Our cat always did a great job with roach-control when we lived in Chicagoland. She didn’t fare as well after we moved to Texas, where the cockroaches are required to have beepers installed to warn people when they’re backing up.
About the only thing worse than having cockroaches running around your house is having partially eaten (but often still living) cockroaches running around …
(“Hey-finish the job, there, kitty!” I’d say. “That one’s all yours,” she’s respond, “I’m stuffed!”)
Pimping out your pussy for roach control is one thing, but I can’t imagine watching that carnage all day long – EEEW!
Two things no roach can ever survive are a high velocity, proper swung and aimed two pound sledge hammer or a dead-eye eight year old wielding a fully loaded Daisy Red Ryder ™ . Of course the eight year old might have to pump a bag of BB’s into a Texas roach to slow it down permanent like, but at least the kid is busy and entertained while ridding the homestead of free roaming vermin. 
The column (including Slug Signorino’s illustration) can also be found on pages 19-22 of Cecil Adams’ book «The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)».
Cecil,
I read with interest your article on killing roaches, and its revisits and even the posts to the message board. Like most people I too have a distinct dislike for those nasty little critters.
Unfortunately, I saw no mention of a roach killing product which I have found to be extremely effective. I believe you and your correspondents should try the over-the-counter product Bengal Roach Spray from the Bengal Chemical Company.
Just spray it in all the cracks and crevices of your home, including behind switch plates and outlet covers, and you'll be seeing dead roaches within minutes. They will continue to come from their hidey-holes to die in the middle of the floor for the next several days. After that you will be roach free. You can re-treat in a couple of weeks to get the new hatchlings from the eggs left behind. But then you won't see any roaches for at least a year. A re-spraying every year or so isn't too much to ask to be free of this pestilence.
The only problem with this product is that it can be hard to find. I have found it in the garden section of some K-Marts and Super Wal-Marts. It's not inside the store in the kitchen or houseware section; it's outside in the garden department, if they have it at all. It's also more expensive than most of the other sprays ($5 - $8 a can). But it's worth it because it really works.
Please give it a try.I live in Houston, a humid roach Eden. OK this method may not be the most practical, but it worked for me. I was originally trying to get rid of fleas. I went and got a bunch of flea bombs. (Just use one per room, you CAN go overboard and blow up a house.) The directions say to set them off and leave the place closed up for 2 hours. I started in the back of the house and set off one per room, but would wave it around and point it in the hard to reach spots before setting it down on the floor and retreating to the next room to start there. Do not neglect the attic and garage. I ended up using about 8 bombs for a fairly large house. Here’s the impractical part. I used to travel for business a great deal and would be gone quite a while at a stretch. What seemed to be so successful was to leave the house closed up with all that poison for, not 2 hours, but for 2 or 3 weeks. Actually the fleas were tougher than the roaches. Whenever I had the need and the opportunity to repeat the process, I would select a different brand of bug bomb, looking for a different poison. I did this maybe three times over 18 months and have lived blissfully roach and flea-free since then. (6 or 8 years.) Of course, it helps that I have no children or dogs.