What happens if a dog chewed an ant trap

Share your experience in the comments! Ben is the senior content editor for K9 of Mine and has spent most of his adult life working as a wildlife educator and animal-care professional. My 4 mo. Old Pomeranian, shih tzu, chihuahua mix puppy who weighs maybe 4 lbs if that. I found a Terro ant killer bait trap on my couch one end chewed open and ant killer liquid on my couch cushion not sure if she ingested any of it.

Daisy was fine all night this morning she got up shaking and kinda hacking not her usual self. Told by several different people including pet poison control several different things.

So after doing some quick research and found that she probably had not ingested enough to hurt her, but give her tummy ache and the runs. But what could hurt her is the plastic more than anything. Hey, Mika. It is usually the plastic that causes the most trouble with ant traps. Best of luck! Thank you so much for this quick info. My little dog did not even get into the poisen pod inside of the trap, but he did puncture it.

I was so scared. This web site is wonderful. I just caught my dog with one in his mouth. This really helped put me at ease and I have now removed all other traps so it cant happen again. Thanks, I actually ate this not my dog, but I figured it would be the same sorta thing.

Like it? Share it! What Do I Do? The most common ant trap poisons are [ 1 ] :. Although these poisons are lethal for ants and other small pests, the amount of insecticide in an ant trap is typically too small to sicken or kill most dogs.

What about the ants? Is it safe for dogs to eat ants? Ants need to crawl into the trap, get the poison on them, and bring the poison back to their nest. This is a major reason why most dogs who eat an ant trap end up just fine. Although most dogs will be fine if they eat just one trap, you can watch for poisoning side effects and check to see if they ate more than one. If they consumed multiple ant traps, they may experience poisoning side effects such as [ 2 ] :.

If your dog starts showing these symptoms, you can always take them to your vet for a second opinion. You can also call a pet poison hotline. When dogs chew on plastic ant traps, they break it into shards, which can damage their intestines or lead to bowel obstructions. Any evidence of vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or sudden changes in appetite can signal either of these deadly conditions.

The highest risk period is up to 48 hours after the incident. The most important thing now is to ensure that, moving forward, ant traps in your home are not accessible to your dog. Ant-traps can be placed inside cupboards and pantries or other locations that require opening a door for access. Rooms and spaces with ant-traps on the floor should become official no-go zones for your dog or, at least, spaces in which he will be watched with a very close and careful eye.

It may not be possible to always restrict where your dog spends his time in the house. He is a member of the family, after all! You may want to give alternative methods of keeping your house ant-free. Ensuring that food preparation areas are cleared of crumbs, swept, and mopped will discourage tiny intruders from encroaching on your space.

Additionally, it is best to keep all pantry items in properly sealed containers. Hopefully, they will give your home a pass when on the search for a food source. You could also take a look at some pet-safe options to rid the home of ants including essential oil repellant sprays, diatomaceous earth powder, and ultrasonic ant-repellent devices. You might be wondering whether the ingredients in ant traps are poisonous to dogs, but this is a hard question to answer.

Brands of ant traps have different ingredients at different concentrations. Spinosad is a common ingredient in ant traps — this drug is actually used as a flea treatment so it is safe for dogs in some doses.

The same goes for avermectin, although this one can be a problem for certain breeds. In other words, the ingredients in ant traps are poisonous to ants, and can cause symptoms in dogs, in high enough amounts. But the best thing to do is to take the guesswork out of it and ask the professionals at the Pet Poison Helpline for their advice.

Keep them well out of reach, and ideally locked away. Joanna is an experienced vet working in the UK. She has written about pets and pet health for many websites, blogs, and pet magazines and loves to help owners understand their pets through her writing.