The Use Of Rat Poison, Causing Death To Wildlife And Pets: We Almost Lost Our Dog! And Also Read The Story “In Brief” Of The Poisoning Of A Female Bald Eagle In Arlington, Massachusetts:
By Roger Ivester
I’d like to share a “personal episode, or event” that happened to Sophie, our long-haired Dachshund a couple weeks ago.
While walking Sophie near a vacant house near us….before I could react, Sophie ate a dead mouse. I found out that rat poison had been “possibly” used in this house, so we naturally assumed that the dead mouse in close proximity to this house had been poisoned.
We turned Sophie onto her back, and poured peroxide down her throat. Sophie began vomiting (The purpose and objective) but no mouse. So we raced her to the veterinary clinic…and fortunately while waiting to see the vet, she vomited the mouse onto the floor.
The veterinarian told us, that the peroxide procedure has now been replaced, just recently with “an eye-drop” which will cause a complete purge of stomach contents….as we understand. However, this needs to happen soon after the ingestion (maybe within an hour) of consuming the poisoned mouse.
Sophie…due to our quick response, received no “apparent” lasting problems, and after two trips to the Vet and several hundred dollars, all seems well.
But it was a bad…very bad experience, and could have caused the death of a beloved member of our family.
This “eye-drop” as we understand is relatively new….and will also work with dogs that swallow other things.
Note: We were unaware of the “eye drops” after Sophie swallowed the mouse, now available by veterinarians, which is a great thing, as the peroxide treatment is difficult to get a dog or cat to swallow… as you might imagine.
So, please help get the word out, “it’s not cool” to poison rats or mice, as anything that eats that “poisoned mouse” is subject to the same “death” as the varmint. By Roger Ivester
The following “brief” was taken from a Yahoo News site:
“…..Wildlife experts are working to save the life of a bald eagle that has been sickened by rat poison in Arlington, Massachusetts. The female bird had been seen nesting with a male at a cemetery. But a few days ago, some people noticed the female eagle was drooping her head and spending a lot of time on the ground, instead of in the trees.
A group of wildlife rescuers tried three times Sunday night to capture the eagle, but returned Monday morning, cornered her behind some headstones and grabbed her. “And we saw the male just going back and forth, back and forth, looking for his mate. And he ended in a tree right above the car we were in. And it’s really sad because we can’t tell him, ‘We’re going to try and make her better and bring her back to you,’” said Linda Amato, a wildlife rehabilitator.
The bald eagle is now at a wildlife hospital on Cape Cod, where preliminary tests confirmed rat poisoning. If the bird can be saved, it will likely take months.”
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