She was putting down ant poison and instead of putting it behind stuff where the dog and cat cant get to it she put it out in the open all over the floor, and somehow got some in the bag of dog food. I freaked out and told her about it and her fix was to just scoop the few specks out… I asked the vet if this was acceptable and they told me I needed to get rid of it. So I just gave my mother the money and told her to just order new dog food. I get it it’s expensive, and in her mind there’s probably not even a miligram of poison in the bag, but there’s still poison in the bag which to me is unacceptable.
Throughout all of this she was looking at me like I was crazy and overreacting… To me it just seems so incredibly obvious to not put poison harmful to animals, particularly cats(premetherin and carbaryl) out in the open, and to move the friggin dog food before you go tossing poison all over the place. This kind of thing always happens where something seems so unbelievably obvious to me, yet Im always made to feel like Im overreacting or wrong… To be fair I was perhaps a bit harsh, but it does get to be a bit much always having to deal with stuff like this. I wake up first thing in the morning and I need to give up my money to fix her mistake and vacuum up poison, because god forbid we need to take one of the animals to the vet… that’ll be yet another uphill battle despite having health insurance for them. She always treats me like I’m controlling and unreasonable, but I feel like I have to be to prevent stuff like this happening. I even tried to hide the poison last night because I knew something like this might happen, but unfortunately I didnt hide it well enough. If I was able to supervise, we would have had an argument because she’d get pissed at me for telling her what to do, but the poison would have at least been in sensible places and wouldn’t have ended up in the dog food.
NTA. Your mother shouldn’t have pets
NTA…Your mother’s actions were very irresponsible.
NTA I think you’ve probably had a long life of your family making you feel crazy for wanting to take obvious or reasonably cautious measures and it’s made you question yourself as to whether it could be you who is overreacting. It doesn’t help that there’s plenty of things that are clearly the safer or appropriate way to do things because if you don’t, there’s *risk* and the family no doubt pointed to every time they were “just fine” as proof they were correct to ignore you. But you are being the responsible person here. She is absolutely in the wrong and take my word for it as someone with no interest in the outcome beyond general fondness for animals – you shouldn’t serve pets food that the vet said isn’t safe.
NTA. Sorry but your mums very irresponsible. Get the ant traps or just mop and clean the floors and surfaces daily to stop attracting them. I have dogs and I also get ants but theres ways to get rid without coating the home in poison.
I told her to rather get ant traps, she told my father to go get ant traps, he came back with the bleeding powder. I felt like murder. Story of my life.
Nta. Poison in the food = new food. It’s not up for debate. The fact that she would rather risk her pets’ lives than admit a mistake and replace a bag of food is deeply concerning
She doesnt see the risk, she feels she scooped the poison out so there’s no more poison.
NTA. Terro , available at Walmart and TSC, makes ant traps that pets can’t get into. Ants mostly come in through the kitchen and utility rooms where there’s a good food source. Window sills and behind doors are good places. Watch for the ant trail that leads to their entrance. Keep your expensive dog food in a sealed container like Rubbermaid. I have 5 cats and I’ve never poisoned one. Be proactive and buy the container yourself. I promise you it’s cheaper than a bag of Royal Canin.
I’m not paid for advertising. The ant traps work for me. All pet food stays fresh longer in an airtight container.
I came to suggest them
Truly miraculous at getting rid of ants
NTAH
Also, do NOT put ANY kind of poison ANYWHERE open no matter if there are pets, kids, or just idiots around.
Any kind of poison goes into a container, stays INSIDE said container, target creature is lured to container!
Seriously, the contamination would be bad enough, but the general handling of the ant poison is a perfectly preventable hospital visit waiting to happen!
NTA yeah it might not kill them (though I’d be very concerned nonetheless) but it would probably make them sick to eat food contaminated with poison! Especially if we’re talking about smaller dogs. You have to be careful with that stuff, it obviously depends a little on the poison but who knows how that’s going to interact with whatever’s going on with the poor dog’s system!