CT Underhound Railroad

Must love dogs
Why Provincetown MA was named America’s dog-friendliest place

By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff | August 24, 2010

PROVINCETOWN — In most parts of Massachusetts it would be out of the ordinary to see a dog careering down the street on a Segway.

But not in Provincetown, where it happens every day. Sometime around midday, Chip Brock leaves his artist’s studio, plops his black pug Chu Chi into a backpack, and hitches him to the handlebars of his Segway. The two of them whiz down Commercial Street, with Chu Chi stretched over the prow of the Segway like a figurehead on a ship in Cape Cod Bay.

They zip past Paws & Whiskers dog bakery. They pass Wired Puppy, a coffee shop. They stop at Adams, a pharmacy, where an employee who knows him rushes out with a dog biscuit. He gets another treat at The Coffee Pot.

This is, after all, the most dog-friendly town in America. So decreed Dog Fancy magazine, which recently named it DogTown USA.

It takes a lot to impress Ernie Slone,Dog Fancy’s editor, who had so many contenders for the honor (94 towns and cities) that he named 39 runners-up. They include Park City, Utah, which has a canine fitness club; Sioux Falls, S.D., home of the Woofstockdog festival; Sanford, Fla., with “yappy hour’’ socials; and Huntington Beach, Calif., with a doggie bus to shuttle dogs and owners to the beach.

But Slone says he’s never seen anything quite like Provincetown, where more than 20 restaurants allow dogs on their patios, where many shops have “store dogs,’’ such as Jack, a border collie-black Labrador mix that is the resident canine at i d, a gift shop.

“He’s the equivalent of the Wal-Mart greeter,’’ said Nick Robertson, who co-owns both the store and Jack.

“Provincetown is unusual because of the extent to which dogs are incorporated into the fabric of the community,’’ said Ernie Slone. “Provincetown has whale watching with dogs, sunset cruises with your dogs. I don’t know of another place that allows dogs in banks. Not only are dogs allowed in the shops, some of them even staff the store with dogs. It’s not bring your dog to work, it’s put your dog to work.’’

It’s neither an exaggeration nor an insult to say that Provincetown has gone to the dogs. There are 551 dogs and 2,997 humans in Provincetown, according to town clerk Doug Johnstone, and not too long ago it dawned on town officials that there was a lucrative marketing opportunity in promoting Provincetown as a pet-friendly destination.

“We took concrete strategic actions,’’ said Bob Sanborn, Provincetown’s tourism director. He lobbied Dog Fancy magazine hard, touting the town’s many dog-friendly amenities in the DogTown USA questionnaire. “People in Provincetown are crazy about their fur children,’’ Sanborn wrote. It has a veterinarian who does pet acupuncture. It hosts Pet Appreciation week with a dog tea dance and a “blessing of the dogs’’ at a church.

“I don’t think a dog could walk half a block on the main street, Commercial Street, without seeing a water-filled dog bowl!’’ Sanborn enthused. “Provincetown has 22 poop bags stations all around town including our beach landings.’’

If you’re a dog, there’s no more felicitous place to be than Provincetown, where there are three miles of off-leash beaches and trails and a $200,000 dog park called the Pilgrim Bark Park that features dog art installations, a dog memorial, a dog drinking fountain, and a dog memorial which honors, among other dogs, the two that came to Provincetown on the Mayflower in 1620.

“Our canine heritage dates almost 400 years,’’ said Candace Nagle, co-founder of the Bark Park, who named her own dogs Pilgrim and Mayflower.

There are more services and retail establishments catering to dogs than you can throw a stick at. Several galleries admit dogs and feature dog art. The Recycled Retriever sells eco-friendly dog products. Photographer Brad Fowler of Song of Myself Photography includes dogs in about one-third of his family portraits.

Dogs are indulged at several Provincetown hotels, with many offering doggie bags, and some permit dogs to sleep on the beds. The Surfside Hotel & Suites even has a dog shower. “Dogs are treated like special guests here,’’ said David Quigley, who works at the hotel, where his wife, Elaine, is general manager.

At the upscale Land’s End Inn, where many of the rooms have panoramic ocean views, owner Michael MacIntyre started accepting pets five years ago, setting aside three rooms with views that were less desirable. Despite the high price ($315 at peak season, plus $50 for the dog), the rooms were so popular that he added two more this year, spending “a shocking amount of dollars’’ ($225,000) to redecorate them.

“Now these five rooms are probably my top-selling rooms at the inn,’’ MacIntyre said. “My revenue figures have skyrocketed.’’

Fueling all this is the fact that Provincetown is populated with year-round residents who are obsessed with dogs — their own and others.

“The pets are really, really family members and very connected to people here,’’ said Stephen Magliocco, an architect. He and Mike Carroll, an artist and gallery owner, own Chester, a golden retriever. “I think of [Chester] as having two personal attendants, not just two dads.’’

What makes Provincetown so dog-crazy? “I’ve got two theories for this,’’ said Robertson of i d. “There’s a high gay population, and a lot of gay people don’t have children and have pets instead of kids. And there’s a whole environment here which attracts people to move and work and live here. It’s a tourist economy, a seasonal resort. It’s not structured and corporate 9-to-5, so it opens up the doors for people to bring their pets to work. You can jump out of work for half an hour and walk your dog on the beach.’’

Or carry them in baby pouches or push them in strollers, a common sight here. Or take them to art galleries. Ewa Nogiecof Gallery Ehva, is convinced that dogs actually appreciate art. She’s seen it happen with her own dog, a dachshund named Hana.

“Her favorite is the gallery’s mascot ‘Penguin’ with a big orange beak by sculptor Donna Dodson,’’ Nogiec said in an e-mail. “But she also loves Didier Corallo work. And it is not easy work to love.’’

All of these amenities make vacation time so much easier for folks like Adrian Lyss and her husband, Angelo Izzi, from Brooklyn, N.Y., who visit Provincetown every July for a week and return for two more weeks in August.

They have no children but they do have Teddy, 8, a retriever mix. “It’s a family vacation,’’ said Lyss, who was just settling Teddy aboard a 30-foot cutter-rigged cruiser operated by Dog Gone Sailing Charters, which caters to passengers with dogs. Lyss settled the dog near the starboard side. “Teddy likes to look out,’’ she explained.

Lyss and Izzi have been bringing Teddy to Provincetown every year since he was a puppy. “We stay at the Breakwater Motel, which is very dog-friendly, and when we get there he looks at all the rooms his friends stayed at before,’’ Lyss said. “They all look for each other. It’s nice, because they kind of feel like they’re going on their own vacation.’’

Linda Matchan can be reached at l_matchan@globe.com.

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All too often we hear about people wanting to breed their dog or cat, after all, puppies and kitties are just so darn cute! Well, if only they opened their eyes to the awful truth - there are many more animals in this world than there are people willing to care for them. Pounds, shelters, city & even rural streets are where many of these "ownerless' animals find themselves. If they are lucky someone will come along and adopt them and love them forever, but this is not the norm. More often than not these animals find themselves facing certain death, either by euthanasia, heartsticking, gassing or worse.

The video below was taken on "gassing day' at a rural southern shelter. "Death day" is a weekly event at most shelters, sometime it is more than once a week - during summer months, after many moms have given birth to "unwanted" babies shelters see a huge boom in their population. City budgets can only care for so many animals at a time, the ones that can't find homes or rescues are put to death by the hundreds every day throughout the country.

Those cute puppies and kittens you couldn't wait to hold in your hands and the ones you put in a box on your front lawn with a "free to good home" sign could end up here. The babies they have because they do not get fixed will end up here too.

It is estimated that for many dogs only 1 puppy per litter of 9 actually dies in the comfort of a loving home. The rest will die of starvation, disease, abuse, or be killed in a pound/shelter because no one wants them.

It is because of this that we work tirelessly to promote spay/neutering AND vaccination of all dogs, cats, and domesticated animals. If you love your pet, then please, spay & neuter in order to prevent any more animals from entering this world and facing such awful odds.

Bentley and Milo - formerly Speck and Spot- have been in ICU since last Wednesday fighting for their tiny precious lives. Soon after coming up north to start their new lives, they broke with Parvo and serious Pneumonia. At only 6 weeks old, these puppies have already been through so much...

The bills for treatment are now over $5500. We are doing everything we possibly can to get them healthy again, including expensive blood and plasma transfusions. A small rescue cannot cover this without help.

Many rescues would have euthanized these tiny babies, but we are committed to giving them every chance at life.... no matter what.

These babies ARE NOT GIVING up....after all they have suffered, and against ALL odds, they are still alive today!

We are taking items and such from our own homes and selling them to try to get these bills reduced. We need help desperately.

Use this link to donate:

http://ctunderhound.chipin.com/tiny-parvo-babies-fighting-for-their-lives

If you wish to donate directly to the vet:

CT VETERINARY CENTER
470 Oakwood Avenue
West Hartford, CT 06110-1320
(860) 233-8564
(account under Holly Acker)

If you cannot donate please share and forward this, you never know who may be able to help, and keep them in your thoughts.

What do veterinarians think of the names we give our pets? Do they snicker or roll their eyes when they meet a cat named Meatball Jesus or a dog named Hannah Montana? Do they find the choice of Snowball or Fluffy to be a bit boring?

The answer appears to be yes.

In a recent USA Today article, "Less-than-fetching pet names can reflect back on owners," Florida-based veterinarian Dr. Patty Khuly says that what a cat or dog is named can reveal quite a bit about the pet parent.

"Pet owners always seem to go with dramatic names for their pets," writes Dr. Khuly, citing such gems as Ghetto-Fabulous, Shrapnel and RazzleDazzle. "Maybe they represent names they are unwilling or unable to name their children," she muses. Not that the good doctor is above getting creative with her own pets' monikers, including one named Slumdog. (Her only explanation in the piece was that he "came by his name honestly, I can assure you.")

We were curious whether other vets felt the same way, so we asked around. As it turns out, pet names are a big source of conversation around the animal hospital water cooler.

Tags to Avoid
"There's all this lore in veterinary medicine about pet names," Dr. Tony Johnson, clinical assistant professor at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine said. "The first one is, never name your pet Lucky. That almost guarantees your pet will get hit by a car or get some crazy disease that's only been seen twice since the Middle Ages."

Another no-no is when owners recycle pet names. In fact, it is a "humongous red flag," according to Dr. Johnson. When a person gives successive pets the same name, like Fluffy II, says Dr. Johnson, "I always wonder, 'what happened to Fluffy I?"

Pop Culture Motivations
Movies and television are also rich sources of pet names. It's what Dr. Johnson calls the "Disney effect." "I've met pets named Simba after 'The Lion King,' Pikachu after the Pokemon character and even a Labrador retriever named Hannah Montana," Dr. Johnson says. "Whatever is in popular culture will trickle down to pet names." But whether any of these names will stand the test of time is debatable.

On the other hand, tried and true names can be considered dull. "A white dog named Snowball or a gray cat named Smoky isn't all that creative," says Dr. Johnson.

Real Life Inspirations
"I enjoy it when a pet isn't named Princess or Gizmo or Benji," says Dr. Judith Schwartz, a veterinarian at the Humane Society of New York City. "It shows the owners have thought about the name." Assuming there's a story behind a flamboyant moniker, Dr. Schwartz will use it as an opportunity to establish a connection when speaking to a pet owner. "I'll ask, 'how'd you name your pet?" she says.

Many pet names do have interesting backgrounds. For example, Dr. Johnson and his wife, Dr. Gretchen Statz, also a veterinarian, have two cats named after the trauma that befell each of them. "One of our cats was rescued after someone set him on fire and we named him Crispy," says Dr. Johnson. "Our other cat was found after it was shot with an arrow and we named her Cupid." But isn't it a little sick to name your cat Crispy? "It's not sick, it's funny!" insists Dr. Johnson. "We love him."

From the Truly Troubling to Comic Relief
Dr. Schwartz of the Humane Society tells Paw Nation that she has encountered pet names that are "unprintable." "You have no choice but to infer there's something strange with the owner," she says. Dr. Khouly agrees. "I always worry when I see a pet named something rude, demeaning or devised to congratulate the owner on his dry wit," she writes. "Infidel, Slut, Saddam, Fidelita and Stalin are all names I've seen come out of the label machine. What does that say about your relationship to your animal?"

Fun and colorful names, however, can provide a much-needed chuckle in the midst of a vet's hectic day. At the Humane Society of New York -- which provides low-cost veterinary services to the public seven days a week, as well as an adoption center -- staff keep a running list. "We write them down if they're extraordinary," co-executive director Sandra DeFeo tells Paw Nation, rattling off some names: a dog named Chicken Arnold, a cat named Meatball Jesus, another cat named Cinnamon Toy of Tudor Mr. President, and a dog named Coco Henry Howard Meow. "One of the weirdest names we ever heard was a cat named Algebra," says DeFeo.

An unusual pet name can be hard to forget, agrees Dr. Johnson, who once treated a dog named Delicious Sausage. "That was bizarre," he says.

The odds are that you live in a town that kills dogs. Here in the United States, estimates run from 2.7 to 10 million dogs that are killed each year. There are many reasons dogs get killed in shelters. Some dogs are just too sick to save. Others may be too aggressive. Unfortunately, many are killed because no one wants them.

Many states do not track the number of dogs killed by animal control officers, but the Connecticut Department of Agriculture does track some of this information. Here in Connecticut, around 2,500 dogs picked up by animal control officers are killed each year, or about 13% of the dogs that get picked up. This appears to be less than many other states, but is still a problem.

Perhaps the most important thing to be done is to make sure that your dog is spayed or neutered. Beyond that, getting your next dog from a municipal shelter or a rescue group that works closely with local shelters can help reduce the number of dogs killed because of overcrowding in shelters.

My name is Hope Cruser, and I am one of the founding members of the CTUnderhound Railroad. While I like to focus my efforts as much as possible on saving dogs from local shelters, occasionally, when I am able to, I rescue other's, especially when a fellow rescuer really wants me to. I received an email from a rescuer friend in NC around the New Year, about a dog that was going to be euthanized there and which had one little one puppy with her, of about 7 weeks at the time (5 wks when they were picked up together by the side of the highway) I was told she was a border collie/heeler mix of some kind, not too old, but in horrible condition. They send one picture, which I will include here. She had Demodex mange very badly. Open wounds, hugely swollen legs, etc., but despite that, she was very loving to her baby. Lots of people wanted the baby, but no one wanted the mom of course. The shelter volunteer did not want to see the baby get adopted and then the mom immediately killed, so she listed them as being inseparable, because she thought she could not stand to see this poor mother dog lose her last baby and then mourn for however long they let her live, only to be kiilled, because no one would want to help with her mange, etc. Besides, she was being rather growly at the time, very protective of her baby. By the time
I was contacted, they had both run out of time, so she asked me if I would commit to rescuing the mom, so she could take them both out that day, provided that the mom turned out to be friendly enough to get out. The mom was in so much pain, that she would have been killed right away at the shelter, had she not been caring for an unweaned baby so well.

I knew the mom's treatment would cost a little bit, so I first contact the amazing CTUnderhound Railroad fundraiser, Irene, and we agreed that she would use a little donation money, and some from her own pocket and I would do the same if necessary and we could save this dog.

Well the first challenge was for the volunteer to get her out of the kennel, since she was so protective of the baby. She got the ACO to take the pup out and then she went in. She began to make friends and that is when she realized that the momma dog is a papa!!! This dog had everyone at the shelter convinced for 10 days that she was a female, because she shared food with this baby, let him crawl over her bleeding body, carried him like a mother would, picked him up and tucked him under her and growled whenever they cleaned the kennel, etc! Quite amazing! So they asked if we would still commit to him and of course, we said yes again. We then changed his name from Mama Millie to Papa Billie.

Friday, the volunteer was supposed to take them home, however after she made the discovery that she was a he, she also received a call saying her heat was out at her house. Of course with the temps down there to below average around middle of January, she needed it more than ever. She could not get it fixed till the following Monday, so she asked the shelter to hold Billie and the pup till Monday afternoon and they said they would.

Apparently, over the weekend, the shelter became concerned that just having Billie on the premises in his condition, with open wounds, etc., now that they knew he was not weaning a puppy, did not look good for them. Meanwhile, the local volunteer I work with was spending the morning dropping off dogs at one of the two local vets to be vetted for the next transport, when the secretary happened to mention that the shelter had just called to say they were bringing over a dog with mange for euthanasia. The volunteer got very upset, of course, and told them to please refuse to kill the dog. She then left to head over to the other vet's office in town where they were having a party for one of the vets (84 years old!) - while there, someone mentioned that a dog had just been brought in from the shelter to be killed and it did not look good. She went crazy again, ran in the back and of course, it was our boy. Well, at this point, another volunteer felt so bad that she brought him home to her house where there are not too many other dogs and agreed to care for him till he was healthy enough to make the trip north. Apparently it would not be good for the pup to be with him while he was getting bathed with treatment for mange and given daily ivermectin, so they were separated, and they were surprised to find that "papa" seemed kindave relieved anyway and did not look for the pup or anything. Based on that, we eventually decided to adopt out the pup down there, while Billie had to wait nearly a month before he was well enough for transport.

Needless to say, this dog has had many near misses at death. He was found with a baby on the side of the highway, only not killed right away at the shelter because they thought he was a she with a baby, as had they known he was a male, he would have been killed nearly immeadiately due to his condition; he was then saved by my being willing to foster him, and also Irene's willingness to make sure the bills got covered, which I could not have done. THEN - he was saved by the amazing chance that the volunteer happened to be visiting both vets that Monday at just the right times. Pretty crazy!

This weekend, he FINALLY made it to Maine. He has been with me since yesterday and I am in LOVE with him! He is the sweetest most gentle boy. He is very, very hand shy and very shy in general, but he also so wants to trust and be loved. We started out with it taking me an hour to convince him to leave his crate and come out to the yard and go potty. I sat on the floor and was the cheer leader and he army crawled, little, by little every time I would move a few feet, back so he was next to me, and we slowly made it to the yard. The next trip I walked and cheer-led and he crawled, but it only took about 10 minutes. We did it many more times yesterday afternoon, and this morning he is PRANCING out of his crate, wiggly and happy despite being covered in scabs. Tomorrow he is getting neutered and then I have a potential very special home worked out with friends, they will meet him in the next few days. I hope you enjoy these pics of him. He is so shy, it is VERY hard to get one of his face where he does not look scared.

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UPDATE 2-19-10

Bill's saga continued shortly after he arrived in Maine and almost caused me the most grief of my life. He arrived Sunday and we spent Monday, which I had off, snuggling on the couch. Tuesday he went to the vet where we found out that he has lyme disease and heart worm on top of the mange. The vet said it was amazing that the treatment he received down south for the mange did not kill him, considering he had heart worm. His heart apparently does not sound great. She said there is no way it could withstand surgery right now, so he will need to wait for his neuter. Tuesday night we had to go out of town for my boyfriend to have surgery. We left the others wiith a sitter, but took Bill with us, since I did not trust the sitter not to let him loose and he was still very nervous and shy. Well, it was me that lost him! I was reminded that we all make mistakes no matter how careful we think we are and before I knew it he was loose in the woods and parking lots of Ellsworth and we could not catch him. He would not come to me or anyone, although he kept coming back to our hotel and sitting outside, watching our room! So sad! When I opened the door though, he's look at me for a minute and then run back into the woods. After two days of torture, we finally found someone with a large humane trap (home made out of street signs and lobster traps!) and managed to capture him. We owe a huge dept to all the people who prayed, sent us strength, and helped us network to find the trap, as well as LOTS of AMAZING folks in Ellsworth who actually helped us in many ways, in our quest to get him back. He is now safe and sound at our house and ready to begin getting healthy. Oh yeah, and he is also on maximum security lock down;)

Last August, Fiona and I gave a ride to a young pit bull rescued from the Hartford Pound. It took the efforts of several people to save the young dog.

First, Sherry, an animal control officer in Hartford reached out to people that might be able to help. A woman in Maine had a place where the dog could be fostered, if there was some way to get her up to Maine. Fiona and I couldn’t drive up on the day that the dog needed to be picked up from the pound, so another person pulled the dog from the Hartford Pound and took her over to the Sadie Mae Foundation where she stayed for a couple days. Finally, Fiona and I picked her up and drove her up to Maine. Another woman picked her up from us and brought her to her foster home. Eventually, she found her forever home.

After the trip, I set up a mailing list for the CTUnderhound Railroad. Over the past half year, we’ve set up a website, a group and fan page on Facebook and have touched the lives of many dogs. As we look at our next half year, we’ve been thinking back over the past half year, and how we can be most effective.

Besides finding homes for dogs in need, we also need to work to make sure that there are fewer dogs that end up in the shelters, and we’ve worked hard to encourage spay and neuter programs. We also want to encourage town animal shelters to adopt best practices to make sure that these dogs find safe homes as quickly as possible.

The group has worked together to create a spreadsheet of town shelters as well as to reach out to various animal control officers. Currently, we are listing the Petfinder pages of forty-four town shelters on the CT Underhound Railroad Shelters Page.

This morning, I did a quick census of dogs on these pages. I counted 125 different dogs of twenty eight different breeds in these shelters looking for homes. Almost half of them are pit bulls. Pit bulls can be wonderful pets when they are properly taken care of, and I hope that people looking for a new pet seriously consider adopting a pit bull. However, I realize that for some people that is not an option and there are many other wonderful dogs in the shelter of Connecticut. If you are looking, please spend time looking through this list and seeing if there is dog that meets your needs.

The first half year of the CT Underhound Railroad has been more successful than I ever imagined it would be when we first started, and hopefully the second half of our first year will be even more so.

"Many common household items -- ones that we've never even thought twice about -- can be harmful and potentially fatal to our four-legged friends. Gretchen Lee Schoeffler, Chief of the Emergency and Critical Care Service at Cornell University Companion Animal Hospital, weighs in on the items to keep far away from your pets' paws.

Chocolate
It may be the ultimate feel-good treat, but chocolate has quite the opposite effect on your cat or dog. The chemical methylxantine is toxic to dogs and in high doses can cause abnormal heartbeats, seizures and death. In addition to the breed and size of your pet, chocolate type is also an important factor in the severity of intoxication. Dr. Schoeffler says the richer the chocolate, the higher the methylxantine content. Therefore, milk chocolate accidents are much less severe than cases involving Baker's chocolate.

Grapes and Raisins
According to Dr. Schoeffler, over the past 10 years vets have seen an increase in problems related to dogs who have eaten grapes or raisins. While some dogs can handle a couple of grapes as a treat, others end up in the hospital hooked up to an IV. While the mechanism is unknown, ingesting grapes and raisins has lead to acute renal failure in canines.

Potpourri
The essential oils in this fragrant mix can be harmful to curious cats and dogs who spill it on themselves or rub against a dish containing the oils. The Cationic detergents in hot scented oils can cause significant burns to a cat's esophagus, mouth and tongue. Dr. Schoefflerer says that these type of burns will prevent a cat from being able to groom itself. Try putting liquid potpourri far from your pets' reach or using an air freshener instead.

Lilies
Keep these pretty flowers far away from your cat. Even in small amounts, lilies can cause severe kidney failure. "Don't even take a bouquet home if it contains lilies," says Dr. Schoefflerer. Be sure to take note of other toxic plants.

Non-Stick Pans
Have a bird? Then forget about cooking with your non-stick pan, says Dr. Schoeffler. When non-stick pans are heated to high temperatures, the fumes can cause a respiratory condition called Teflon Toxicity that can be abrupt and fatal.

Fertilizers
Fertilizers may do wonders for your lawn, but they can be extremely harmful to your outdoor pet. Last year, the ASPCA received more than 2,000 calls related to fertilizer exposure. Pets that ingest fertilizer can suffer damage to their digestive tract and life-threatening gastrointestinal obstruction. Be sure to follow instructions for distributing fertilizer before letting your puppy play in the grass.

Paint
If you live in an older home with lead-based paint or are in the process of remodeling, make sure to keep a close eye on your pet. Dogs who chew on old paint or drink runoff from lead-based paint can suffer from lead intoxication. If left untreated, lead intoxication can be fatal. Dr. Schoefflerer has also seen paintballs pose a threat to pets. The paint pellets can cause an electrolytic disturbance if ingested.

Human Medication
Many people tend to think that if a pill is safe for a human, it's safe for a pet, too. But according to Dr. Schoefflerer, human medication is one of the most common household hazard to pets. Schoefflerer identifies non-steroidal medications as the most harmful to our animals, and arthritis medication like Ibuprofen can also be toxic. There are safe ways to administer medication to pets, but it must be done under veterinary guidance.

Rodenticides
Rodenticides are considered to be one of the most hazardous household items to pets. Last year, the ASPCA received approximately 8,000 calls reporting pets that had accidentally ingested rat and mouse poisons. Dr. Schoeffler identifies three classes of rodenticides that have harmful effects on pets. Cholecalciferols drastically increase calcium levels, causing seizures. Bromethalins cause central nervous system dysfunction. The most popular rodenticide, Anticoagulants, reduces the production of blood clotting factors and can cause an animal to bleed to death. As a general rule, Dr. Schoefflerer says, "Anything that is used to kill one small mammal can kill another."

Emergencies:
Never hesitate to call the ASPCA Poison Control Center (888) 426-4435 if you think your pet has ingested a harmful substance."