JeffCo man warns against using rat poison after dog's death

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DENVER (KDVR) — A Jefferson County man is spreading awareness of how dangerous poison rat bait can be to pets nearly a week after his dog died after accidentally eating such bait.

Paul Mozo adopted Georgia five years ago and she has been his best friend ever since. Whether it was hiking or visiting a store, everyone in Evergreen knew Mozo and Georgia were attached at the hip.

“She’s my constant companion,” said Mozo. “I’m kind of known as Georgia’s dad everywhere I go.”

Mozo is a contractor and said he took Georgia with him to a job last Monday. He said she threw up after running off for a little bit. When Mozo went to inspect it, he was immediately concerned.

“I found a little green poison bait in her breakfast from the morning,” he said.

Georgia only lived for about two more minutes.

“While I held her and just told her I loved her, she died right there in my arms,” said Mozo. “Shock and sadness of having my friend, my buddy die right there in front of me.”

The bait Georgia ingested was likely a neurotoxin used to kill rats, according to Dr. Chad Zadina, a veterinarian with Tabby Road Animal Hospital in Wellington. The poison is a way to drive off rodents and other pests that Zadina says far too often end up in the wrong mouths.

“Those work very fast and there’s not really an antidote, so if you got a high dose of that, it’s very likely it would die very quickly,” said Zadina. “Dogs always find them. And cats as well.”

Zadina says some work faster than others, and if you think your pet may have gotten into one, call your vet immediately and try to get your pet to throw up.

“They say the solution to pollution is dilution, so getting the material out,” Zadina said.

Mozo, however, hopes people use other methods to curb their pest issues, like calling a pest control expert. He hopes what happened to his best friend never happens again.

“There are definitely other ways to handle it,” he said. “No innocent pet that’s lying in the sun chewing on a bone should have to go through what Georgia did.”

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Nate Belt

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