Raid Double Control Bait 2 Ant traps are .5% Abamectrin, and 99.5% "Inert materials", which, I have had the pleasure of finding out, is mostly peanut butter.

Abamectrin is closely related to Ivermectin, the active ingredient in HeartGuard.

So while your dog chewing on ant traps isn't the best thing in the world for him, in Mr B's case, it's not the end of the world either.


This PSA brought to you by the color Golden and the number for the Animal Poison Control line.

Yesterday, at some point between 8:15 am and 6 pm, Bailey helped himself to 1 stick of Burt's Bees Medicated Chapstick, and more unfortunately, 1 package of Trident "Tropical Twist" Sugarless chewing gum.

As many of you know, I'm a recovering nailbiter, and so I keep gum everywhere. I had taken out a pack and the chapstick, intending to put it in my coat pocket on my way out the door yesterday morning. It sat on the stairs, forgotten.

I arrived home, found the shredded paper/plastic remains, but no gum.

One call to my mother who has access to the internet later, and I find out Xylitol, the artificial sweetener in some sugarless gums, can be extraordinarily toxic to dogs. It attacks their liver. It can also play havoc with their insulin, essentially triggering a diabetic coma.



Bailey was rushed to the Tufts Emergency room at about 6:20 pm, where they took him away to hook him up to all manners of IVs and tried to induce vomiting. They managed to get up about 3 sticks of gum, meaning that there were still about 15 floating around his system. The next step was to feed him activated charcoal and wait it out. They let me say good night to him about about 9pm, and sent me home.

They say he should be fine, but with Xylitol poisoning, you never know. They don't know why it affects some dogs and not others.
He was not dehydrated, and was still his usual self (albeit nervous and shocky from his treatments) when I left.

I should know more when they call me this afternoon.

- k.