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5 Tips to Control Rodents In Dog Kennels & Pet Food Storage Areas

Controlling rodent problems in dog kennels (commercial or homeowner kennels), pet food storage areas, dog training facilities, boarding facilities, and hunting lodges can be a difficult task. Dog food is the #1 attractant for hungry rodents. Rats and mice are attracted to dog poop, too, due to the high nutritional content in dog stool. Also, traditional mouse traps and poisons use baits to attract rodents. That’s three reasons why these types of spaces are prone to rat and mouse problems.

Rodents have always been experts at getting what they want, even modern pest management professionals need to use every trick in the book to outwit them! Using an integrated pest management (IPM) plan and a prevention-based approach makes pest control easier in kennels and pet food storage areas.

Puppy inside of a kennel

Why It’s Important to Prevent Infestations

For kennel owners, maintaining a clean kennel environment is crucial for health, safety, damage prevention, and business reputation reasons. This includes tasks like properly cleaning up dog waste and food spillage. This helps create a safe environment for workers and pets while also preventing rodent infestations. Mice bring around the risks of diseases, such as hantavirus.

From chew damage to pet food loss to cleaning costs, the destruction these little critters can cause accumulates quickly. Damage from rats and mice adds up to over $1 billion in losses annually. In one year, one mouse produces up to 18,000 droppings, and a mouse couple can create as many as 15,000 offspring. This means a small rodent problem can quickly turn into a costly infestation. Rats have even been known to eat up to 2.7 ounces of dog food in a day—that’s 61 pounds of food per rat each year!

Keep Mice and Rats Out of Dog Kennel

Bill Dillon of Plum Creek Kennels uses Fresh Cab in his kennel and RV 12 months a year to prevent rat and mouse infestations without fail. Bill’s mouse repellant tip: place the pouch in a hanging suet cage off the floor to allow for easy spray-downs without having to move pouches daily.

The demand for methods to control rodents effectively in “green” ways can challenge or frustrate dog kennel owners. These pests are nearly unstoppable. Mice can survive and reproduce in temperatures as low as 24 degrees if they have adequate food and nesting space.

All of this means that dog kennel owners and homeowners with pets need a reliable rodent control product. Fresh Cab is a bio-pesticide rodent repellent registered by the EPA for use indoors and in enclosed areas. These pouches use a mix of essential oils and other plant-based ingredients to create a scent that will overwhelm a rodent’s sense of smell, causing them to leave the area. The pouches are safe to use around pets when used as directed.

Along with finding a reliable repellent and understanding how to use it in these areas, knowing the five structural areas most vulnerable to rodents can help dog kennel owners win the rodent battle in even the hardest-to-control situations.

Five Areas to Check for Mice in Dog Kennels

1. Drop ceilings. Mice and rats love dark areas where they can live undetected. Ceiling crawl spaces and drop ceilings are hard for humans to get to, which makes it hard to monitor and control rodents. Fresh Cab pouches effectively keep rodents out of these areas for a month or more—or can be used to chase mice and rats into another area where they can be successfully trapped or baited.

2. Meters and electrical panels. In almost any business, rodents seek out meters and panels as points of entry, nesting sites, and places to cool down or warm up. They also love to gnaw on wiring. Check around water meters, electrical panels, junction boxes, and wiring harnesses. Pay particular attention to hollow blocks or transformers near electrical panels, which may serve as nesting sites.

3. Utility lines. Rodents have sharp claws, are great climbers, and love to climb and run along electric wires, pipes, poles, ropes, cables, conduits, augers, conveyors, and even underground utility and communication lines. A kennel owner controlling the rodents who can “read the building lines” has a powerful tool, and Fresh Cab pouches are highly effective when placed where it will disrupt a scent trail.

4. Pallet racks. Pallet racks and partially capped upright beams in warehouses and distribution centers can be a superhighway for rodents, allowing them to come and go almost undetected. Many facilities see excellent results from integrating pest management methods with perimeter trapping, bait stations, and Fresh Cab pouches placed on or near pallets every 8 feet.

5. Holes. Pest management professionals doing an inspection should always assume that the structure has changed or deteriorated since the last inspection. Construction defects, gaps in fascia board, and poorly caulked entrance areas around wires and vents lead to rodent infestations. (By the way, caulk and expandable foam are fillers but are not sealers and will not stop rodents from entering.) “Stopping rodents at the hole” can keep a business mouse-free and is the ultimate “green” solution.

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More Tips to Keep Mice Away from Dog Food and Kennel Areas

Stored items are a haven for rodent infestations. When an area offers shelter from the elements and limited human disturbances, as most storage places do, they are extremely appealing to rodents. If that storage area stores food products, it will be exponentially more attractive to these pests.

We recommend that you follow a few common prevention practices to put a stop to rodent problems. We’ve developed a three-step plan that makes prevention safe, easy, and effective:

  1. Clean up.  Pick up crumbs, spills, dog feces, or anything else that may offer these pesky critters a potential food source. Remove any standing water or moisture sources. Limit nesting materials and hiding spots by keeping things tidy and organized.
  2. Seal up.  Close any potential entry points and crevices. Steel wool and caulk are typically good options to use. Pay special attention to cracks in a building’s foundation, dryer vents, plumbing or electrical outlets, doors, windows, chimneys, and roof soffits.
  3. Pouch up.  Place Fresh Cab® rodent repellent pouches anywhere you have seen or suspect rodent activity. For preventative reasons, also use in non-infested areas. Simply place one pouch for every 125 square feet. The scent lasts up to 90 days. For use in currently infested areas, increase use to one pouch per 8 square feet of floor space and replace it every 30 days.

Buy Fresh Cab online or in a store near you and start preventing these pests today.