poisons should never be around any animal, here are some natural suggestions
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth! This stuff is wonderful and it's safe. It is a powder that comes from the skeletons of a class of algae called diatoms. You merely sprinkle the powder where you have seen the ants and its kills them by drying them up. I have even read lately that it is safe for pets to ingest, to kill intestinal parasites (although I don't know if I would recommend that just yet). I have used it in my home successfully against ants, and I keep cats, birds, and reptiles, none of which suffered any ill effects from the DE. You can purchase DE at a health food store, natural gardening center, or even one of those large home centers (I recently saw it with the bad pesticides at lowes).
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980528a.cfm
some ground up mints work as well....
hope this helps