Warning to pet owners-homebase slug pellets

noonesperfect

I wasn't sure whether to put this under this section or the gardening section.

As a dog owner myself I was very upset to read in this morning's paper that someone's 4 year old chocolate lab had been killed by some Homebase Grow Your own slug pellets. Apparently there is no skull and crossbones warning on the label and they have some additive which supposedly makes them less attractive to pets. (though it does carry a dangerous to pets and children warning, the dogowner presumably didn't notice this and assumed it would be OK). However this pet dog had ingested enough to make it gravely ill and had to be PTS.

This serves as a salutory warning to be careful of what you put on your garden and to read labels carefully. Better to go for the grapefruit skins and beer I think.

One of my dogs is a lab X and she will eat/lick anything - so please be careful about what your dog has access to.

Mel2

Poor dog! How awful.
I got a dog for the first time just over a year ago (a chocolate lab called Bailey). I love gardening and had always used slug pellets before i got him but stopped as soon as he came to live with us. Since then I've tried everything I can think of to deter the slugs including beer traps, egg shells and ground coffee. Had to stop all three as Bailey drank the beer out of the buried cups, ate the egg shells and scoffed the coffee grounds!!! lol He has a sensitive stomach so none of it did him any good and he ended up with diarrohea! Unfortunately now the slugs are winning and have ruined lots of my plants. I've now bought a bag of sharp sand and am going to scatter that in the hope the slugs wont climb over it and the dog wont eat it! No matter what happens though, I wont go back to the pellets!

Incidently, there have been episodes in a local park where some horrid individual has put slug pellets inside raw meat and hidden it in bushes etc. A few dogs have died after this.

noonesperfect

I really do wonder at the mentality of people who deliberately set out to harm animals Why??? How can they do this Mel2, it's truly evil isn't it?

If you've got plants in pots you can buy special copper strips that you can put round them which I doubt would attract Bailey. Slugs don't like the feel of it so won't cross over it apparently.

chez22

There are slug pellets available now that are totally safe for pets, wild birds etc. I have bought some and they work! 'Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer'. Cheapest place to buy is Wilkos.

Mel2

These pellets that they say are safe for pets etc contain iron. If the dog ate the pellets just once then they wouldn't do any harm, but if the dog was to eat them regularly over a period of time then iron toxicity would eventually become a problem as dogs are unable to excrete excess iron stores from their body. Iron toxicity can cause stomach and heart problems and kill. I certainly wouldnt want to risk this with my dog. The same problem could also occur with wildlife such as hedgehogs etc over a prolonged period of time.

foreign_correspondent

Apparently slug pellets are the most common culprit for accidental poisining of dogs... they even smell tasty to dogs, so attract them.

Last year, on another forum I visit, there was a thread about a lurcher who ate through the plastic canister of slug pellets and devoured a good portion of the contents - he very nearly died, despite swift action by the owner and the vet... however, I suspect in most cases people do not realise in time.

butler_helen

They make cats ill too- ours (my parents) ate loads and got quite sick and cost a fortune! we felt very guilty when we realised what it was, as we'd not even thought to check out the packet.

(I have no idea why the cat ate the pellets- the vet thought it was eating leaves as she was feeling ill).