dog ate rodent poison while staying at airbnb

[Kristie75]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed with AirBnb and hosts in an awful situation. I found my dog with a block of rodent poison in her mouth while staying at a property listed as pet friendly. Here is the actual language from the listing:

"Pets allowed only with prior Prior Host approval & $50 nonrefundable fee.
Please clean up after pets inside & out. We supply potty bags for your convenience as well as carpet spray for any accidents that may happen inside
Please clean up after your pets."

My dog was brought to the emergency vet where she had to stay overnight for two nights for treatment resulting in a vet bill of $886. After searching the house, there were at least 4 other rodent poison blocks in areas where persistent dogs could have found them. I'm having a difficult time understanding if Airbnb has any protections for this type of situation, so any advice or insight is appreciated. Thanks

[Antonella612]

Very sad situation. It happened to me as a host.

I had rat poison in a locked cellar that the guest had to enter just to use the washing machine.

However, the dog had followed them and ate a pill of poison. I have always had guests with animals for free, It never happened because no one have never taken animals into that room.

Unfortunately, the problem of mice in the countryside is very frequent, we cannot allow an invasion, but I have not thought about the possibility of animals entering that cellar.

They took the dog to the vet and spent 150 eur (180 usd), I paid the vet's bill myself even if there is no rule written on Airbnb I think. I didn't earn anything from that stay due to this unexpected event because the guests paid very little for the stay. Dog was fully healty, and they leave me a very positive reviews beside all.

However, your bill is much higher, but it certainly does not seem fair that it's totally on you. Rat poison tablets had to be reported! Unless they were somewhere you didn't have access to.

I hope you will find a solution with the host that is affordable to both of you.

[Kristie75]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input and advice. Both the property managers and host are aware of the situation. I got in touch with them immediately, mainly to try to figure out which kind of rodent poison it was because the type of treatment is dependent on this. I sent messages and spoke to them on the phone as I was on the way to the hospital. According to the property manager, she tried to place them in places where dogs would not be able to access, i.e. under or behind furniture.

My dog ended having to stay two nights at the emergency vet, but I was able to pick her up yesterday morning. She will be on medicine for a month but the outlook is great. She should be fine. Thanks for everyone's concerns about her. 

This happened late on the night before our planned checkout, and I was there for work with an early am checkout time. I did not get a chance to speak with the property managers (or host) in person, and at this point they haven't reached out to me to resolve the issue. From the advice above, my plan is to contact the host and try to come up with a solution together before getting AirBnb involved. My intention is not to get anyone shut down, but to recoup some of the money I lost and make sure it doesn't happen for someone else in the future.

[Willene1]

@Kristie75 What an awful thing to happen. We had a dog ingest mouse poison before. Scary scary incident. $1,000 for the Vitamin K medication, plus vet fees. (Great Dane). She was fine. Glad your pup will be okay. You are handling this with a level head. I would expect the host to pay the vet bill in full, no issue and learn from this terrible mistake. That’s what I would do. I look forward to hearing a positive outcome. Please let us know. Good Luck. 

[Lisa723]

@Kristie75 thank you for the update and I'm glad your pup's prognosis is good.

I hope this property manager learns that even if she succeeded in putting poison bait in spots where dogs couldn't reach it, that would not prevent pets, or the natural predators that actually keep mouse populations under control, from finding and eating the poisoned rodents and dying that way.

[Mark116]

@Kristie75  I'm glad your dog is okay, I believe the host should pay the entire vet bill.  If you have a pet friendly space you cannot leave out poison.  Period.  The End.  That Is All.  

There are products to deal with rodents/insects that are not harmful to pets if ingested.  At the minimum, this type of product should be used anywhere that says it is pet friendly.  

I would also mention that your dog was poisoned as a result of your host's incredible stupidity in your review.

[Mary5797]

Hi Kristie,

The same thing just happened at a pet friendly airbnb in Watervliet, MI to my 16 pound miniature Dachshund.  With 1/2 of checking in.  Had to rush my dog to the closest emergency Vet, an hour drive.  Had to pay animal poison control $95.00 to open my sweet little dog's case in order for the Vet to know how to treat my dog.  Vet Bill was $334.00.  Thankfully, we got him down  to a vet in time before my dog completely digested al of the rat poison.  They made him vomit.  That is the only thing for decontamination since their is not an antidote or treatment.  We were at the vet from midnight to 5am.  

The Host is not taking responsibility for her negligence in leaving open rat poison which my dog sniffed out and chewed on. Sadly, neither is Airbnb.

Airbnb told me they will not reimburse me because I was the guest and I did not make the reservation as well as, they need to protect their community.

I call BS on that.  I wrote the CEO, Brian Chesky an email last night as well as the head of hosting, Catherine Powell. I have not had a response back from either one of them.

May I please ask you how your dog's poisoning was handled?  As well, how is your fur baby?

In Empathy with you,

Mary W