Letter to the Editor - December 26, 2019

Beloved dog dies, other extremely ill, after ingestion of apparent rat poison

On Dec. 10, Jimmy was picking up after the dogs in our backyard. He came across a green brick that appeared to be rat poison. I contacted several pest control companies, spoke with managers and sent photos of the poison. They all responded via email and stated that they do not use green eight brick block rat poison.

Rat poison of this type is to be sold to licensed pest control personnel only. Apparently there are websites that will sell this to the general public. Shame on them. Please, if you have any pest control problems, leave it to a professional to treat. People should not just randomly put lethal poisons down around their homes. The consequences of their unthoughtful actions kill anything that ingests this poison: birds, cats, dogs or even possibly children.

We have a 6-foot, board on board fence with locked gates and a concrete footer. We knew our beautiful Huskies were safe in their backyard, until we found this rat poison. We were not treating for rats and think a rat, bird, squirrel or other animal carried this block over our fence. We don’t use chemicals in our backyard — this was their sanctuary.

Both dogs had symptoms from this poison. Barron, 12, recuperated. Suki, unfortunately, was not as lucky. She was under veterinary care and was on Vitamin K and steroids. It was too much for her 14-year-old self. Sadly we had to euthanize Suki on Dec. 17 because of someone’s carelessness and selfish act.

Please know the symptoms. Common symptoms of toxicosis in dogs includes loss of appetite, impaired movement, paralysis of hind legs, slight muscle tremors, generalized seizures and depression of the centralized nervous system. Clinical signs usually develop in two to seven days but it is possible that signs will not develop for up to two weeks.

If you suspect that your pet or child has ingested rat poison, call the poison control center at 1-800-222-1222 and seek immediate medical attention.

Please, neighbors and friends, check your yard daily to protect your children and pets. We never thought any harm would come to our beloved Huskies, but it did.

Marge Lawson and Jimmy Baldrick

Daniel Island

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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