Chihuahua dog suffers trauma from mousetrap
Chihuahua dog suffers trauma from mousetrap
By: Bill Mead
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Posted by editor Mon Sep 18, 2006 15:50:58 PDT
Viewed 764 times
0 responses 0 comments It's time I brought you up to date on my war against unwelcome visitors, namely raccoons, gophers and field mice. In general, things are going my way although my dog, Isabella, is experiencing battle fatigue. But more about that later.
We have a big hunk of farmland right over our back fence. That's okay because I grew up next to cornfields in Iowa so the sound of a tractor is like a symphony to me. Unfortunately, farmland is also a habitat for creatures I don't want to share our home with.
Because of my big patio fountain, raccoons were the first trespassers I had to deal with. Thanks to the accuracy of my neighbor Paul in heaving chunks of wood at the coons, they seem to have left for a friendlier part of town. Soon after, I noticed mounds of dirt in my flower beds that revealed the presence of gophers. In retaliation I installed gopher sticks. These gadgets, fueled by batteries, emit noises through the soil which are said to give gophers a headache. I believe that's true because the gophers soon left, perhaps in search of Excedrin. Score two for the good guys.
I haven't quite gained the upper hand over mice. A year ago I trapped the first one in our pantry. I immediately put down more glue boards, today's better mousetraps, where I thought mice would congregate. Over the following months none of the traps produced a victim, nor did we have reason to believe any more mice had slipped into our pad. Then last week our daughter found unmistakable evidence that a mouse had invaded our bathroom. So I laid down another glue board and forgot about it.
I was rudely reminded of it, however, when Isabella soon came flying out of the bathroom, screaming hideously. The glue board, complete with dead mouse, was stuck to her paw. The sticky mess did not yield to detergent so my wife called our dog groomer for advice. Dorrie said she understood that vegetable oil would remove most of the glue. As usual, Dorrie was right and Isabella stopped wailing.
We also learned from Dorrie that glue boards can be a serious threat to house pets. She told of one incident where a poodle got stuck on a glue board and nearly died. Besides getting her paw stuck, as Isabella did, the poodle tried to chew her way out of the dilemma, getting the glue stuck in her nose. When the owners came home, the dog was barely surviving with only a tiny hole in one nostril allowing her to breathe.
Don't let this discourage you from using glue boards, the most effective means to keep furry disease carriers out of your house. I do recommend that you put them where they won't entrap other life forms, such as a rodent-size Chihuahua.
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