Leaving pet food causes rodent pest problems diseases
Well meaning people leave food out for there pets or to help feed the neighborhood stray cats and dog by Leaving pet food could cause rodent pest problems diseases.
You leave early in the morning so you leave plenty of food and water for your pets to eat all day, this is a kind and generous gesture considering you won’t be home all day and your pets will be well fed.
But you could be putting yourself and your pets in danger of pests and disease transmitted by rats, raccoons and attracting stray cats unto your property bringing fleas, ticks and transmitting diseases like leptospirosis.
We service many homes with rodent infestations and when we inspect the property we will usually find a bowl of pet food out somewhere on the property, when I ask the homeowner if they have pets they tell me no so I ask who is the pet food for, the stray cats in the neighborhood, we inform them that by doing that they are encouraging the rats and mice to bread on there property increasing the rodent population and if we put rodent station and they have the food out this will compete with our efforts to control them.
Few are reluctant to stop this activity because the strong obligation they feel to provide for these animals, others will see the problem and take steps to modify it to aid in the control efforts.
Rodents transmit there disease when they leave behind urine, saliva and feces on your property, when a rodent nibble on your pets food they can transmit the disease through their saliva, if they urinate or deficits in the food this can also transmit the disease.
When the pet eats the food they can become infected with any number of diseases some can be transmitted to pets and humans. Including Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome expanded,Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome collapsed, Lassa Fever collapsed, Leptospirosis collapsed, Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM) collapsed, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever collapsed, Plague collapsed, Rat-Bite Fever collapsed ,Salmonellosis collapsed, South American Arenaviruses (Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Sabiá-associated hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever) collapsed, Tularemi, Babesiosis, California Serogroup Viruses, Colorado Tick Fever, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis, Lyme Disease, Murine Typhus, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Powassan Encephalitis, Scrub Typhus, Rickettsialpox, Relapsing Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Sylvatic Typhus, Western Equine Encephalitis.
If you feel it necessary to feed stray animals do it in such a way that you can protect yourself and others from the complications associated with pests. Feed them only when you are home, don’t leave food out at night when rodents and other animals can feed, wash the empty bowls outside so you don’t contaminate your sink with bacterial infections they can transmit. Avoid leaving water outside.
