I have three cats and two dogs. Can I use rat poison?

About an hour ago I went out to check on my ladies and encountered a rat on our back porch. This was my fault as I neglected to put the black oil sunflower seeds away last night after filling the wild bird feeders. Now I am mega paranoid!

I have noticed that my ladies love to lay right near the skirting of hardware cloth I put up around the coop inside the run. They also like to peck at the ground incessantly (duh) but after this last rain I noticed that when I walked along the run I was colapsing some tunnels. I do not know if they are new or old but I do not want to find out.

A friend of mine uses the cookie things that you break off a peice and put down the holes. I mentioned this to my mom and she is worried the cats will get sick if they happen to get a hold of one of the rats or mice that happen upon the poison.

Does anyone have experience with rats and cats?

A side note, I am planning to rent a trencher tomorrow morning and running it along the exterior of the coop and run. Then I will be placing hardware cloth inside and refilling the trench.

Has anyone done this sort of thing with success? Will rats and mice get trapped and come up to the surface inside my coop? Or am I going way overboard?

I wouldnt risk it myself.

I myself would not put down rat poison when there are outdoor pets to consider, it only takes a small amount to kill a dog, cat, or Chicken. Please be very careful using this around animals.

At TSC or your Co-Op they have those black boxes that have holes big enough for a mouse or rat to squeeze into, but not your dogs or cats. They boxes have poison blocks inside. But be careful of your chicks or keets, those can it in the holes, but being that little they probably aren't running around anyway. And if they are, you'll have to confine them. You only want to target your mice and rats.

The box also stakes down so your dogs can't drag them off. I have a few boxes in sheds and under outbuildings. It really helped control the mice in my henhouse, garden and sheds.

I second the bait box motion.

I wouldn't risk using rat poison or a bait box where my dogs or cats are. Both dogs and cats like to "eat" mice and if they happen to eat one that has been poisoned, then the dog or cat has a high potential of being poisned too. It is very expensive to treat a pet that has consumed rat poison, and that is if they even survive. Yes, I am talking from expierence. Don't risk it. Use traps.

A person I work with uses (used) bait boxes and the neighbors dog somehow broke into the bait box and ended up dying from rat poison. The neighbor didn't notice the symptoms soon enough for the vet to help out.

Everything you always wanted to know about rat infestation, and more:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=57525

If it comes to it, there is a type of poison ("one bite") that is not supposed to harm a pet if it eats the dead rat -- but it will certainly harm the pet if it eats the poison itself.

I nearly lost my black Lab 2 years ago, after he caught a rat full of rat bait. I wouldn't dare put it out now.

I think it's just as easy to remove and protect all feed sources, so the rats will move on when there's nothing for them to eat.

I almost lost my dog to rat poison (which I NEVER bought or put on my own property) from her eating a poisoned rat from someone else's property. It took 3 days worth of emergency vet care, which was originally estimated to cost $3,000 to $5,000 and last 5-7 days, but I could not pay that, so I took the chance and nursed her back to health at home, with a vet bill of "only" $1,400. It took a blood transfusion and a plasma transfusion to save her. She's in my avitar.

Personally, the costs FAR outweigh the nuisance for me. Costs in the lost of my "child" and medical bills. Much cheaper to use alternative methods.

Thank you all so very much for all of your help! I will be using some traps and I will dig a trench out around the coop to bury hardware cloth... If they get throught that then... I'll have to move the girls to another area of the property...

Thanks again!!!

Steph