Ralph Edwards was over the moon last summer when he brought Cali, an adorable 3-month-old Rottweiler puppy, back to his Washington Heights home. She quickly became a beloved member of the family.
But two weeks ago, the playful dog became severely ill one morning without any warning.
She wasn’t eating, was acting lethargic and even “looked very sad,” Edwards, a 42-year-old building superintendent told The Post. He took Cali to the vet, where she was put on antibiotics and underwent several tests.
“They called us back and said she’s really sick and that we needed to take her to a hospital,” Edwards recalled
He took the dog to the hospital, and she soon took a turn for the worse.
“Her kidneys and liver [had] failed,” he said.
Edwards had to make the heartbreaking decision to put the sick dog down. While vets couldn’t say for certain what caused the puppy to get so ill so quickly — they initially thought it was the deadly bacteria leptospirosis, but she tested negative — he believes it was rat poison she consumed off of city streets.
“The only other thing that could have run through her so rapidly was poison they told me,” Edwards said. “She was a puppy, we didn’t really bring her anywhere or go out of town or anything like that. Just neighborhood walks and that was about it. I just put all the pieces together.”
Cholecalciferol rat poison pellets — which are often spread across the city to control the rodent population — are a common cause of kidney failure in dogs, according to Dr. Ann Marie Zollo, a specialist in Emergency and Critical Care at Schwarzman Animal Medical Center on 62nd St.
“It basically gives you an overdose of vitamin D, which then ultimately can lead to high calcium and kidney failure,” Zollo told The Post.
In recent days, two other dogs have died in the area of Washington Heights where Cali lived and walked. Edwards said rat poison was again the likely culprit. Neighbors have since posted flyers around Cabrini Boulevard warning pet owners.
“It was a very sad thing that happened [to Cali],” he said. “Now it’s about raising awareness and this is a neighborhoods where dog owners are looking out for each other.”
Property management at 140 Cabrini Boulevard is also working to raise awareness. An email — obtained by The Post — was sent to building residents, cautioning them to be on the lookout for “pink pellets” on the ground near the building.
“Please be vigilant when walking your dog in the area, please also inform your dog walkers of this issue,” the memo read, adding that supers had not been laying said poison.
“This could be someone with no attachment to the properties that are doing this.”
But the issue of dogs being exposed to rat poison is anything but unique to the upper Manhattan nabe, Zollo said.
“This is something that we see with some regularity unfortunately,” Zollo told The Post. “It can really happen in any area of the city. Because, as we all know, there are mice and rats all over New York City.”
She’s not kidding. Recent rodent sightings in the city have increased by 70% as opposed to the same time period two years ago — locals have eyed over 21,500 scurrying creatures, up from 18,601 in 2021.
But Zollo says there is another potential reason for a high frequency of cases nowadays.
“We know that more people got pets during the pandemic. So there may be a little bit of an uptick because of that.”
Whatever the reason, the poisonings are devastating for dog owners.
“It’s been heartbreaking,” Edwards said. “I never had love like that from a pet in my life.”
