Thread: Slug bait poisoning - a cautionary tale

With the slugs and snail starting to hammer the garden my wife got a box of slug bait the other day, managed to get it wet so transferred bait into a plastic container and left it sealed up on a table outside.

Was woken up in middle of night by weird scrabbling noise and found dog staggering round down-stairs all foamed up, went into seizures and lost bowel control within minutes. Shot her into the 24hr clinic and they pumped a fair bit of blitzem from both ends.

Dog must have gone out the dog door over night and had a go at some midnight scrounging - wife apparently hadn’t secured the lid properly and she’s managed to knock the container lid off and had a few mouthfuls.

Bloody heartbreaking to see, dogs only just three years old, healthy as and good in the hills. especially since it is so preventable with some basic precautions. Waiting at vet to see if dog will pull through but even if she does sounds like real risk of organ damage due to seizures and high temps or liver failure over next 2-3 days.

Apparently not uncommon this time of year and main risk is when there is a pile of bait they can scoff - open box or spillage. Dog would have to lick up 10-20 sqm of bait when spread on a garden to get a toxic dose for lab sized dog. They will eat it despite the repellent in it.

So yeah pretty tough lesson to learn for all involved but figured be worth posting - might save someone else going through this shit.