The short answer
eTick.ca is a free, Canada-wide tick identification service run by Bishop’s University with public health collaboration. Photograph any tick you find — on a person, dog, cat, in the yard — upload up to three photos, and an expert returns the species and a regional risk advisory within 1–2 business days.
How to submit a tick (the actual steps)
- Save the tick first. Drop it into a small sealed plastic bag or pill bottle. Don’t crush it. Don’t flush it. Keep it for at least 5 days in case eTick asks for additional photos.
- Photograph it. Place the tick on a plain surface — a piece of white paper or a coin works well for scale. Take photos in good light, as close as your camera will focus. eTick wants to see the body shape, leg count and structure, and ideally the dorsal pattern (the markings on the back).
- Go to eTick.ca or open the eTick mobile app. No account is required.
- Choose your province. This routes the submission to the right regional ID team.
- Upload up to three photos. Front, back, and side angles are most useful.
- Fill in the basic details. Where you found it, what host (human, dog, cat, ground, bedding), the date, and approximate location.
- Submit. You’ll get a confirmation email with a tracking number.
Within 1–2 business days, an expert returns:
- Species identification (e.g., Ixodes scapularis — blacklegged tick, the Lyme vector).
- Risk context for your region — whether the species is established and what diseases it’s associated with locally.
- Recommended next steps — particularly important for high-risk species in established Lyme areas.
What eTick does and doesn’t do
eTick does:
- Identify the tick species (or, occasionally, narrow it to a small group of species).
- Tell you whether the species is a known disease vector and whether it’s established in your region.
- Feed your submission into the official surveillance dataset that Halton Region Public Health and Public Health Ontario both reference.
eTick does NOT (routinely):
- Test ticks for Borrelia, Anaplasma, or other pathogens. Knowing the species is usually enough — if it’s a blacklegged tick in Halton, the local infection rate (~38% as of spring 2025) gives you the risk picture.
- Replace medical or veterinary judgement. eTick is an identification service, not a treatment plan.
If you specifically want pathogen testing on a tick, that’s a separate paid service through some private labs (e.g., Geneticks). For pets, we can also send a removed tick to our outside laboratory if there’s a clinical reason. For most situations, eTick alone is sufficient — the species ID drives the next steps.
Yes, submit pet ticks too
A common question: does eTick want ticks pulled off dogs and cats, or only off humans? Pet ticks count. Submissions from pets are an important part of the surveillance dataset. Public health agencies use eTick data to update risk maps and identify emerging tick populations. A tick off your dog at Bronte Creek is real signal.
If you find a tick on your cat in particular, definitely submit it — feline tick submissions are underrepresented in surveillance, and they tell us something about household-level exposure.
What if the tick is dead, dried, or partial?
Submit it anyway. A dried-up or partial tick is often still identifiable — eTick experts work with imperfect specimens routinely. Worst case, they’ll let you know it’s unidentifiable, and you’ll have lost a few minutes.
What to do while waiting for the ID
- For your dog: book a 4DX SNAP test 6–8 weeks after the bite (regardless of species — antibody testing tells you if exposure happened).
- For your cat: watch for lethargy, fever, decreased appetite, pale gums, or jaundice over 2 weeks. Most ticks on cats don’t cause illness, but the ones that do (cytauxzoonosis, in rare cases) move fast.
- For yourself or a family member: save the tick, contact your physician or pharmacist. Under Ontario’s Minor Ailments Program, pharmacists can assess high-risk human bites and dispense single-dose doxycycline where appropriate. We don’t advise on the human side.
For full action plans, see what to do if you find a tick on your dog and what to do if you find a tick on your cat.
Why eTick is better than just Googling pictures of ticks
Most ticks look broadly similar to a non-expert. The differences between Ixodes scapularis (the Lyme-carrying blacklegged tick), Dermacentor variabilis (the American dog tick, RMSF vector), and Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick, cytauxzoonosis vector) are real and relevant — but they’re not always obvious from a phone photo to someone without training. eTick’s identification is done by entomologists or trained technicians and goes into a public health surveillance dataset, which is information you can’t get from an image search.
Bookmark eTick.ca on every household phone before peak tick season. It’s free, fast, and the right call for any tick you find.
Key takeaways
- eTick.ca is free, run by Bishop’s University, and identifies ticks across Canada.
- Save the tick in a sealed bag, photograph it on a plain background, upload up to three photos.
- An expert returns species ID and regional risk context in 1–2 business days.
- Pet ticks count — submit them too.
- eTick identifies species; it doesn’t routinely test for pathogens. Pathogen testing is a separate paid service when needed.
- Don’t substitute Google image search — species differences matter and aren’t always obvious to non-experts.
References
- eTick.ca. “Home.” etick.ca and “FAQ.” etick.ca/faqs
- Bishop’s University. “eTick.ca passive surveillance program.” ubishops.ca
- Halton Region Public Health. “Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases.” halton.ca
- Public Health Ontario. “Vector-Borne Disease Tool.” publichealthontario.ca
- Geneticks. “Tick Testing Maps & Statistics for Ontario.” geneticks.ca