Is A Cat The Right Solution For Protecting Your Home And Family From Rodents

There’s an old saying that you own a dog but you feed a cat! There’s some truth to this as cats are truly fascinating animals with a high degree of independence. Many cat owners freely acknowledge that their pet is the one calling the shots; cats come and go as they please and often return home to be fed! Cats have flourished alongside humans for thousands of years precisely because they have resisted domestication. Their skill at killing disease-carrying rodents is unmatched, so the question is, are they the right solution for your rodent problem?

Why Cats?

Farmers can suffer terribly from rat infestations; they can destroy wood, tunnel under buildings and wreak havoc. When poisons, traps and baits have failed, most farmers turn to cats. Before long they have lots of cat and no more rats! Homeowners commonly suffer from mice as they are one of the hardest rodents to protect against because they can squeeze through the tiniest of gaps. If you look around your home and can fit a pencil into a nook, crevice or crack, a mouse can squeeze through there too. Cats are expert mouse and rat catchers but their skill depends on how they are raised. You see, the window of opportunity for domesticating a cat is very brief. If a kitten receives no human contact between 2 and 8 weeks old, it will be almost impossible to domestic the cat. You need to bear in mind that farmers get excellent results from their cats as they never domesticate them.

What Are The Drawbacks?

Cats that haven’t been domesticated are fine for a farm but aren’t ideal for residential areas or homes. Domesticated cats can still catch mice and rats, though. The problem for homeowners is that you want to eliminate rodents because of the dirt or health issue they pose yet a cat doesn’t just eat any mice it catches. It may leave partially-eaten remains around your home, bring dead rodents into your house and transmit all manner of bacteria to your floors and furniture.

Are Cats Better Than Poison?

It’s understandable that you want to avoid poison in or around your home. You don’t want your children to accidentally come into contact with it and you don’t want your pets to be harmed either. Cats let you avoid the use of poison but it is possible to rid a home of mice or rats without compromising safety. Professional pest control firms use only tamper-proof bait boxes to keep the poison in and they use a professional grade of poison that the mice eat and their body is turned into dust when they die. This avoids the germs and mess that cats sometimes create when they bring dead or half-eaten mice into your home.

Is Rodent-Proofing Your Home Better?

Obviously this isn’t possible on large properties such as farms but you can pay pest control firms to carefully check residential properties and seal up any points of entrance. Of course, poisons will never solve a farmer’s problem as their land is so vast, but for homeowners this rodent-proofing service can be highly effective. Pest control companies will even offer a 2 or 3 year warranty when they have finished their work. It seems more sensible to try to stop rodents from entering your property than to skip this step and try to rely on a cat to catch or kill mice forever.