05/02/2025 – How to Stop an Anteater

We’ll come right out with it – We almost lost Pia this past week over her love of ants.

It started 2 weeks ago when Dad lost his balance in the backyard while refilling the bird feeder and pulled down the 7 foot tall, metal bird feeder pole. Being as it was metal, it was a little rusty at the bottom a inch or so above the cement-filled hole Mom had mounted it in some 24 years ago. It was bound to go sooner or later and like everything else around here that failed last year, any failure is inconvenient but lasting 24 years is admirable.

Since Mom is working on a big backyard project that’s taken 7 years to see the light of day, the last thing she had time for is to fix yet another thing. To help, Dad agreed to remove a few bricks at a time that covered the area the bird feeder pole stood above until he could uncover the cement glob and we can decide how to replace it.

If you didn’t know, bird seed attracts ants. Big, bitey garden ants which are bigger than pesky little house ants. When Mom looked at the broken off metal pole and saw those ants outside, she spread a little ant powder onto the bricks and swept it deep into the cracks.

A couple of days later, Dad worked out there and removed a few bricks. When he came back inside, unknowingly, he tracked a dozen or more big ants into the house. He didn’t see them. Mom saw them the following morning before leaving for work and picked up every single one up she could find. Unfortunately, Pia had found them first, probably overnight, and ate all she found.

We can only assume those ants had poison in their systems. Pia didn’t stop eating or drinking but became lethargic. She had accidents all over the house – the floors, the stairs, any and all blankets, the beat up pleather couch and loveseat, the cardboard scratcher. She howled when Mom tried to clean her up and didn’t have the strength to run away. And then, she went on to poop on more things. Only 3 days had passed and Pia already had started to look like she was wasting away. Mom was beside herself with worry. She decided to call our favorite vet the next day after she got home from work. We were certain Pia was dying.

The next morning, Pia came running for breakfast kibble. She jumped up on a chair and didn’t poop doing so. She was talkative and bright-eyed. She pawed Dad’s arm like she used to do. Her fur still looked all musted up like a serious case of bedhead and she looked thinner, and she acted as though none of that mattered. She was back to her usual self. Mom felt she had been on a rollercoaster all week between working long hours, working on a garden project, and worrying about Pia. Mom’s happy to report none of the garden ants have made a second appearance inside, but that said, Dad hasn’t worked on removing any bricks out there either so that project is still pending.

Needless to say, we’ve had another serious talk with Pia over ants not being snacks. She doesn’t listen. We know this will happen again. We know we can’t watch her every minute and we know every time our neighbor gets his house sprayed for ants, the ants march over to our house. All we can do is take extra precautions that no one brings the big garden ants into the house and we keep the little house ants somehow contained by doing frequent checks inside and regularly rotating out the ant traps. Pia’s not impressed but she’s still here and that’s what’s important.

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A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2024 – No post
2023 – No post
2022 – ManCat Monday
2021 – No post
2020 – No post
2019 – No post
2018 – Wordless Wednesday
2017 – No post
2016 – Quint’s ManCat Garden
2015 – No post
2014 – Mama Zuzu and her Niblet
2013 – No post
2012 – No post