Next to mosquitoes, ticks are considered the most dangerous parasite on the planet. These pests can hide pretty much anywhere, in tall grass, shrubs, old furniture, rotting wood, and anywhere else they can find to lie in wait for an unsuspecting pet. They become more active in the spring and summer months and can quickly infest your poor pet in a matter of days. So, what’s the solution? The best dog tick remover.
There are so many tick repellents, sprays, shampoos, combs, and tools that are all designed to remove ticks, but finding a product that actually works, one that’s safe and easy to use can take plenty of research, and time. Meanwhile, these parasites are living off your pet and possibly spreading disease. I’ve reviewed several of the leading products and narrowed it down to five. These are easy to use tools that are designed to safely and gently remove ticks from your dog’s skin, without the use of harmful, toxic chemicals. I’ve also created a buyer’s guide, which will go over the benefits of using these tools, how they work, and what features to look for. Below, you’ll find a comparison chart that lists all of the important features each model has to offer and how they rated.
Table of Contents
Dog Tick Remover Comparison Chart
Product | Material | Accessories | Pack Of | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tick Tornado ZenPet Tick Remover | Plastic | None | 1 | |
Home Sake Tick Removal Tool | Plastic | None | 3 | |
Mora Pets Tick Remover | Plastic | None | 3 | |
OXO Pet Products Tick Remover Tool | Plastic/ Stainless steel | Comb | 3 | |
TickCheck Tick Remover Card | Plastic | None | 1 |
Tick Tornado ZenPet Tick Remover
This tool by Zen Pet allows you to easily remove the entire tick, safely, reducing the risk of serious illness and infection. The tool was designed by an experienced veterinarian, so it features an innovative, user-friendly design. This model is much easier to use than tweezers and will give you total control over the removal process. To use, you’ll simply grasp the tick and use a twisting motion, which will ensure that no part of the head or mouth is left behind in the skin. This will significantly reduce the chance of transferring an infectious disease such as Lyme disease. This tool has been field-tested and proven effective.
Pros
- Designed by a vet
- Easy to use
- Durable design
- Low price
Cons
- May leave head behind
Conclusion
This vet designed tick remover will allow you to stay on top of your tick problem this season and ensure your pet remains tick-free this upcoming summer. The user-friendly design is perfect for people with no prior tick removal experience. Additionally, the durable design and large handle ensure that you have total control over the removal process. If you live in a part of the country that has a high tick population, then this is one must-have tool that can help to protect your pets and the entire family from dangerous infectious diseases.
Home Sake Tick Removal Tool for Dogs
Your standard tick removal tools can end up breaking the tick in half, which can put your dog at risk of contracting an infectious disease. This tick remover is designed to remove the entire tick, including the head, using one swift movement. This will reduce the risk of the spread of infection since you will not accidentally squeeze the tick’s abdomen when removing or leave any portion of the mouth behind. This tool allows you to quickly remove a tick by latching the tool onto the tick’s body, twisting, and pulling. This will be a pain-free process for your pet. This is a three-pack of tools, so you can use one based on the growth-stage of the tick.
Pros
- Pack of three
- Designed to remove ticks of all growth-stages
- User-friendly
- Removes entire tick
Cons
- Small handles
Conclusion
These tools are designed to remove the entire tick, easily, and quickly, without the risk of leaving the head or mouth behind. The innovative design will also reduce the pressure that’s placed on the tick’s abdomen, which reduces the chances of the tick transmitting a harmful infectious disease to your pet. This is a great buy for the pet owner with no prior tick-removal experience, however, the shorter handles can make it difficult for people with larger hands to control the tool.
Mora Pets Tick Remover
This set of three tick removers will work on adult ticks and nymphs. The tools come in three sizes, including small, medium, and large, so you’ll choose which tool to use based on the size of the tick. As an example, you’ll use the large tool on an adult tick that’s engorged. It can be used on cats, dogs, and other pets and is a safe and gentle alternative to harmful, harsh chemical loaded products that can do more harm than good. To use this tool, you’ll slide it under the tick’s body, then twist and pull upward. The tool will not apply too much pressure to the tick’s abdomen, which can accidentally cause the tick’s body to rupture, allowing it to emit the contents of it’s mouth directly into your pet’s body. Instead, the tool provides a safe and gentle way to remove tick’s, while reducing the risk of spreading an infectious disease.
Pros
- Pack of three
- Low price
- User-friendly
- Tools can be used based on size of the tick
Cons
- Short handles make it difficult to control the tool
Conclusion
This low-priced pack of three tick removers is designed to gently remove the entire tick, while minimizing the risk of spreading an infectious disease, such as Lyme disease. The tool’s shorter handles can make it difficult for some people to control the tool easily, which is a huge drawback for users with larger hands. Overall, the tool does have a high rating for ease of use of, effectiveness, and durability. While the handles may be too short for some users, the innovative design does allow most users to easily, quickly, and efficiently remove the entire tick, in seconds.
OXO Pet Products Tick Remover Tool
This set includes three tick remover tools and a comb that’s designed to help you comb out both ticks and fleas that are caught in your pet’s coat. The three different sizes of tick removal tools are designed for use on ticks of all growth stages, so you’ll choose a tool based on the size of the tick. The tools come in small, medium, and large sizes. The included comb features a large handle and a thick grip that makes it easy to control and comfortable to hold. The teeth of the comb are made out of stainless steel. The easy to use tick remover tools allow you to quickly and gently remove the tick by grasping the body using minimal pressure, twisting, and pulling up. That’s it.
Pros
- Pack of three different sizes of tools
- Includes tick comb
- Perfect for ticks of all growth stages
- Low price
Cons
- Tools are made out of thin plastic
Conclusion
These tools will come in handy during the late spring and summer months. The comb is made out of thick, durable plastic, complete with a durable handle that’s easy to grasp, but the tools themselves are made out of a thinner plastic material that makes the tools more susceptible to breaking, which is a huge drawback for some pet owners. However, if you’re on a tight budget, these tools are a steal for the price.
Tick Check Tick Remover Card
This tick remover tool is very unique. It consists of a thin, yet durable piece of plastic that’s designed to fit in your wallet. This allows you to keep a tick remover tool on hand, around the clock, wherever you are. The size of the tool will allow you to remove large ticks, easily. The smaller notch is designed to remove small ticks, such as nymphs, however, the small notch does not work as efficiently as the larger notch designed for adult parasites. This handy card also comes equipped with a 3X magnifying glass, allowing you to take a look at the embedded tick. Additionally, the card can be used to remove splinters, thorns, and wasp and bee stingers.
Pros
- Fits inside a wallet
- Can remove splinters, thorns, bee stingers, and wasp stingers.
- Comes equipped with a magnifying glass
- Made out of thin durable plastic
Cons
- Does not work to remove nymphs
Conclusion
This handy tick remover tool is designed to fit inside a wallet, allowing you to keep it on hand, for fast and easy removal. It also works on splinters, and wasp and bee stingers. The large notch on the tool allows you to slide the tool under the tick, then lift upward, for a fast and safe removal that will prevent the tick’s head or mouth from breaking off during removal. While the card is designed to remove nymphs as well, it does a better job of removing adult ticks. However, this card will still come in handy if you find yourself in the woods, or you’re just enjoying a day at the park with your pup and you happen to notice a new tick has latched on.
Dog Tick Remover Buyer’s Guide
These tools are one of the best, safest, and most natural ways to keep ticks off your dog. While they can’t prevent a tick from latching on as some chemical treatments can, they will allow you to easily and immediately remove a tick, gently, using the correct method. If you’ve recently moved to a rural area, then you may find that you have to search your dog’s coat daily to look for these parasites. But what exactly are ticks and what makes them so dangerous?
The tick is an arachnid, which means it has a total of eight legs. They can appear white, yellow, red, or even brown, depending on the species. Ticks can be just as difficult to get rid of as fleas, especially when they’re in their early-stage, form. The tick larva is the size of a pinhead or it can be as big as a poppy seed. The adult tick is sesame seed size, however, the body is able to grow as large as a peanut when engorged.
Ticks are blind, but they possess a complex and unique sensory structure that’s known as the fore-tarsal Haller’s organ, which is found on the first pair of legs. This organ is able to detect temperature, humidity, and chemicals. The mouth of the tick is equipped with tiny hypostome, which is tiny and straw-like. The hypostome is designed to suck the blood from their host.
Ticks will actively seek out all types of warm-blood animals for food. They are attracted by the heat and carbon dioxide that the body emits. Unfortunately, dogs are a very easy target since they emit carbon dioxide when they exhale, and at an even higher level when they’re sleeping.
Tools designed to remove these harmful parasites will prevent the head from remaining behind in the body.
The Dangers of Ticks
Ticks will inject enzymes through their saliva which have a type of anesthetic effect. These enzymes also work to prevent the blood from thickening, which allows them to continue to feed, easily. But if the host is sensitive to the enzymes in the saliva it can cause inflammation. Additionally, ticks can carry a variety of pathogens that can be life-threatening to both dogs and humans. To date, there are fifteen tick-borne diseases. Lyme disease is the most chronic and dangerous.
Why You Need to Use a Dog Tick Remover Tool
Removing ticks from your dog’s skin using tweezers can be potentially unsafe, time-consuming, frustrating, and difficult, especially if you accidentally crush it or leave the head behind, which can lead to an infection. When you don’t remove a tick completely, or quickly, you run the risk of transferring a potentially dangerous disease to your pet. Because of this, it’s important that you use a tick remover tool in order to make the proper contact with the tick’s body and extract it gently. This will prevent the transfer of unwanted pathogens that cause tick-borne diseases. If you’re someone who has to remove ticks from your pet’s skin regularly, or you have no prior experience, then using a tick removal tool is the best way to ensure you remove the entire tick safely. Using one of these tools is a safe, fast, and effective way to remove the tick while minimizing stress for both you and your pet. It will also eliminate the risk of human contact with a tick.
If you live in an area where the tick population is on the rise, then regular checks will be the best way to manage your tick problem. Your dog should be checked each day, especially if he or she spends a lot of time outside. Ticks will usually attach themselves to the area of the dog’s body where there’s little to no hair. However, this isn’t always the case. Because of this, it’s always important to check the areas around the dog’s ears, between skinfolds, the belly, face, and between the toes. You’ll also want to check the area where the back legs meet the body.
Since ticks tend to live in tall grass and brush around wooded areas, if you live in a more rural area, then your dog is at a higher risk of getting ticks. Even if you live in an urban area where ticks are not quite as common, you should still keep one of the tick removal tools on hand in the event you find a random tick on your pet.
Handle
The tool you purchase should have a long handle that allows you to easily grasp the tool, in order to gently remove the tick. Short handles can make it difficult to control the tool, especially for users with larger hands.
Material
Most models are made out of a thick, durable plastic. However, you can find tick removal tools that are made out of metal, such as stainless steel. Both types of material are durable and will work fine, however, stainless steel is by far the more durable option, yet plastic models are much cheaper.
Pincher
The pincher portion of the tool has a similar design to tweezers, however, you’ll have more control over the removal process, thanks to the thick long handle. The design of the head of the tool will allow you to use the right amount of pressure to firmly grasp the tick and use an upward motion to gently remove it from your dog’s skin.
How Tick Tools Work
There are so many options when it comes to tick removal. Unfortunately, some methods can be dangerous, giving the tick time to expel more harmful enzymes into the skin as the tick panics while you clumsily attempt to remove it.
There are many wrong ways to remove a tick but the worst is using your fingers to pull it. It is unhygienic and you could squash the tick, increasing your exposure to disease-carrying pathogens.
The best way to remove a tick is to pull it straight up, using a smooth motion. In order to do this, you need to use a tick removal tool.
A tick is able to get a tight grip on the skin because of the lateral barbs that extend from their mouths. When you use a tick removal tool, you’ll be able to remove the tick effortlessly and safely, without removing the head. A tick removal tool will not leave part of the tick still attached to the skin like a pair of tweezers will. Instead, these tools are designed to ensure that the tick is removed entirely, and without squeezing it, which will cause the blood from within the tick to squirt out. These handy tools feature a curved tip that allows you to smoothly fit it under the body and pop it right out.
Removing the Tick Using a Dog Tick Remover
Before you use the tool, make sure it’s sterilized. Keep in mind that you’ll be exposing yourself to this harmful parasite as you’re removing it from an open wound in your pet’s skin. Before you begin the removal process, make sure you clean the bite out using soap and water, rubbing alcohol, or a type of iodine scrub.
Once you’ve grasped the body of the tick with the tweezer-style head of the tool, you’ll use a smooth straight upward motion to pry it out. To kill the tick, have a small dish of rubbing alcohol sitting close by and deposit each tick in it, then dispose of the dead ticks by flushing them.
While these tools are designed for safe tick removal, accidents do happen. Improperly removing the tick can result in the head of the tick stuck under the skin. Since the body is removed, this will not increase the risk of transmitting an infectious disease, however, it can lead to a secondary skin infection. To learn more, click here to read my article on how to remove tick head after the body is gone.
Final Thoughts
Tick season is coming. If you had a tough time last year, then purchasing one of these tools for the upcoming tick season can be a true lifesaver. Removing ticks from your pet’s coat isn’t fun, especially if you live in a very hot part of the country, which tends to have a higher tick population. During the late spring and summer months, ticks will emerge from their hiding places in search of food.
These pests will latch on to a pet’s skin and begin feeding immediately. The best dog tick remover will allow you to easily and gently remove ticks in a matter of seconds. They’re a great way to keep your pet safe and free from ticks, without the use of harmful chemicals. The tools I’ve included in my top five list are easy to use, gentle, and durable. With proper use and by regularly checking your dog’s fur for ticks daily, during the summer months, you’ll be able to easily stay on top of your tick problem and keep you, your family, and your pet safe and healthy.