Adventure Dogs Need a Tick Tornado

This teeny tweezer is more powerful than you think.

June 13, 2022

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I decided to take our two dogs, Moose and Harper, on a hike to reacquaint them with nature after a seemingly never-ending New York winter. It’s a day I remember oh-so-clearly: the four of us city dwellers setting out to conquer one of Mother Nature’s most treacherous adventures. Ok, so it was a clearly defined walking path in New Jersey next to some wild grass. But it may as well have been a gaping pit full of every tick in the tri-state area because for the next week and a half we kept finding the minuscule bloodsucking monsters all over our apartment.

Seems it didn’t matter that we did a tick check after the walk, and in the car, and in the lobby of our building. These ticks would stop at nothing to come to our apartment so they could hop on our couch and shower and the bedroom pillows where our heads go every night. Because our dogs are on tick preventatives, most of the ticks simply used them as a casual commute to our apartment. Only one made it to Moose’s ear, where it would go on to meet the fate of the Tick Tornado — a specially designed plastic tweezer for removing ticks from dogs and cats.

Take it from someone who just lived through Hitchcock’s The Birds but with tiny little bugs that transmit Oregon Trail sounding diseases like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: You need this plastic doo-dad.

Not only is the Tick Tornado easy to use (as the package will tell you: hook, twist, and lift), it’s primarily designed with proper tick removal in mind — which is key to minimizing the chances of disease transfer. Using the wrong tools or methods can result in leaving part of the tick in your dog or (sorry in advance) regurgitating the tick’s bacteria into the wound. That’s why the Tick Tornado removes the tick fully intact and alive to ensure that the head hasn’t been left in your pet.

Another unexpected bonus has been that Moose reacts to the Tick Tornado much better than he does regular tweezers, making the entire removal process a lot less hellish. His higher tolerance level for the Tick Tornado also ensures a safer removal, making this tool the best four bucks I ever spent.

The only watch-outs I have are regarding the proper use of the Tick Tornado. While it is very easy to use, it’s important to read the directions carefully in order to safely use it on your pet. And, as is its intended feature, the Tick Tornado will NOT kill the tick — so be sure to follow proper tick disposal guidelines for your area. However, if your dog is on an oral medication like Nexgard or Simparica, the tick will most likely die after latching — but proper removal is just as important. Leaving part of the tick in your dog, medicated or not, can still result in bacteria transfer.

Our family is taking a break from nature for a while as we recuperate from Tickapalooza 2022, but when we return we will do so knowing that no tick stands a chance against us and the medical marvel that is this plastic green tweezer-thingy.

ZenPet Tick Tornado Tick Removal Tool

$4 at Chewy

Rebecca Caplan

Rebecca Caplan is a writer based in Brooklyn whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, Reductress, and Vulture. She lives in Brooklyn with her perfect, toothless dog Moose.