By Greenlee Clark
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NORTHWEST BOISE, Idaho (KIVI) — The effort to solve a growing rat problem in the Treasure Valley appears to be causing new problems of its own — and one Boise neighbor is speaking out after his cat died from rat poison.
Kellen Williams has lived in Boise for 21 years, growing up in Ketchum, Idaho. He and his family intentionally avoid using poisons of any kind, relying instead on spiders to mitigate pests and cats to mitigate rodents. Williams says his cat, Jekyll, had always been a mouser, keeping rodents away from his Boise home.
Jekyll was 12 years old and had grown up alongside Williams’ oldest child, who was a toddler when they got the cat. Named after Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — sweet most of the time but occasionally feisty — Jekyll was mostly blind from fighting with neighbor cats, but was still a reliable mouser who mostly stayed in the backyard.
But earlier this month, an emergency vet visit revealed Jekyll had been exposed to rat poison. After about 36 hours of not eating or drinking, Williams took Jekyll to Intermountain Animal Hospital — other clinics like Cat Doctor were fully booked.
“They did a full blood workup, and his blood wasn’t clotting; he was bleeding internally from poison,” Williams said.
The doctor delivered the news after about 20 minutes of waiting. Williams said it was a shock.
“We didn’t do an autopsy or anything like that, so I don’t know if it was from eating a rodent or eating poison directly. But that it was really unlikely, she said, that it was from something else,” Williams said.
Jekyll went from showing symptoms to passing away in just three days. The family buried him on Mother’s Day.
Williams said he has noticed pest control companies visiting his neighborhood 3 to 4 times in the last two months, including twice in the last three weeks. Jekyll died three to four days after one company was in the neighborhood. Williams noted the company claimed their poison doesn’t have tertiary effects, but said he wasn’t sure how that works.
Williams posted about Jekyll’s death on Facebook and Nextdoor. The Nextdoor post received some negative responses, with people suggesting he should keep his cats inside. He felt that response missed the point.
“There’s a huge impact to a much wider array of animals, not only pets, but all the good rodent mitigators that live here,” Williams said.
He specifically mentioned Idaho Birds of Prey as an organization that has worked hard to recover raptor populations, which are now at risk from rodenticide poisoning.
Since Jekyll’s death, Williams also found a dead squirrel in his yard with no marks of attack, which he suspects may also have been poisoned. The family was considering getting two more kittens before Jekyll’s death, but is now reconsidering.
Williams recommends snap traps as a safer alternative to poison, noting they kill instantly and have a much lower risk to non-target animals. He also raised concerns about the cumulative environmental impact.
“As more people live here in Boise, the more poison and the more things we put on our grass and our yards, the more that ends up in the river and in the rest of the environment that we all depend on,” Williams said.
Local veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Norman, owner and medical director of Ada Animal Hospital, has been a veterinarian for 10 years and has been in the field since she was 15. She has treats poisoning cases at her practice and warned that some varieties have no antidote.
“Depending on how much they ate, we really are just trying to race against the clock,” Norman said.
Norman explained that there are two main types of rat poison. Anticoagulant rat poisons have better treatment options, though she emphasized they are still not safe. Other types have no true antidote, making them far more dangerous.
She warned that rat poison is designed to attract rats, but dogs, cats, and wildlife find it just as appealing. She has seen dogs chew through heavy-duty plastic containers to get to rat poison stored inside, because the poison smells and tastes good to them.
“My biggest concern is always for our furry, you know, family members, our cats and dogs, and the other wildlife. So, my biggest thing is just knowing what products you’re using,” Norman said.
Norman also warned about secondary poisoning: a cat or other wildlife can be poisoned by eating a rat that has already ingested poison, if the concentration in the rat is high enough. The rat may run off and die in a different yard before the cat finds and eats it.
If you think your pet got into any type of rat poison or pesticide, Norman said to act immediately.
“Call your vet or just get them to the nearest vet. Because the sooner we can get them assessed and decontaminated, the better chance we have for them all,” explained Norman.
Norman recommends asking pest control companies for the specific product name and active ingredients, not just whether it is “pet safe,” so your vet can look up the exact treatment protocol if needed. She also recommends notifying your neighbors when pest control is coming so they can keep their pets inside.
“Be nice to your neighbors’ pets. We all live here, and it’s nice to have animals in the neighborhoods and things like that, um, and try to look out for the wildlife that makes Idaho so special,” Williams said.
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