Thank you to all who took the time to read my long, novel-like chronicle of symptoms and suspicions. Already working on the cutworm collars...and I had called the exterminator even before I wrote my diatribe. He layed traps. Only one mouse thus far. Oh...and I did start on my own personal comost pile earlier in the summer. But these pictures I put up were of garden #1, during the summer. I bought two cubic yards of the best compost our local landscaping/nursery man carried. I was lucky that my husband just happened to take me to pick it up because I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how much I had purchased. I about died when I went outside from paying for compost in the office to see a large tractor dumping the last scoop full of it into the now overloaded bed of my bewildered husbands big Silverado truck! (see picture...which is only half of what I bought. The first half was put out front!) Honestly, I thought it would be a few bags similar to what I had purchased at Home Depot! Talk about a newbie! At any rate, all of that has been tilled into the garden now before I even planted for the cold crops. I already have sprouted brussel sprout seedlings waiting to be planted again. It is not due to stop raining here until Sunday; if the ground is not too soden, I will plant them and the others that are ready then, place collars on anything that remains, and then put chicken wire tops on everything until they outgrow them. Now, after all this sage advice, I guess it could have been birds after all. Blue Jays? Now those I WOULD see every morning, along with smaller sparrow-type birds, in their busy little worlds, pecking away in my garden, while I opened the cupboard to make coffee. I usually let my dog out to pee pee and she would make a beeline for them. But who knows how long they were pecking away in there and how big some of them were earlier in the morning hours. Maybe even an owl or larger bird? But I think those are dedicated carnivores. (When I lived in Santa Barbara I once saw a hawk swoop down and carry off a pigeon. It was devastating to me. Poor bird. I am so grateful to be at the top of the food chain. But the seagulls will snatch whole sandwiches out of your hand while you are busy admiring the ocean. So I know that birds take things, sometimes heavy things, up into the air and away. Maybe a 2 1/2 watermelon plant? ) Still a bit baffled. But the collars and cages are coming out until the plants are big enough to survive. This post was edited by lindsaybev on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 13:26

I think it looks like wet soil too. If it's a scat I would not touch it without gloves and an N95 approved mask because it's not "normal" for any animal I know of. What I mean is that IF IT IS poop, it's likely poop from a sick animal and you need to take precautions not only looking at it but collecting it for specimen, allowing children around the area and indeed allowing pets around the area and when discarding of it. Having said that though, I still think it looks too earth-like to be poop (from the photo at least). Barb southern Ontario, CANADA

Replying to anyone with similar issue or: HU-171861020 “last year We have exactly the same problem in 2021. Rats in the loft, poison deployed, dead rat and smell in the upstairs bathroom and downstairs utility room before Christmas. Thought it was going as now in January but seems to be coming back! How is this possible? Horrible sickening smell thats lingered now for over a month” …… I live in a 30O yr old house which suddenly developed mice issues during the pandemic. My home shares a crawlspace with another attacked house and they were having mice and putting poison in crawlspace. Well, either a town of mice or a giant rodent ate the poison and burrowed (I believe) under my bathroom floorspace. The smell of death started a week after poison had been placed. I thought it was a plumbing issue and wasted $400 on wax toilet rings! none of the plumbers thought it was the sewer lines. Dead animal is what they all said. Called pest contol and for $300 he told me to close up holes in my foundation. well, this was during delta/omicron Nov surge and also impossible to get contractors. Finally had foundation rebuilt, but was told they could not plug every hole and mice or rats woukd still get in. its been THREE MONTHS of stank in one bathroom. fans have helped, but the weather is below freezing so i cant air the entire house out. im just horrified that a rodent could take this long to decompose (gag. GAG) It is the bane of my existance. I suppose ill have to have the tile floor ripped up or maybe the walls, which I cannot afford on a fixed income, nor can I find available contractors near Boston. Everyone is putting on additions. Today, the smell, which had been getting milder, is back. Never a smell in crawlspace or sign of dead rodents, so they are def in floor/wall. I just can not believe this is happening. i will never, ever use poison again. i didnt even know it was there. Just venting as I’m petrified the arctic blast in the NE will bring in more disgusting RODENTS! Thank you, pandemic. You've made everything even more unbearable. Rant over, but know you are not alone if you have this issue. Thanks and sorry. i truly hate rodents and old houses. i pray most of you with past issues have solved them.

A friend of a friend had a little dog that died of kidney failure shortly before this whole story broke. He wasn't old at all and was always very healthy. He went downhill very quickly. One day he seemed fine and the next day he was in kidney failure and after an unsuccessful intervention he died. His regular food was one of the recalled brands. His mom called the company after the story broke and they told her she could take her unused food back to the store for a refund. She explained that she didn't have any more food because after her dog died she threw it all away. The lady at the hotline basically told her that without the food there was really no way to prove that her little dog had actually died as a result of the food. All this woman wanted really was acknowledgement of and an apology for the death of her sweet little dog and instead she got zilch. So like silvergold said, we will never know how many animals were really affected because the company will only admit to cases that can be 100% proven.