mile, we can send ticks to a lab for species identification and, if it’s a blacklegged tick, test it for Borrelia burgdorferi. That test tells us whether your dog was exposed to Lyme and whether early intervention makes sense.
What to do with a removed tick instead
- Drop it into a small container of rubbing alcohol. This kills it and preserves it.
- Or wrap it tightly in tape so it can’t escape.
- Or seal it in a bag or container.
Label it with the date and where on the body you found it. Bring it to the clinic.
The CDC does list flushing as an acceptable disposal method, so you’re not doing anything wrong if you flush one. You’re just throwing away information that could be useful, and in Ontario’s expanding tick risk zones, that information matters.
Key takeaways
- Ticks survive days to weeks underwater. Flushing works eventually but they don’t drown quickly.
- The real problem with flushing is losing the specimen your vet needs to identify.
- In the Halton Region, species identification determines whether Lyme testing is needed.
- Save the tick in rubbing alcohol, tape, or a sealed container. Label it with the date and bite location.
- Bring the tick to your vet for identification and possible testing.
References
- TickEncounter, University of Rhode Island. “Ticks Definitely Don’t Swim.” web.uri.edu
- PetMD. “How to Properly Dispose of Ticks.” petmd.com
- CDC. “What to Do After a Tick Bite.” cdc.gov
- Fielden, L.J. et al. “Underwater Survival in the Dog Tick.” Journal of Insect Physiology. PubMed