What does rat poison look like?

I live in a town right outside of Boston, MA. We recently got a lot of snow, so they have been applying ice melt/salt on the sidewalks fairly regularly. In the past few days, I haven't noticed any new salt on the ground, though.

Last night when we were out walking around 5:15 PM, Honey started smelling something in the snow/dirt by the side of the sidewalk. Before I realized what she was doing, it was in her mouth.

I pried her mouth open and there was some clumpy white stuff stuck on her tongue. I got as much of it out as I could, but I assume she swallowed some. I didn't think much of it, and suspected it might be some ice melt, and she hadn't eaten enough to cause any harm.

But, this morning when I mentioned it to a coworker who said it could be rat poison!

I went back to the "scene of the crime" at lunch to see what the stuff was. It is white and sort of looks like fake snow. It was sort of clumped together on the ground, but when I picked it up, it crumbled in my hands like a very grainy powder. If I roll it around between my fingers, it clumps back together.

It has no scent. It doesn't look like any other ice melt or salt I have seen, and there wasn't a lot of it around, so now I am concerned. Although I do know there are a lot of different brands that look and behave differently.

Honey is not showing any symptoms of being poisoned, but I know rat poisoning can take days to show up. Do you think this sounds like rat poison? If so, do you think she got enough to make her sick (my guess would be she got 1/4 tsp at most)? Should I take her to the vet and treat her just in case, or is that excessive? My sister is in vet school and used to work for a vet, and she said the treatment is really expensive.


I thought rat poison was always bluish-green and came in pellets or blocks. But after my coworker scared me, I read on the internet that it can pretty much look like anything.

Unfortunately, the city doesn't keep track of the ice melts/salts used. Every apartment building/house is required to keep their sidewalks cleared, so everyone uses something different. Honey has to wear boot when we go out because some of the salts really irritate her paws.

I've seen so many different types of melts - from the little white balls that seem to get smooshed into the pavement, to the big salt crystals, to sand. The stuff Honey picked up was a little grainy. I definitely didn't suspect antifreeze, because it wasn't colored (although I didn't suspect rat poison, either!). I have seen the "antifreeze salt" because it turns everything near it blue.

I am worried I am making a mountain out of a molehill by becoming overly concerned about rat poison. I mean, I have a friend whose dog eats any and everything he can grab when she takes him out for a walk, and she doesn't worry that each little piece of bread he picks up might contain rat poison...but on the flip side, I know there are always risks, and I don't want to be irresponsible either.

If one of your patients ingested a small amount of an unknown, seemingly innocuous substance on the side of the street, would you recommend anything other than watching them? (I'll do it! I know it's too late to induce vomiting)

How long should one wait before running the clotting profile you mentioned? I do agree that starting vitamin K is probably excessive - do you think the clotting profile is also excessive, or is it a good idea?

Thank you so much for your answer. I definitely understand the legal vs. personal response :)

I think I am going to watch her. I keep a really close eye on her anyway, so this will not change my routine by much. Maybe I will try to get her in for the clotting profile if things start to seem off between tonight and tomorrow.

I have been reading all about rat poison today (I didn't know much about it before). I agree that people would be up in arms if the city was sprinkling it around the streets. Also, my neighborhood is very family friendly (i.e., lots of children running around/playing on sidewalks), so I imagine that is an even bigger reason to keep things nontoxic.

I am really hoping this is nothing and I've just been silly. Thank you for your help!