So far, so good

Dax is doing fine, so far. She's on Vitamin K treatment until next Friday, when she'll have a blood test to check her clotting factor.

That's scary enough. What's worse - I found another block of rat poison on my neighbor's walk (next to my yard) on Sunday evening. Monday, I called our Animal Control officer and reported it and asked her how many blocks of poison the person scattered. It never occurred to her to ask how many were unaccounted for. Between us, we'd found six. I think we both assumed that half a dozen was sufficient for anyone looking to get rid of a little chipmunk.

Ever heard the adage "Never assume! It makes an ass of u and me!?" The poisoner admitted to 20, which I figure means double that number. And said she did it for a week, which I figure means two.

Lori (our Animal Control officer) put in quite a bit of overtime yesterday evening. She went from door to door, showing people what the poison looks like and warning them to pick it up and call her. We don't want it thrown in the trash - squirrels are very clever at getting into trash bins around here.

Again I ask - how could anyone think so little and be so stupid?

Somebody tried to kill her

I don't usually use this blog for ranting - I figure there's enough of that around. A radio personality here has a segment once a week called "The Brighter Side of Life" and that's the angle I like to take whenever possible.

That said, the time has come. Yesterday morning I took the dogs out, in our own, fenced backyard, about 9 a.m. I noticed Dax chewing on something blue and went over to investigate. My worst nightmare come to life - it was a block of rat poison. A squirrel had probably carried it into our yard.

I swept out her mouth, ran inside, put the stuff in a sandwich bag, pulled on some shoes, grabbed her and ran to the vet. She spent a miserable day there, having her stomach emptied and treated with charcoal and Vitamin K. She's in jeopardy for a while - Vitamin K every day and keeping a close watch on her. That's her, looking miserable, in a puppy playpen here at work.

Now for the ranting. I called our village Animal Control department to find out if they were doing any baiting for rodents in my neighborhood. Our village is usually terrific and responsible. As they were in this case, too.

In the afternoon, when I was heading out for some errands before going back to the animal hospital to pick Dax up, I saw the Animal Control truck on the street. I circled back to the alley behind our house and found the officer, Lori, checking things out. The village wasn't doing any baiting anywhere near us. And it's illegal in our town to use any lethal means where children, pets and wildlife have access.

She checked out my yard with me, then started looking around the alley. And there she found two more blocks of the stuff, sitting right out in the open, slightly gnawed. You could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. She said she'd go door-to-door, trying to find out who'd done it. And why.

Here's where the ranting comes in. A neighbor across the alley admitted they'd set out the poison. They had a chipmunk burrow in their yard and just went to the hardware store, bought the most lethal "super rodenticide" they could find, and put it out. They had no idea their actions were illegal. They should have known it was incredibly stupid. Lori tells me they're horrified they poisoned my dog. So they should be. Stupid, stupid people. Common sense should have told them not to put poison in the open. Unfortunately, common sense isn't.