Traveling with Pets Can Bring Memories — and also Unwanted Pests

Matt Unrein • April 16, 2025

Are your pets bringing in unwanted guests?

Bed bugs are blood-feeding hitchhikers that can hide in tight, dark spaces to find new feeding grounds. While luggage and clothing are suitable, bed bugs especially enjoy your pets' fur for burrowing.   Once you return home, they quickly seek out new hiding spots and hosts to feed on. 

It only takes one bed bug to start an infestation — a single female can lay up to five eggs per day. These eggs typically hatch within two weeks, and the young bed bugs begin feeding soon after.
Photo of dogs in the mountain, bed bugs on dogs SOS Pest Control
Photo of cat on ranch, bed bugs on cats SOS Pest Control

But don't bug out just yet — you can still bring your furry friends along for the trip.  Bed bugs do not cause any illnesses to people or animals,  just skin irritation from their bites. Bed bug bites often resemble mosquito or flea bites but typically appear in a distinct pattern, commonly in clusters or straight lines. When you and your dog feel that itch, there is a range of remedies for eradicating host bugs and for skin relief. 


However, ridding of bed bugs in your home completely may be a different story.


These pests hide during the day and come out at night to feed on blood. They often hide in small cracks and crevices in furniture, beds, and walls during the day.


After feeding, bed bugs will shed their skin through a process called molting. These molted skins are similar in size to the bugs themselves and can be found in the following areas:

  • Along mattress seams
  • Behind headboards
  • At ceiling and wall junctions
  • Along baseboards
  • Among personal belongings


For more detailed information on identifying signs of bed bugs, refer to this document by Virginia Tech.

bed bug bites SOS Pest Control
Bed bugs and bed bug eggs on mattress SOS Pest Control

Thankfully, SOS Pest Control can save your home with no harm to you or your pets.

Thermal heat treatment offered by SOS Pest Control is the safest and most effective way to eliminate bed bugs without causing any damage to your furniture,  home, and pets. This non-toxic method poses no health risks to people or pets, making it a clean and eco-friendly solution to solving bed bug infestations.


Heat penetrates every wall, crack, and crevice where bed bugs hide. Adult bed bugs die at 119°F, but their heat-resistant eggs require temperatures of at least 125°F. At SOS Pest Control, we seal off the affected area and raise the temperature to the required levels, ensuring complete elimination of both bugs and their eggs. Best of all, this method won’t harm your property or belongings, and our discreet removal process ensures privacy in your neighborhood. 


Think You Have Bed Bugs? Call Us Today!

If you notice signs of a bed bug infestation, don’t wait—call SOS Pest Control right away. We offer free inspections to residents within our service area. Visit our service area page to see if your home in our one hour travel radius.


📞 Call 816-237-5342 to schedule your inspection today!

Bed Bugs’ Historical Hankering for Humans

By Carley Norton • October 3, 2025
Humans have fought— and lost—many battles against pesky insects and rodents throughout history. From plague-ridden rats in 14th-century Europe to the modern comorbid mosquito, millions of people have fallen to opponents a fraction of their size. But the earliest war has lasted over 245,000 years and is still fought today: Humans versus bed bugs. A team of researchers at Virginia Tech studied the lineage of bed bugs and found that patterns in their activity coincided with the rise and fall of the human population over time. Though these findings admit the defeat of bed bug reign by humans, they can be used to predict future invasions as urban living develops, and to investigate the phenomenon of insecticide resistance in the determined bed bug species. Though bed bugs first preferred cave-dwelling bat blood, a group of them jumped over to the Neanderthals in those same caves, and their palates have remained un-cleansed ever since. In fact, humans became the bed bug’s exclusive source of sustenance, a preference shared by only one other insect species—head lice. Just like you won’t find a family of lice at the local park, you won’t find bed bugs in your garden—only in your bed and other suitable dark spots in your home. Bed bugs have hitchhiked and set up camp amongst humans for centuries, just waiting for the perfect time to indulge in their human midnight snacks. But there is good news. Bed bugs will not be the cause of any new plagues, as they cannot make humans sick. Though their bites, as well as their resilience, can be irritating, their harm is liminal, and there are easy methods for getting those lazy bones (or exoskeletons?) out of your bed. However, bed bugs are resistant to many residential chemicals, and consulting professionals is your best bet. First, call SOS Pest Control for a FREE inspection. If they do bombard on a bed bug sleepover, their safe and effective heat treatment heats your home’s walls to rid of bed bugs from the inside out. This safe, effective, and damage-free process takes little time, and SOS’ unmarked vehicles ensure your neighborhood won’t be all up in your business (as for businesses, we will make sure the neighborhood is back up in you soon). Call (816) 471-5733 today or visit online at soskc.com Original article: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/05/bed-bug-whole-genome-human-lineage-warren-bo

Why Bed Bugs Are Becoming More Resistant — and What Kansas City Residents Should Know

By Carley Norton • August 18, 2025
According to a TIME article, bed bugs have been a persistent problem for years, but lately, they’ve become even more difficult to eliminate. That’s because these pests are developing resistance to many common pesticides, making traditional treatments less effective.
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