Nothing puts a damper on a showing like a rat running around the house or a trail of ants marching across the counter. Naturally, as a showing agent you may want to use some form of pest control to remove these unwelcome intruders. But would you use rat poison?

I don’t know how common the practice is, but a concerned subscriber recently wrote in to ask that we post a message discouraging the use of rat poison around the parameter of a home or other building for sale because of the fatal effect it can have on neighborhood pets.

While it’s not my place to take a formal stance on an issue like this, I do have a little black pug named Tater and I know I would be devastated if he died from eating someone else’s pest poison. So I did a little research and I thought I’d pass along the information I found as something to consider.

According to About.com these types of poisons can be especially dangerous because “they are made to be attractive and tasty, even to the curious pet.” This goes for all pest removal baits: rat, slug, snail, mice, and ant. It also means that hiding them in the ivy may not be enough to keep other animals from getting into them.

About.com goes on to say it’s best to “make sure that they are safely out of any pet’s reach (and that the pets aren’t able to chew through something to get at them).” The aforementioned subscriber suggests strategically placing traps or poison inside the for sale structure away from other neighborhood animals.

Thanks for considering the nearby animals and their owners when dealing with pest control issues. For more information on poisonous substances for pets see the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.