Frankie's new hairdo

Mr. Thompson brought his 2-year-old Pomeranian Frankie in for an annual exam. I couldn’t help but stare at Frankie’s new hairdo.

Normally impeccably groomed and fluffed to perfection, he had the oddest looking haircut. I think Mr. Thompson noticed my bewilderment.

“Doc, I know what you’re thinking. What happened to Frankie’s fur? It’s actually a funny story,” joked Mr. Thompson. Good, because I love funny stories.

“Recently we’ve been having some issues with rats. They’ve been chewing our baseboards and biting some of the electrical cords. I was worried about setting out traps with poison in them because I heard dogs can sometimes accidentally ingest the bait.”

I nodded in agreement. The chemicals used in rat bait [rat poison] can definitely cause a serious illness in pets. The most common poison used will cause clotting problems leading to blood loss and eventually death. Owners often notice bloody urine, bloody stool or hemorrhaging under the skin. A visit to the veterinarian can usually counteract the poisoning with supportive care and vitamin K. If caught in time pets can survive.

Mr. Thompson continued. “I decided to use the sticky traps since there were no harmful chemicals involved. I made sure to place them in areas that Frankie couldn’t get to and I used various household objects to create a blockade around the traps. Well, to our surprise Frankie somehow got to the sticky traps. When we arrived home one night, we found him immobilized on the floor with 5 traps stuck to various parts of his body. We laughed hysterically at first until we realized Frankie couldn’t move at all. We proceeded with the arduous task of removing all the traps and trimming his fur free of the sticky substance.”

“What went wrong?” I asked. “How did Frankie get to the secured traps?”

Mr. Thompson smiled then chuckled a bit. “We made a huge mistake Doc. We used Frankie’s favorite dog treats as bait for the sticky traps. I guess he couldn’t avoid the bacon flavored snacks and barreled through the barriers. Who would’ve known?”