What NOT to do with Rat Poison...

It was a beautiful Saturday, the sun was out...and the list of outdoor chores was long, and Caleb's baseball playoff game was later on at 4:00.

The other half was going to go fill the propane tanks for the Barbecue and the Outdoor deck heater, so we would be ready for some wonderful summer days and evenings.

That was until he noticed that the little bar of rat poison he had stuffed inside the door of the Barbecue last fall (when he noticed some mice were taking up housekeeping in there)...had fallen out when he took the propane tank out and put it in the car.


He comes in to tell me that our boy Oscar was chewing on it, when he came back from putting the tank in the car.

Oh boy...there goes my Saturday! I get online and Google: Rat Poison Dogs

1. Make the dog throw up by giving them hydrogen peroxide.
2. Get to vet NOW, as it must be treated before any signs of the illness show.

The first 12 hours are crucial for treating the dog!

I call my vet, and am told "yes" 5 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide should be the right amount for Oscar, and to take him to Emergency vet now, as my vet was closed in 10 minutes. Rats, ( play on words!), now I also get the emergency vet bill, dang there goes my budget for June!

We get the hydrogen peroxide into Oskie (my term of endearment for him), and than get him into the car. Good dog, he proceeds to throw up! Oh, ugly mess!

The other half feels bad, and off we go to Pilchuck Animal Hospital!

Well, first we show them the remaining rat poison bar, and hand off our boy to be treated for poisoning.

The vet assistant lady comes back and says.."this isn't rat poison, this is birdfood..."

No, the other half tells them, that is rat poison. They come back and say, the vet says it is birdfood, as rat poison has green or blue in it and they ask " can we see the throw up?" Sure it is still in the car (good Oskie for providing the in depth details of his snack). They look, and say..it .sure looks like birdfood?

OK they say, we will treat it as if it is rat poison, but we don't think it is.

Well, the other half had errands (remember the propane tanks needed filling), and ran up to the feed store which is nearby, to do this.

When he comes back, he hands them the package of rat poison he found there.


Hm mm, they take it back to the vet. Both the vet and the assistant come back in 2 minutes, and apologized profusely! They have never seen this particular rat poison before, and even though it was bad for Oscar, they learned something that day and took the details of this brand of rat poison for their records as well. They seemed very shocked that this company did not color the poison bars like the other rat poison companies do.

Well, now we have 30 days of med's for the boy. We expect all to be OK with my Oscar dog, since we got him in quickly!

And I had to kiss $300.00 goodbye, so the idea of a better camera is that much further away!