Risks of living with animals in the home

Many Americans are either working from home or laid off due to the coronavirus epidemic, which is why I want to shed some light on the dangers of living with animals in your home (whether you know it or not). With so many people home from work, kids home from school, and elderly folks avoiding all contact and spending all of their time safe in their homes, increased time at home can increase the exposure of harmful diseases and parasites brought in from wildlife.

The most common occurrence of people living with wildlife is animals in the attic. The usual suspects are bats, squirrels, raccoons, birds, and mice. While we do not deal with mice, we still understand the dangers of having them inside. The two things that we worry most about are the issues caused by the droppings, and the ecto and endo parasites brought in by the animals themselves.

Ecto parasites are parasites that live inside the host, while endo parasites live outside. Some examples of these include ticks, fleas, mites, and bed bugs. Because the animals entering our attics spend most of their time outside, they are picking up parasites all over and can be bringing them inside.

Bird nests are often loaded with bird mites, which can quickly infest an attic, bathroom vent into the bathroom, or wherever the birds have nested. Fleas and ticks can be brought in by the hundreds or thousands by squirrels or raccoons as they spend so much time outside in the grass. Insecticides are often used and highly recommended after eviction and sealing work is done to make sure that the pests we cant see wont be an issue.

When animals leave droppings in your attic, they are leaving behind endoparasites that can be transferred to humans if contact is made. This contact does not need to be physical. For example, the spores of bat droppings become airborne and you can breathe these in without even coming in direct contact with the droppings. This can lead to respiratory issues, the most common being histoplasmosis.

Often times I see walk up attics that are used for storage, and homeowners go up and down periodically. If there are animal droppings up there, it is best to have them cleaned up professionally when the animals are evicted. The more time spent interacting near where the wildlife is getting into your home, the higher risk of contracting any of these parasites or even the diseases that they can cause.