Feral cats in crawl space infest home with fleas - Wildlife control and removal in Lanoka Harbor, NJ

Challenge

I was dispatched to a home in Lanoka Harbor, a Lacey Township community, just north of Forked River. The homeowner had contacted Cowleys to take care of a flea problem in the home’s mechanical room that housed the HVAC equipment. Also, he asked us to replace the rotted plywood doors and wood framing used to access this small space located in the rear of the house. Many Cowleys technicians have extensive backgrounds in home repair and improvement, especially those of us assigned to either the Crawl Space Solutions By Cowleys Division, which specializes in helping homeowners resolve water, moisture, and high humidity problems in their crawl space, or our wildlife division where critter infestations are often accompanied by damage to insulation and other building materials.

According to the homeowner, feral cats had taken up residence in this small ground-level space. Although a visual inspection confirmed that cats had been using this area, the distinctive pungent odor of cat urine was more than enough to tell me what was going on. Fortunately, there were no cats or their babies in the space when I was there so it was a great time to take care of the problem before there was a re-infestation. 

From my experience, your pet cat or dog is the most common source of flea (and tick)  infestations inside a home. These parasites get ahold of your pet and then hitchhike a ride inside the home where they then jump off and multiply. And fleas are prolific breeders — over her lifetime, a female flea can lay 2,000 eggs in your rugs, carpet, bedding, and upholstery. For homes without pets that have a flea problem, you can pretty much guarantee that some flea-infested wildlife has taken up residence nearby the home. While feral cats are the usual suspect, mice, squirrels, and raccoons can also carry fleas. Fortunately, for this Lanoka Harbor homeowner, the fleas had not yet found their way inside the home. 

Solution

After treating the area for fleas, I needed to do a little construction work. Because the plywood doors and the wooden framing were rotted, it would be quite easy for most wildlife with their sharp claws to make their way inside. To prevent any further wildlife infestations as well as to improve the aesthetics of the home, I removed the rotted building materials. I replaced the rotted wooden frame with a new pressure-treated wooden frame that is resistant to pests. I then replaced the rotten wooden door with an AZEK PVC door with concealed hinges. The materials used for these doors are a homeowner’s dream. The door is a synthetic wood that does not crack, warp, or rot and is impervious to moisture, salt, and insects. Even though the door is made of a synthetic material, it has the look and feel of real wood, so it blends perfectly with the rest of the home’s exterior. To be on the safe side, I sealed the inside of the doors with water stripping to keep out the outdoor elements as well as insects, and to prevent moisture build-up and possible mold issues because of the heat that comes from the HVAC equipment, I added a vent in one of the doors to allow air to circulate.

I was proud of the finished product. The home’s exterior looked great with the rotted building materials gone and replaced with a snazzy new door and framing. The homeowner was quite pleased that the fleas were gone and his home looked much better. Now, any feral cats or other wildlife will be excluded from entering that little part of his home that, at least from an animals’s perspective, makes for a perfect nesting and harborage area. Also, it is doubtful that any wildlife will bother trying to claw their way through this almost indestructible building material.