Slug Pellets..Why Do People Still Use Them?

Just seen this....

Homebase slug pellets killed our lovely Labrador - why was there no clear warning?
By Martin Delgado

An inquiry into the labelling of Homebase slug pellets has begun after the death of a chocolate labrador which ate them.

Jayne Walch’s four-year-old family pet Milo died within hours of ingesting the pellets while playing in the garden.
The £1.99 bottle, part of the DIY chain’s Grow Your Own brand, states that the tiny blue grains contain an animal repellent ‘to reduce attractiveness to pets’. They also contain a poisonous chemical, metaldehyde, but there is no skull and crossbones logo.
Warnings appear in much smaller print on the reverse of the container, and state: ‘Keep product away from children and pets both in storage and use,’ and: ‘Dangerous to pets.’

As trading standards officers began an investigation into the incident, new figures revealed that 23 dogs and cats died last year after eating similar products.
Mrs Walch said her husband Simon and daughter Lucy, eight, had assumed the pellets – which they bought at a Homebase store in Bradford, West Yorkshire – were safe for Milo due to the wording on the front of the container.
‘The weather had been perfect for slugs – very wet, then sunny – so Simon decided to put some pellets on the flowerbeds at about 6pm,’ she said.
‘Milo was out in the garden as usual with our other labrador, Albert. At about 11pm Simon noticed that there was something terribly wrong with Milo. He was fitting, salivating and his eyes were bulging.
‘I rang the emergency vet and she asked to see Milo immediately. By the time we got there, he was convulsing uncontrollably. The vet said it was the worst case of metaldehyde poisoning she had ever seen.’

Mrs Walch, from Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, said: ‘I had never seen an animal in so much distress. The vet gave him Valium to try to stop the fits. She told us to go home and said she would ring us in six hours.
‘But when we got home half an hour later, the phone was already ringing. She said Milo was worse and was virtually brain dead. She asked for permission to put him to sleep. I agreed because I didn’t want him to suffer any more.
‘We are devastated. We’d had Milo since he was eight weeks old. A beautiful, kind and loyal friend has been taken from us in a terrible way. We are so relieved that Albert didn’t eat them too.’
West Yorkshire Trading Standards officer Bob Unwin said: ‘We have sent a sample of the product to the laboratory to find out exactly what it contains. Based on the results, we will decide whether to approach Homebase to see if the labelling can be improved.’
Metaldehyde – classed as ‘moderately hazardous’ by the World Health Organisation – is used in many slug pellets. Figures from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) show there were 267 cases of metaldehyde poisoning in dogs last year.
Fourteen of the dogs died within hours of eating the pellets and another six were put down by vets to spare them further suffering.
There were also 32 incidents involving cats. One died of brain damage and two were put to sleep.
A VPIS spokesman said the numbers were probably much higher since many cases would have gone unreported. The manufacturers of pellets involved in poisoning incidents have not been identified.
Mark Johnston of the British Small Animals Veterinary Association said: ‘I see one or two cases of slug-pellet poisoning at my surgery each year. We would like it prominently displayed that these products are potentially toxic to dogs and cats. The pellets are not palatable but dogs do eat them.’
Although the pellets are dangerous to both humans and animals if swallowed, they are safe for use with garden crops, according to experts.
Karen Sturgeon, of the VPIS, said: ‘It is perfectly all right to sprinkle them on the soil where vegetables are growing. As long as they don’t get trapped in the leaves, there is no problem. And, of course, wash the veg before serving.’
A spokesman for Homebase said: ‘We are very concerned to hear of this incident and we offer our sympathy to the family. We try to make the labelling of products absolutely clear to help customers make an informed choice when buying pesticides for garden care.
‘All Homebase products go through rigorous safety procedures before being made available for purchase.’

ok, so it didn'thave a huge warning sign but with anything like that surely you'd read the back too, esp as they had a child. All cleaning products and things only have the warning in small print on the back so why would this be any different?
I feel sorry for thefamily, and the dog, but it's common sense to always read the label!

I have a beautiful garden and never have and never would use slug pellets . I don't understand why anyone would want to use them at all whether they were poisonous or not to dogs or other animals

We use slug pellets in the veg patch to stop slugs munching all our food that we are growing!!

However, the dogs aren't allowed in the veg patch anyway, as they wee on it, and eat the fruit and veg.

I use slug pellets too, nothing else deals with the humungus amounts of slugs and snails we get. My dogs are taught to leave the plants alone and all the beds in the part of the garden they have access to are raised. I even pick snails off the fence and out of the wall pots and baskets. Vile things.

I use them as we are inundated here and they have still eaten all my ajuga! I teach the girls 'leave it' with the pellets and reinforce regularly....so when I get the carton out they turn their heads. The pellets are cereal based so greedy dogs and pups need to be taught and supervised or have a fenced off area.

Please very careful folks, my friend lost two dogs recently to slug pellet poisoning, both were dead in 4hrs of eating just a few. A horrible death, they were frantic, foaming at the mouth, having seizures and hysterical.

Yes. I tend to put mine under heavy slabs and pots, between bricks etc...does the job and safely

I get them in the house as I live next to the woods. I have to get myself up in the middle of the night once in a while to let them out.
I put salt down to stop them as much as possible but scary that I have in the past seen these pellets used by some too close for comfort.

We had a friend who lost thier dog due to this kind of poisoning.
He had gone round to a friends house with the kids....he came back with blue staining on him - he had been rolling on the areas they had been spread....they think he had probably ingested them as well...but he had spent some time trying to lick himself clean. His owner called the lady to ask why he was blue...and she mentioned the slug pellets - sadly it was too late.
He was a white dog so it showed up - but I doubt it would on a darker coloured one.