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My Dog Ate An Ant Trap.
This is something I have been asked about quite a lot recently. Ant traps seem to be good way to get rid of ants which can infest your house, the plastic ant traps are left in strategic places, ants then carry some of the contents back to their nest, the contents of course are toxic to ants and that wipes out the colony. Everyone then is happy until the family dog tears the ant trap apart and devours the contents, I have been contacted more than once by distraught owners who think their dog’s life is in danger.
This is actually usually nothing to worry about because the toxin in ant traps is not that poisonous to dogs, normally even a small dog would have to eat the contents of quite a few traps before they were affected in any way. To attract the ants these devices contain substances like peanut butter and of course dogs love this as well.
If your dog swallows any of the contents of an ant trap then it is only common sense that you should watch for any odd symptoms and contact your vet without delay if any occur, but this is usually very unlikely.
Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS
Filed under: Animal Poisons
4 Responses to "My Dog Ate An Ant Trap."
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Oh thank you for putting up this article as I was just researching whether I needed to take my dog to the vet.
I will keep a watchful eye on here and I will also only leave any more traps under furniture.
Regards Stelle
What about a cat? My boyfriend thinks our 9 year old cat may have licked some ant rid. He vomited 2x this weekend and he is not a barfing cat. This is the first time I’ve seen him barf twice, so we are concerned. That and he has gone into hiding all day and won’t come home (from under the shed).
but the other thing is we had house guests… so maybe its that?
Hi Jess,
Id be thinking the advice is the same for the cats as it is for the dogs. Keep an eye on her, and if she continues to vomit and be missing in action, then take her to the vet.
Knowing cats, she is hiding because you have house guests.
My cats vomits sometimes, its mainly when she has been eating grass, and Im told this is normal.
Good luck,
Regards Stelle
well, my dog ate some of her food that was crawling with ants, and then threw up. are ants poisonous or just taste bad, or totally unrelated? nothing else unusual. thanks!