Archive for October 6th, 2008
Keep Your Pets Safe from Rodenticides
October 6th, 2008 | 
Author: Everyone’s experienced the battle of the bug, but insects aren’t the only critters who regularly invade homes. Mice, rats and other rodents also seek cover in our cozy dwellings. Chemical bait products can be effective agents against these unwelcome houseguests, but they also pose a serious health risk for curious cats and dogs.
In 2007, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) handled 7,600 cases of pets exposed to rodenticides—nearly 23 percent of all pesticide-related calls. Anticoagulant rodenticides, which include many types of bait on the market, accounted for most accidents.
Dogs are generally most susceptible to exposure, but cats and other small pets are also at risk. Even domestic rodents can escape from their cages and accidentally eat bait not intended for them. Ingestion may result in life-threatening problems such as bleeding, seizures or damage to the kidneys or other vital organs. That’s why, according to the APCC, it’s important to place rodenticides in an area that is completely inaccessible to pets.
IF you think your pet has ingested rat or mouse bait—or any other toxic substance—please call your veterinarian or the APCC’s 24-hour emergency hotline at (888) 426-4435. For more pet poison prevention tips, please visit their website.
Support Your Local Shelter!
Help honor Adopt a Shelter Dog Month by supporting your own eligible local shelter or rescue organization in The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge – brought to you by Petfinder! Prizes will be awarded throughout the Challenge and range from $1,000 weekly prizes to a $25,000 grand prize grant! Plus, you can go back to vote every day and increase your nominated shelter’s chances of winning.
Petfinder is the temporary home for more than 300,000 adoptable pets from nearly 12,000 adoption groups. Learn about adoption and search for your compatible canine on their website.
The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.
Each click on the purple “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary.
