Do roaches avoid dogs?

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are opportunistic. Unlike most animals, they thrive in human environments. The insect’s incredible ability to adapt to almost any environment on Earth leads to frequent close encounters with humans. Unfortunately, the typical response is, needless to say, less than hospitable.

In fact, homeowners in the U.S. spend nearly $5 billion a year on pesticides in a vain attempt to create “pest-free” homes. Not only are these substances toxic to children and animal companions, they also don’t solve the problem over the long term. The best way to remove roaches from your home is simply to keep a clean house. Eliminating sources of food, water, and shelter is a far more effective—and certainly more humane—way to resolve conflicts with these critters.

Did You Know?

Cockroaches first appeared in the Paleozoic era, approximately 400 million years ago, and they have changed very little since then. These insects have probably withstood the test of time because of their ability to survive extreme natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and fire.

Although cockroaches have preferred food sources, if they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat almost anything. Even products that humans cannot eat, such as starch-based paints, wallpaper paste, envelope glue, and bar soaps, can provide critical nutrients for these tiny animals.

Cockroaches can also hold their breath for up to 40 minutes and can run about 59 inches per second—proportionally, that’s three times as fast as a cheetah!

Humane Cockroach Control

As with most uninvited guests, the best defense is a good offense. Cockroaches are incredible survivors—they aren’t going anywhere! That said, the best way to keep roaches and other insects out is to make your home as undesirable to them as possible.

Killing cockroaches is cruel and futile. Unless you make your home less attractive and accessible to them, killing some roaches will simply create a void that others will soon fill. It’s just a matter of time.

To roach-proof your home, keep food in tightly sealed containers, never leave dishes unwashed—especially at night—and wipe your counters thoroughly. Water is a precious resource for roaches, so even a few drops in your kitchen sink would be equivalent to a couple of glasses to you and me. Keep typically moist areas dry, sweep floors, and vacuum frequently.

After your animal companions have eaten, wash their bowls. Use garbage cans with tight-fitting lids, and remove stacks of newspapers, magazines, brown-paper bags, and cardboard boxes from your home promptly. Those big messes that you put off cleaning for far too long can be a huge source of attraction to roaches, so pull out refrigerators, stoves, and freezers and clean behind and beside them. Wash the outside of the appliance and vacuum dusty areas around motors. Clean under burners and clean under the stove top by lifting it. If you have a gas stove, be sure to remember the inside and outside of the oven and the broiler area. It is important to remove grease—this is a popular food source for cockroaches.

Outside your home, remove stacks of firewood near the house to eliminate hiding places and food sources for both cockroaches and termites. Put a few inches of gravel in your water-meter box to reduce moisture. Thin out vegetation growing near your house and keep windows and doorways screened and well sealed with weatherstripping and caulk.

Once you have taken away food and hiding places for roaches, you can place bay leaves, cucumbers, garlic, hedgeapples, or catnip in high and damp spaces around your home to repel them. Gentrol is an insect-growth regulator that eliminates the reproductive potential of cockroaches without killing them. You can call 1-800-248-7763 or visit PestProducts.com for a local distributor of Gentrol.

If you would like to trap and release the roaches humanely, make your own live traps by taping newspaper to the outside of a glass jar, smearing Vaseline along the inside of the lip of the jar, and placing food (fruits, bread, vegetables) inside. You will find that the roaches who climb into the jar are unable to climb back out through the Vaseline, and you can release them outside.

My Dog Ate A Cockroach [What You Should Do & Need To Know]

To your surprise and astonishment, you’ve seen your dog eat a cockroach. But should you be concerned and is there anything you now need to do in response? Here is what you need to know.

So, what should you do if your dog has eaten a cockroach? You should closely monitor your dog in the following hours. While cockroaches are not inherently dangerous to a dog, and likely will not make them sick, they could be carrying either poison or disease. Both of which can make your dog sick. If you notice negative symptoms contact a veterinarian as soon as you can.

To you and me, the thought of eating a cockroach is entirely disgusting.

In fact, for some of you reading you may not even be able to go anywhere near them.

For dogs; that simply is not the case.

And it’s only natural that you are concerned.

They are a pest after all.

The most common type of household pest in North America, by the way.

So the chances of your dogs coming across them are actually quite high.

Making you landing here today is quite an important one.

Besides, you probably will have ran this search at some point anyway.

Nevertheless, let us now explore what eating cockroaches truly means for dogs so that you find out what you need to know, for good.

Not just this time but any incident going forward.

Table of Contents

Do Dogs Like To Eat Cockroaches?

Dogs do like to eat cockroaches if given the opportunity, just like any moving creepy, crawly, bug, or insect. This is due to their naturally high prey drive where chasing is an instinctual behavior and one they automatically resort to.

In fact, there are countless reports and instances from owners who relay that their dog has eaten a cockroach – or some other bug.

You only have to run a few online searches to find them, visit a few of pet forums, peruse Reddit or just speak to fellow friends, family, or neighbors who have dogs.

And most of the time, there is a real panic and worry about whether what they have eaten is safe.

Fair enough really.

In fact, it’s the right mentality to have.

And soon we will be covering the dangers cockroaches specifically can pose to our dogs.

Can being the important word here.

Nevertheless, what you should know is that:

1. Cockroaches are a very common and widespread pest,
2. Dogs will chase and eat them when they can.

Eating them is all part of the game. It’s the reward for the effort.

And you’ll be surprised at how capable dogs are at detecting and finding cockroaches.

Again, we’ll be covering this shortly – so keep reading!

Are Cockroaches Poisonous To Dogs?

Cockroaches are not inherently poisonous to dogs. In fact, they comprise mostly of protein and are eaten in some cultures as a staple food or delicacy. That being said, it is not recommended that you allow or help your dog eat cockroaches – they can carry poison, toxic substances, disease or bacteria that could harm your dog.

Assuming we lived in a world where an insect could go about their lives without coming into contact with a whole host of dangerous substances in their environment.

In that world, cockroaches would be perfectly fine for a dog to consume.

That’s because cockroaches do not inherently carry anything that could harm a dog.

But that is just not the reality.

Instead, the cockroaches that we find in our homes are subject to all sorts of potentially harmful substances.

Either that they come into contact with naturally, or as a result of human intervention trying to control and/or eradicate them.

And this is where they can become problematic.

Very problematic in some cases.

As we shall now see in the following section.

When Can Cockroaches Harm A Dog

Cockroaches can harm a dog through three different instances; they are carrying disease, parasites or have been poisoned.

Let us now explore each one to give you an idea of the dangers:

Diseased Cockroaches

Cockroaches move freely in their environment and often pass through drains, sewers, and wet damp conditions. As they feed on feces as well as any other food sources (like rotting garbage) they can find, they can pick up bacteria that cause disease.

While thoroughly researched and meticulously checked, the content on Pet Educate does not constitute, nor should replace any pet medical advice.

Please consult a licensed veterinarian for any medical condition or query regarding the health of your pet.

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