Friday, July 23, 2010

My Dog Ate My...

Ant bait.

I would never put my children or pets in harms way on purpose. Of course I wouldn't. The other adult living in my home, however, put an ant trap on the floor in the dining room where my dog, He Who Will Eat Anything, could find it and start chomping on it this morning.

I just have to shake my head. How did he not know better?

As soon as I heard the crinkling of plastic I looked over to snatch the bait trap from his jaws and quickly called my vet. After reading the ingredients to the receptionist, she put me on hold. Upon returning to the phone, she told me to bring in my dog for fluids and observation. I love my dog, but I don't love my vet. Every time I take in a pet it's a minimum of $300 at a pop. Given the amount of stuff my dog eats or gets into, I would be living in a van if I took him in for everything.

So, I did what a normal skeptic would do. I called Poison Control. First of all, I was surprised that I didn't have the number handy on my phone list. It seems like a sensible thing to have readily accessible. Secondly, I got the answer I was looking for. Ant baits have mostly Boric Acid in them and it's not really toxic - especially in such a small quantity. The woman on the HotLine wouldn't have been too concerned about a one-year-old ingesting an ant trap and certainly a 90-pound dog is better off than that.

I'm giving him my own fluids, by way of a bowl of water and observing him myself. It's not that I can put a price on my dog, it's just that he's got an iron constitution. He ate an entire pan of brownies once and didn't get sick. I think he'll be fine. And while I am a cheapskate, if he had consumed bleach a bottle of Asprin, I wouldn't have even called, I would have run out of the house without even a bra on.

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