Do Flies Feel Pain? Do Roaches? Your Questions Answered

Many customers ask us about whether insects feel pain during their pest control treatments. Do flies feel pain? Do cockroaches feel pain? The science on the subject isn’t nearly as settled as you might think.
After all, pain as we know it is actually a complex neurological and emotional experience that can vary from person to person. Since pain is subjective on some level, scientists struggle with potential indicators of pain in animals. Behavioral changes may indicate something is amiss, such as when a dog becomes less social with its owners or when a cat stops eating. Discomfort in mice, rats, horses and rabbits can be evaluated on a “grimace scale” first developed to evaluate pain in children. When a rabbit is hurt, for example, you may see a stiffening of the whiskers, notice a narrowing of the eyes or observe it pinning back its ears.
To make matters more complicated, evolution discourages animals … Read Full Post »