ASPCA's Poison Control Hotline Helped When My Dog Ate Mouse Poison

 The most important stuff first: 

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center Phone Number: (888) 426-4435

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control

From their website: The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) is your best resource for any animal poison-related emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think your pet may have ingested a potentially poisonous substance, call (888) 426-4435. A consultation fee may apply.

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I've had Labs or Lab mutts for the past 30+ years.  They are great dogs, but they eat EVERYTHING.  EVERYTHING.   This post is about my experience when my dog Moose ate mouse poison.  

Here at my house in WA state, we have an ongoing mice problem.  So I bought some mice bait traps from Amazon and Lowe's near my house.  Here's what I bought: 

Tomcat Mouse Killer Refillable Station, Includes 1 Bait Station with 16, 1-oz. Baits - Child & Dog Resistant - Use Indoors & Outdoors to Kill Mice

The package arrived from Amazon, and I took it out from the Amazon package when the thin plastic bag broke.  The makers put their product in a very thin bag and it tore on its own!  Not thinking, I put the broken plastic bag on the floor of the garage.  

The next morning, I noticed Moose (a chocolate Lab, 80 pounds in size) had that "I'm so happy being bad" look on his face.   He had obviously eaten some of the mice bait.  This was a bit after 7AM in the morning, on a weekday.  Of course I was panicked and started calling vets.  We've taken our dogs to a local vet about four miles away for several years -- when we are in Olympia.  In recent years, this vet's staff NEVER f**king answers the phone!  Why don't they get more people to answer the phone?  Moose cut his paw last year during working hours; I called the vet, and they had no space to see him -- so I had to call around and drive Moose to a vet about 25 miles away.  OK, that was one time.  But they did not answer the phone back then during my dog's time of need and the ensuing phone tag was super stressful.  

My local vet had a message to call an emergency clinic.  This was 710am. I called the emergency clinic (about ten miles away), and they said that I had to call the Poison Control Hotline first.  I did so and was put on hold.  Did I mention that I was stressed?  I figured that time was of the essence, so I needed to get Moose to the vet to get his stomach pumped ASAP!  I could not take being on hold any longer (about three minutes) and jumped in the car to drive to the emergency vet.  At the main intersection from my home, I could have  turned one way and gone to the local vet, or turned the other way and it would have taken 20 minutess to get to downtown Oly for the emergency clinic. I decided against the local vet that was two minutes away -- they just have never been there for me and my dog when I needed them!  Again, I was really stressed out.  I had no idea how much Moose had eaten or how quickly the poison might get to him.  

While I was driving, I dialed the poison control hotline and finally got someone rather than being put on hold.  If you call the Poison Control Hotline, you will always get a standard greeting and message to press 1, etc and the message that there is a $75 fee.  I was not initially happy about this message and had no idea what this Poison Control Hotline was from, who ran it, etc.  Was it a government service, a for-profit business, what?  Was I wasting precious time by calling them?  Shouldn't I just haul ass to the emergency vet rather than wasting time calling?  

Thankfully, a calm woman named Lauren answered.  I pulled over to talk to her.  Luckily I could hear her well; I have a pretty bad hearing problem and often can't understand people on the phone (something most businesses need to recognize when they always force hearing-disabled people like me to speak on the phone!).  

I had (surprisingly, given my rush and stress) thought to take the package with me with all the bait in there.  She asked me the ingredients and EPA codes on the package.  I could find the ingredients but not the EPA codes -- looked everywhere on the package, several times.  Lauren kept asking me for the EPA number, which I could not find.  Thankfully the bag stated how many blocks of bait was in there -- 16 blocks.  When Lauren put me on hold, I counted 15 blocks left.  Whew, it was good that the manufacturer put the number of blocks on the package ( but bad that they used such a thin bag to contain the poison!).  Finally Lauren came back and said "no worries, Moose is big enough that eating one block of this poison should be no problem."  It turns out that there was no need to visit the emergency vet or even induce vomiting.  Moose, being 80 pounds, could eat up to four blocks with no issues. Supposedly.  

Here are some more details and things I learned: 

The active ingredient in this Tomcat Mouse Poison is Bromethalin (CAS #63333-35-7), 0.01%.  Other Ingredients**Contains Denatonium Benzoate 99.99%.  

Since I was relieved and no longer so stressed, I found the EPA numbers easily -- they were in plain view to the very left of the ingredients!  People can't operate that well under stress!  At least not me.  

EPA REG NO. 90780-10

EP EST. NO. 12455-W1-1

If you have a dog, get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and store it in case you need to induce vomiting.  I had none at the house.  This should be a last resort (call the Poison Control Hotline and rush the dog to the vet!) but there's information about how to do this online.  All the stores that I've checked locally are out of hydrogen peroxide right now, due to the pandemic.  

I talked to Lauren and determined that the Poison Control Hotline is "under the ASPCA umbrella," but the hotline needs funding, so they do charge a $75 fee.  My wife donates to ASPCA and other animal rescue organizations every year, but I had the impression that ASPCA was one of those lame nonprofits that always, always asked for money, more money, more more more -- and was more of a marketing organization than something that actually did real work (hear that, AAA and to a lesser extent, AARP?).  I am happy to find out that ASPCA has real world services that help people and animals, rather than just being a marketing organization that takes your money and then spends it on mailings to get more money out of you.  

I told this story to a friend, and he wrote: 

> I’m also SHOCKED that there is a $75 fee for poison control.  Who knew?

I have no issue with paying this fee.  They said at the beginning of the voice answering service that there would be a $75 fee.  Also, Lauren took all my information down and gave me her evaluation first, before asking for my credit card, so it was classy on their part.  Good for the ASPCA.

Another thumbs up to ASPCA -- in Monterey County, where I have another home and spend a lot of time, ASPCA is very visible in helping out evacuees and taking in farm animals from the recent wildfires.  This hotline is obviously a service that all vets are making people use in cases of poisoning. So here's a nonprofit that really is doing real work.  Unlike a lot of other bulls*** nonprofits.  Why don't nonprofits pay tax anyway?  I saw an essay on this.  

Thanks, ASPCA and especially the Poison Control Hotline!  

Screw you, local vet that never answers the phone and is never there when your clients need you!  

Moose, that idiot dog, is fine.