Group calls on province to ban rat poison after Kanata dog nearly dies

After a dog in Kanata nearly died from ingesting rat poison, a grassroots organization is calling on the provincial government to take action to prevent similar incidents from happening.

Ally, who asked CTV News not to use her last name, says last Thursday she took her four-year-old Yorkie named Winston for a walk in their Kanata neighbourhood.

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"It's been a really awful experience," said Ally. "It's made me a lot more leery, when I used to feel comfortable and safe here in our neighbourhood."

During the walk, she says Winston picked up a blue block that turned out to be rat poison.

"We rushed him immediately over to the emergency vet where they had to induce vomiting and give him IV fluids and all sorts of medication and bloodwork to try and stabilize him," Ally said. "It was a really awful experience."

A sample of the rodenticide picked up by Winston, a 4-year-old dog, while out on a walk with his owner, Ally. (Supplied)

She says the poison was found near a retirement home, but she's not sure how it got there.

The owner of Brookside Retirement Living, Christine Forget, says the home has a contract with Orkin for pest prevention and has several bait boxes on its property.

"After I learned about it this morning, I instantaneously called our pest control provider," said Forget. "I'm going to be doing an investigation. We are really concerned because pets are really important to us."

Orkin tells CTV News it follows strict guidelines and checked the bait boxes on the property which were still intact.

Although, the company says there are times when rodents will pull the poison from the boxes.

"These so-called tamper-resistant boxes are not tamper resistant," said Allison Hansen, co-founder of Rodenticide Free Ontario. "We've seen many pictures of rodents like eastern gray squirrels or even raccoons that have chewed holes in the bait boxes."

The organization is calling on the province to ban the sale and use of rodenticides, which are readily available for purchase and used by many companies.

"They are incredibly inhumane. It takes days to over a week to kill the intended target. As they die slow, painful deaths, they spend more time out in the open making them easy prey for wildlife," Hansen said.

"It's proven its incredibly dangerous and [rodenticides are] making their way into all levels of the food chain, from cities, in the water, to our prey birds."

As for Ally, the incident cost her more than $2,000 in vet bills and she is hoping her story helps raise awareness.

"We're not doing enough to protect the most vulnerable people, our kids, our pets and animals," she said.