Saturday, January 17, 2009

Another Dog Day

You know the mice under the dishwasher?

I set traps, and for days they've been empty.  The mouse smell won't go away, because the flooring under the dishwasher is soaked with mouse nest.  And that nest is huge.

I did something really, really stupid.  I got a poison trap for mice.  1 oz pre-baited.

I read the label and it said that if an animal caught and ate a poisoned mouse, it would be poisoned too.  I chickened out of using the trap.  Good, right?  Well, sort of.  I triple wrapped in in plastic bags and had the boy take it out to the garbage so that Dakota or the cats wouldn't knock over the garbage can in the middle of the night and get into it.

So many should haves, could haves ...

The wind rolled the garbage can within reach of the dog enclosure.

When I saw the garbage can on its side by the gate, I thought oh no, you've got to be kidding me.  When I opened the door, Brian nicely handed me the empty mouse trap.  

All the dogs went to the vet, and they're under a vet's care.  So far so good.  But after inducing vomiting in all of them, we determined that it's likely that Beast got most or all of the poison, and not enough of it came up to put him out of danger. 

He feels fine.  He's happy to be in the house.  But he could start bleeding internally.  We don't know.  He's on a treatment that help counteract the poison, and he gets canned dog food with his vitamins to help absorb the treatment.  He's in pretty good shape, and has no idea what all the fuss is about.

The puppies are on the treatment too, just in case.  They get to be outside and have regular fun.  But Beast has to stay in, avoid any rough and tumble stuff to avoid bruising, and be treated with kid gloves for about three weeks.

I'm so scared I'm going to wake up and find him gone.  

He sure knows how to get into trouble.  The airedale is strong in this one.

So wish us luck.

The really, really stupid part about all this?  I've never bought poison for rodents before.  Ever.  I'm against it.  I talked myself into it because the traps weren't working, and if I hadn't done that, or if I hadn't talked myself out of it and locked that trap under the dishwasher where no animals could get to it, we wouldn't be going through this.

Don't buy rat poison.  Don't talk yourself into it.  Just don't.  You'll sleep easier at night.  Trust me on this one.

6 comments:

Kai Jones said...

Oh, that's awful! You poor thing. Wishing the best for Beast.

The Moody Minstrel said...

Oh, rats!

Poor Beast!

Marty said...

Yikes poor dog: furthermore on the poison thing - the mice will die and create an even bigger stink mess under the floor. Get a professional to pull out the dishwasher and clean out the rodents. Your house (and your dogs) will thank you...

Kami said...

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. Beast is doing okay, but it's still very early. The fact that we started treatment right away, before symptoms could appear (symptoms appear in 4-7 days) is a hopeful thing.

I will get a professional, but what's going to have to happen is that we're going to have to rip down the ceiling under the dishwasher, get rid of the nest via the downstairs, and then have a pro put new ceiling chunks back up. After that is done, we may still have to replace the particleboard under the dishwasher.

This won't get rid of the infestation, but it'll get rid of the worst of the smell. We still have to deal with the infestation via traps, but traps with peanut butter don't seem to be working. I guess I'll just have to be patient and try different locations for the traps each week in hopes I'll snag some mice eventually. I can hear them in the walls and ceiling, especially near the big dishwasher nest, in my office, next to the upstairs bathtub (ugh) and in my bedroom wall.

Arrrrggggghhhh

The Moody Minstrel said...

Try gumdrops instead of peanut butter. I heard that somewhere.

Kami said...

I'll certainly give it a try. Ugh. Stupid mice! I worry they may start a fire, too. They're just such indiscriminate chewers, and I think they've started a small nest near my office light.

One more thing on my to-do list. Ugh.