Mold Exposure in Pets: Symptoms, Treatment, and How to Keep Your Home Safe
If your pet suddenly isn’t acting like themselves—sneezing, scratching, not eating—mold could be the reason. Cats and dogs are especially sensitive to mold, and they can show signs before you even realize it’s in your home.
Here’s how to recognize mold exposure in pets, how to treat it, and how Groundworks helps prevent it from happening again.
Key Signs of Mold Exposure in Cats and Dogs
Mold toxicity in pets often looks like a cold or allergy at first. But left untreated, it can get serious—fast.
Watch for:
- Runny nose or eyes
- Coughing or wheezing
- Skin rashes or constant scratching
- Ear infections or head shaking
- Vomiting or diarrhea
- Loss of appetite or energy
- Hair loss or foul-smelling skin
Many people wonder: can mold cause seizures in dogs? Yes. In rare cases, long-term exposure can affect the nervous system, causing tremors or seizures. Also, black mold symptoms in cats may include anxiety, liver problems, or sudden behavioral changes.
How to Treat Mold Exposure in Cats
If your cat or dog shows symptoms of mold exposure, call your vet right away. Treatment may include:
- Antihistamines for allergies
- Antibiotics for infections
- Bloodwork to check for internal damage
- Hospital care in severe cases
Important: Even with medication, your pet may get sick again if mold remains in the home. You have to address both the exposure and the source.
Where Mold Grows and Why Pets Are at Risk
Mold loves damp, dark areas. Basements, crawl spaces, and window sills are common trouble spots, common places where pets nap, hide, or play.
In one case from a 2007 veterinary study, two indoor cats died after being exposed to black mold in their home. Both suffered lung failure during routine vet care. The mold type was later identified as Stachybotrys chartarum—a toxic mold often found in moisture-prone spaces.
Mold Hurts More Than Pets
Mold doesn’t just impact health. It damages your home, too:
- Weakens wooden joists and beams
- May lead to wood rot and/or sagging floors
- Drives down your property value
- Costs thousands to repair if left unchecked
Don’t Try to Remove Mold Yourself
Mold is tough to identify and even tougher to eliminate without the right tools. DIY methods can spread spores and make things worse.
Work with a professional. Groundworks partners with licensed mold remediation experts. We’ll help you fix the root of the problem—starting with where the moisture is coming from.
Groundworks Helps Prevent Mold for Good
Crawl spaces and basements are often the hidden source of mold. We specialize in:
- Crawl space encapsulation
- Basement waterproofing
- Drainage solutions to keep moisture out
- Vapor barriers and sump pumps
These solutions don’t just protect your home—they help keep your pets healthy, too. Let us take a look. Groundworks offers free inspections, expert recommendations, and tailored repair plans designed to keep your home dry and mold-free.
Mold Exposure FAQs
You may have heard before that mold is dangerous. Truthfully, mold absolutely can be a severe problem, but it might not be for the reasons you’re thinking. If you have mold in your basement or crawl space, you might end up with a variety of problems. That can include these concerns.
- Health Risks
The health risks of mold are probably what you think of first and foremost when considering mold issues. Mold can cause a stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, wheezing, burning or itchy eyes, skin rash, fever, and shortness of breath. Homeowners who are immunocompromised, asthmatic, or suffer from chronic lung disease are the most vulnerable to mold growth, but anyone can have a severe reaction.
Most types of mold, including so-called “toxic mold,” aren’t going to kill you. They may, however, create a more severe reaction that can be extremely uncomfortable to live in. If you want to be safe, you need to clear out the mold early on. Your home should be comfortable, not just non-toxic, which is why it’s essential to get rid of all types of mold.
- Structural Problems
You can also see structural problems with your home because of mold. Mold eats organic materials, which means that as the mold grows in your basement or crawl space, it’s going to start eating away at it. This can lead to serious structural concerns overall.
This problem can mimic the symptoms of wood rot. When they encounter issues with bouncy floors, for example, most homeowners will immediately worry about wood rot. However, in some situations, problems with mold and mildew can cause these bouncy floors. Regardless of the reason, you need to fix these problems early on.
Because mold requires spores to start growing, it needs to come from somewhere. You might wonder how mold even gets into your home. Knowing a bit more about how mold gets into your home is a useful way of avoiding it.
- Through the Air Outside
Mold spores are small enough to travel through the air. This means anytime you open a door, window, or vent, you can potentially invite mold spores in. Mold spores can also circulate in your HVAC system. Most of the time, air filters can continuously filter these out, but there’s always a chance that a single spore can get past the filter.
In general, there’s no way to altogether avoid mold spores getting inside your home. It’s all about whether you allow those mold spores to grow, which requires that you keep things in your crawl space as healthy as possible.
- Clothing and Other Items
You or a member of your family can also unknowingly carry mold spores on your clothing, shoes, bags, boxes, or other belongings. When you store things in your basement or crawl space, for example, it’s possible that the items you’re storing already have mold spores.
This is another reason that you must maintain an environment where mold and mildew simply won’t grow. Your best bet is not to try and avoid any mold spores coming inside your home in most situations. Instead, make sure that the crawl space and the rest of the home won’t allow for mold spores to grow.
It’s best to keep relative humidity below 60%, with ideal ranges falling between 30-50%.
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