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Do rats keep dogs away?
Did you know that dogs are actually put in a lot of danger when you have both rats and dogs in the same space?
You might not think it, especially at the rat that Pete the Pooch keeps bringing dead rats into your home, but
that rat-trapping motion he or she continually goes through might actually kill your dog if you're not careful.
This is something that many homeowners are not aware, and just adds to the list of reasons why you should make sure you
have active measures in place to secure your property. If you have a dog in your home, you should always make sure that you
clean up the water and food bowls once the dog is done. You must provide your dog with adequate water throughout the day, but
remember that the source of water you are providing your household pet might actually be benefitting a rogue rat too. If your
dog leaves food in his or her bowl, remove it immediately. Any food that you have in your home should be closed away and inaccessible,
and always covered.
There are a number of diseases that can easily be passed from rat to god by way of those food and water bowls, although many of you are
probably not aware of this. Roundworm, for example, isn't a pleasant thing for a dog to experience, and will require vet treatment and
medication. At first, the dog may not even show signs of being infected with the parasite, and some dogs may NEVER show symptoms at all.
If the infection is a particularly bad one, on the other hand, or a puppy becomes infected, the symptoms can be very clear to see. They
often include:
Vomiting
Diahrea
Weight loss
Pot-belly stomach
Dull coat / fur
Coughing
And, of course, if you take a peek at your dog's feces, you may even spot the roundworm wriggling around in there. Once again, this
generally happen in the worst of cases.
Coughing is an indication that the roundworm has moved and is no longer just bothering the stomach and digestion system of the animal. It
will have now moved onto the dog's lungs, and as you can probably imagine, this isn't pleasant. Female dogs with puppies can pass roundworm
onto their young through milk, and it can all start from a rat and a dog sharing the same feeding bowl.
How often are you cleaning your dog's feeding bowl? On top of that, are you leaving food lying around? How about water? Stop doing this. Food left
out is an invitation to rats, mice, and plenty of other wild animals and rodents. It's also a way to pass on disease to your dog, and other household
members - cats, rabbits, and even humans in some cases.
If that wasn't bad enough, rats can contaminate the water that your dog drinks, and they can do this by drinking it, running through it, and peeing in.
And yes, they can and do, do this. Leptospirosis is just one of the diseases that you'll need to worry about then. This is a bacteria based disease that,
once again, can show plenty of symptoms or none at all, depending on the dog. You should also bear in mind that young, old, or injured / unwell dogs are
always more susceptible to disease, and also suffering at the hands of the disease more severely.
In short, dogs might very well chase after rats, and some of them may even catch them too, but those are just a few of the diseases that rats can pass to
dogs via food / water contact. The list doesn't include rat bite fever, which can be passed on through a scratch or bite from an infected rat. There is also
toxoplasmosis - a disease that can be passed on through a dead rat to a dog, or through a rat that has been infected and bitted by the dog. Keep your dogs away
from rats. Otherwise you might find yourself with a rather large vet bill on your hands, and in some cases, that really is the best case scenario.
For more rat information, visit our rat removal tips page, or for more specific how-to instructions, read the how to get rid of rats page with 6 step-by-step instructions.
If you have a problem with rats above your ceiling in your house, read my rats in the attic guide. The most important part of rat control is sealing shut entry holes into the building, but after
you've done that, you'll want to know how to kill rats humanely to complete the rat control job. If you need to hire professional help in your city, click on my directory of over
200 rat removal companies servicing 95% of the USA. we can help your with your rat problem!
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