I live in apartment building - there are 2 other tenants and the landlord lives on premise. There is a small 'yard' behind our building that serves as a patio - it is a combination of patio paving stones and loose gravel. Our landlord dumps out bags of feed, loaves of bread with peanut butter on it and other similar items into the corner of the yard near the trash cans in order to lure raccoon, squirrels and birds which she can then view from her third floor balcony. (we live 2 blocks from the Des Plaines river and the area is moderately wooded) In addition to the enormous amount of fecal matter and urine visible on the patio caused by the wildlife, she also lets her dog eliminate in this area and will sometimes not clean it up the solid waste for weeks. In order to throw out our trash, we have to walk through and around these areas of waste. We live on the second floor and own a dog. While we do NOT allow our dog into the yard, we sometimes have to walk through it to exit the property. Our apartment is on the second floor and our building is also covered in ivy. What types of mites or illnesses are we at risk for? Last year, I ended up covered with many unidentified insect/mite bites and went to the ER where they treated it as scabies even though they did not confirm this diagnosis by scraping the skin. My dog has recently started scratching himself rather harshly but do I not detect the presence of fleas. Could we have been exposed to some other type of mites as a result of our landlords unhealthy practice of feeding the wildlife? If so, what kinds and what should we look for? Or am I just paranoid? (which is what my landlord inferred when I asked her about it) Sorry this is so long - thank you for reading this.
