Flea & tick season, where you live
When does flea season start in your backyard?
Not on the same date everywhere — Gulf Coast fleas barely take a break, while mountain fleas sleep until May. Look up your local flea and tick calendar, see this month's risk, and know when to be extra careful.
Hmm — that ZIP didn't land in one of the 50 states. Try the state picker instead.
How to read the season ring
Every state page wears its year like a collar: twelve month segments, colored from quiet winter blue through amber to collar-red peak. The dot marks the month you're standing in. Here's Ohio's flea ring — early April to early November, peaking May–Sep.
Quiet Low Moderate High Peak
The dog-owner math, all in one place
Dog food portion calculator
Weight, age, and activity → daily calories by the standard veterinary formula, turned into cups of your actual food.
Puppy vaccine schedule
Birth date → a dated, printable checklist of the core puppy series. Your vet sets the real one; this keeps you ahead of it.
Chocolate toxicity calculator
Dog weight × chocolate type × amount, with conservative thresholds and the poison-control number front and center.
Dog age converter
The modern research formula next to the old "times seven" rule — and why a two-year-old dog is not fourteen.
Frequently asked questions
When does flea season start?
It depends on where you live. Fleas get busy outdoors once average temperatures hold around 50°F, so flea season can start in February along the Gulf Coast and not until May in the northern mountains. Type your ZIP above, or browse the state-by-state flea calendars.
Is flea season the same as tick season?
No — ticks wake up earlier. Many ticks start questing once temperatures clear roughly 40°F, weeks before fleas ramp up, and adult blacklegged ticks will come out on mild days in the middle of winter. That's why the lookup shows both calendars, and why the tick season pages get their own dates.
If flea season is over, can my dog skip prevention until spring?
Veterinary organizations recommend parasite prevention all twelve months, and the season calendar isn't a reason to stop — it shows when outdoor pressure peaks, not when risk reaches zero. Indoor fleas breed happily in a heated house in January, and one warm week can wake ticks early. Ask your vet what year-round protection fits your dog.
Where do these season dates come from?
They're climate-based estimates: we take NOAA U.S. Climate Normals (1991–2020 monthly average temperatures from weather stations near each state's major cities) and apply activity thresholds from published veterinary and entomology research — fleas reproduce actively around 50°F and thrive at 65–80°F; many ticks quest above about 40°F. Real years wobble around the averages, which is one more reason prevention shouldn't wait for a calendar date.