Some pets are natural pest control professionals you can have in your home 24/7. Their keen sense of hearing and smell can alert you to pest activity that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Cats and dogs are among the pets that get the most credit for noticing and alerting you when something isn’t quite right. Whether that means staring at walls or sniffing under couches, cats and dogs are likely to notice a pest in your home before you do.

Cats

Cats are probably the best pets for pest control because they take care of insects and rodents without any training. They are naturally inclined to watch for creatures you may not want in your home, and they have all the tools needed to eliminate the problem. Because cats notice even the slightest of movement, they are very proficient at chasing house spiders, centipedes, moths and other creepy crawlies. The chasing and eating of bugs is both fun and instinctual, as bugs are quickly moving small things and cat’s brains are programmed to chase. The innate desire to hunt and practice predatory behavior through play is still active in domestic cats. If there’s a mouse in your house, a cat will be sure to find it, and they will spend hours patiently watching and waiting until a rodent emerges. While there are perks of having 24/7 pest control in your home, beware of the diseases rodents can carry that could spread to your cats. Cats can unfortunately get fleas, ticks and other parasites from catching and eating mice.

Dogs

With their keen sense of smell and excellent hearing abilities, dogs make excellent pets for pest problems. They alert you to the presence of a pest you may not notice. Dogs are less likely to kill insects and rodents than cats are, but they will at least tell you when a problem comes up.

About two years ago, my dog, Tripp, would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and stare off into the darkness. Comforting, I know. It took me a while to catch on, but then I heard it too – a scratching, scrapping sound coming from inside the wall which could only mean one thing…MICE.

The thing about mice is they can make a lot of noise considering their small size. Around the same time each night, I could hear them running their nightly errands. I started losing too much sleep, so I called a pest control company to help take care of the issue. They inspected the outside of my home and found that the point of entry was where the siding met the brick on the side of my house. They sealed up the small gap where the mice were sneaking through. As Training and Development Manager, Steve Counsell, always says “Batzner’s goal is to always figure out the method of entry and seal those openings. As long as there is an ‘open door’, they will keep coming in.” By quickly identifying and solving the issue, my mice problem finally went away.

If it wasn’t for the excellent hearing skills of my pup, it would have taken me a lot longer to catch on to what was going inside my walls. If your dog or cat is waking up in the middle of the night or staring at walls, he might be trying to alert you of some pests. Take a minute and listen to see if he has noticed something you haven’t. If you find out there is something unwelcome making a home inside your walls, take my advice and call Batzner at 866-591-3519 or contact us online today.