David See Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Hi all, This evening I was in our home office doing some work and looked out the window to see our dog wobbling all over the backyard attempting to vomit. On closer inspection she had trembling back legs and her eyes were glazed. I had seen this behaviour before. A quick inspection to the front yard and sure enough - most of the snail pellets my wife had put down at the weekend were gone. The dog never goes into the front yard (that's why we thought it ok to use the pellets there) but she went out there tonight when we were admiring our christmas lights we also installed on the weekend. We didn't even see her go near the pellets!! I called the local vet - he was 20 mins away from his work and I met him there around 9pm. It is only a 5 min drive from home. Whilst waiting for the vet in the car park, Bessie got much worse and was stumbling everywhere with poo flying out one end at a rate of knots and vomit the other. Yep, up came the pellets. That was the culprit. Thank goodness she waited till we got out of the car. Vet arrived, took her inside, checked her vitals. Gave her the antidote for the Bayer brand snail pellets (with bitrex) and then some vallium to settle her for the night. She settled down within 10 minutes. Shaking stopped. She vomited three times in the vet's, more and more pellets came up. She had eaten HEAPS. She is home now and will not settle. She seems fine but is stumbling all over the place due to the vallium (apparently). No more shakes. No more vomit. No more exploding poos. She wants water but the vet said not too much. The bill? $175.00. I thought that was reasonable considering it was a callout and it saved my dog's life. A near disaster has a happy ending! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeychild Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Wow that must have been a scare! Thank goodness she is ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kibble Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I'm so glad u'r dog is all right. Hope she settles down soon and feels better.... Poor thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxSpots Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Thank goodness she's OK, it's so scarey My husband put snail pellets down a week after I got my dog (then a puppy) I rang him at work furious and said you'd better meet me at the vets, you've just poisoned my dog and I want you here to see what she's going through !!! and hung up. She was dribbling and shaking all over, I couldn't believe someone could be so stupid, heads were going to roll. To his credit he dropped everything and raced straight over and met us there, was so sorry, and said that he deliberately bought the "Dog repellant one" thinking of the new puppy, and the hardware told him dogs wouldn't eat it. Luckily Molly was treated in time, they gave her something to throw it all up...poor little thing, I don't remember what else they did, but she got through it. Hard lesson learnt by Hubby, not to believe packaging or sales people. And if he wants to keep snails off his orchids he'll have to do it by hand. David, so glad your dog is OK now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTD Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 So glad to hear that your dog is ok What a scare ! Yes and not a bad price from the vet. Worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 WOW - you are soo lucky - glad that it all turned out alright.... We use beer to kill of the snails, maybe try that next time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinead Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I found a "doggy friendly" brand of snail pellets and put them down on Sunday. (Can I mention the brand...because my vet said they are liars and I want others to know) I kept my Bichon Frise out of the garden because even though I bought the product thinking it was safe, I was still a little wary. Alfie (the escape-artist) got into the garden for a while without me realisingand at around 9pm that evening he started whimpering. I picked him up for cuddles and he yelped in pain. With the snail pellets at the forefront of our mind, we rushed him to the 24hr vet and he spent the night there. The vet said that we nearly lost him. It's Thursday and he is still only about 50% himself. He is normally an extremely happy little fella and so it is breaking my heart to see him like this. How long have other survivors of these horrible little pellets taken to get back to normal? I am still worried about him. I am horrified to think that I did this to him. I have learnt the hard way that there is no such thing as dog-friendly pellets and that even the ones that have pictures of dogs and cats on the front only do it to sell their product ahead of the other poisonous, but honest brands. :D David, vet bill was $1080.00 (!!) - but worth every cent.... Any advice anyone could offer will be well received... Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I have used snail pellets occasionally but only in small spaces UNDER a heavy object - snails congregate in those sorts of places anyway. I worry though about what might happen if the dog has a go at a dead snail. I've not used the snail pellets for some time. Usually I pick them up by hand and throw them onto the roof. I figure if it can get down from there it deserves to live. Particularly in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Usually I pick them up by hand and throw them onto the roof. I figure if it can get down from there it deserves to live. Particularly in the summer. I have to admit, imagining this, a small part of me starting baricking for the snails! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 There are many reasons to avoid snail baiting pellets. Not only can they kill dogs and cats, but anything else that happens to eat these things will die a horrible death. Do people realise that these things are attractive to birds, frogs and lizards as well as snails? If you experience a problem with snails, the best remedies are beer at the bottom of a steep-sided container; laying plastic plumbing pipe on the ground then emptying it of snails and squashing them; or getting a duck or two (ducks love to eat snails). Please avoid the use of these pellets - IMO they should be banned from sale and use as they do so much damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skwo2 Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Sinead - I hope your Bichon is ok. How is he now? I got a Bichon too. I don't use snail pellets on my garden. Thanks that the breeder has warned me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinead Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Sinead - I hope your Bichon is ok. How is he now? I got a Bichon too.I don't use snail pellets on my garden. Thanks that the breeder has warned me. skwo2, I will NEVER use them again - stupid of me. He is getting better by the day, I think he is mostly psychologically affected at the moment ! He is only 2 and has not had a scare in his short life. They are a beautiful breed aren't they?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aniangel Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 as an emergency & critical care vet nurse i can say there is NO SUCH THING as a 'pet friendly' snail bait. use 'natural' remedies such as beer or traps, or get a chook or a duck to control the snails! we can treat and cure many pets that have ingested snail bait, but it is usually very expensive for something that can be easily avoided! when you see a dog dripping green tears and seizuring from the snail bait it breaks your heart.... stay away from snail baits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mental Midget Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Not a snail bait thing but related I think. When we got Merlin, we had a close call. A day or two after Merlin came to join our family The Daddy done his lawn feed and weed on the front garden. We get all sorts of birds from sparrows to swans in our garden and had always got the "good" ones for wildlife,birds and domestic pets. Well that's what we thought - we believed the packaging and advice from the bloke. The only time Merlin (or Pixie or Archie) are in our front garden is briefly going to the car or when we go walkies. Our back garden has never had any pesticides used on it and this is Merlins Kingdom. Merlin came to live with us at 4 months old. A few days after we got him home he was very lethargic. He was laying in his wee bed and was shaking and twitching and then he wet himself when still asleep. I called the vet and ranted the symptoms down the phone. Turned out that Merlin in his very brief visits to our front garden had hoovered up some of the "feed and weed" stuff. Luckily for us The Daddy had watered the lawn and it had rained after he put it down. The Daddy was very proud of his front lawn that looked like a snooker table but now he's happy with the daisy and clover look. I've never used slug pellets in the back garden but a beer trap does the trick on my veggie patch along with egg shells and orange peel. I'd rather have some well chomped flowers and veggies than have a sick Merlin or Pixie or Archie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mental Midget Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Sorry. I told a lie. Our back garden has had pesticides used in it. We had a wasps nest a couple of years ago and it got zapped by every wasp killing chemical known to man. The evil b*$@"&%s try to kill me so I'm a little paranoid about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpielover Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 crushed egg shells spread around are very effective against snails much safer option than snail pellets (when you have inquisitive dogs and young children anyway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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