diff --git a/lib/riemann/tools.rb b/lib/riemann/tools.rb
index fe4f14f3..e2376036 100644
--- a/lib/riemann/tools.rb
+++ b/lib/riemann/tools.rb
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ def options
         opt :event_host, 'Event hostname', type: String
         opt :interval, 'Seconds between updates', default: 5
         opt :tag, 'Tag to add to events', type: String, multi: true
-        opt :ttl, 'TTL for events', type: Integer
+        opt :ttl, 'TTL for events (twice the interval when unspecified)', type: Integer
+        opt :minimum_ttl, 'Minimum TTL for events', type: Integer, short: :none
         opt :attribute, 'Attribute to add to the event', type: String, multi: true
         opt :timeout, 'Timeout (in seconds) when waiting for acknowledgements', default: 30
         opt :tcp, 'Use TCP transport instead of UDP (improves reliability, slight overhead.', default: true
@@ -50,6 +51,9 @@ def initialize(allow_arguments: false)
       options
       @argv = ARGV.dup
       abort "Error: stray arguments: #{ARGV.map(&:inspect).join(', ')}" if ARGV.any? && !allow_arguments
+
+      options[:ttl] ||= options[:interval] * 2
+      options[:ttl] = [options[:minimum_ttl], options[:ttl]].compact.max
     end
 
     # Returns parsed options (cached) from command line.
@@ -68,7 +72,7 @@ def attributes
     def report(event)
       event[:tags] = event.fetch(:tags, []) + options[:tag]
 
-      event[:ttl] ||= options[:ttl] || (options[:interval] * 2)
+      event[:ttl] ||= options[:ttl]
 
       event[:host] = options[:event_host].dup if options[:event_host]
 
diff --git a/spec/riemann/tools_spec.rb b/spec/riemann/tools_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..da82ee4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/riemann/tools_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'riemann/tools/health'
+
+class ExampleTool
+  include Riemann::Tools
+end
+
+RSpec.describe Riemann::Tools do
+  describe '#options' do
+    describe ':ttl' do
+      subject(:tool) { ExampleTool.new }
+
+      {
+        ''                           => 10,
+        '--ttl=60'                   => 60,
+        '--interval 10'              => 20,
+        '--minimum-ttl 300'          => 300,
+        '--minimum-ttl 300 --ttl=60' => 300,
+        '--minimum-ttl 30 --ttl 60'  => 60,
+      }.each do |argv, expected_ttl|
+        context "with ARGV=\"#{argv}\"" do
+          before do
+            ARGV.replace argv.split
+          end
+
+          it { expect(tool.options[:ttl]).to eq expected_ttl }
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end