So, this morning when I got out of the shower, I noticed that my dachshund puppy, Peanut, was chewing on something. I went to see what she had, and I saw a white lumpy substance with a few yellow chewed-on pieces of cardboard in it, one of which clearly said “rat bait”.
I rushed her to the vet’s office, getting her there within an hour of her eating the poison, and they induced vomiting, watched her for a few hours, then sent her home with a week’s worth of vitamin K tablets.
I don’t even know where the stupid poison CAME from-just moved into my house a few months ago, so it’s possible that is was some the previous owners had put out. Needless to say, tonight is going to be, “search the house with a fine toothed comb for rat poison” night at my house.
Anyway, fellow Dopers, please help put my mind at ease-have you guys ever had a dog eat rat poison and make it? Did you get them to the vet? How quick? The vet seems to think she’ll be ok, but I won’t really feel good about it until a few days have passed, since the symptoms of rat poisoning won’t show up for a few days…
If it’s an anti-coagulant type of poison, your dog should be fine. Rats are particularly susceptible to this type of poison, because they can’t synthesize Vitamin K. Dogs and other animals are much less susceptible.
There are a number of other rat poisons, however - I assume that your vet would be able to distinguish between them.
None of my own personal dogs have ever eaten the stuff, but a whole lot of my patients have. The only ones we’ve ever lost were a pair that the owner waited until they already had bleeding issues to bring them in.
Vitamin K is what they use in humans to counteract an overdose of anticoagulant medication like Coumadin/Warfarin or to reverse its effect quickly in the case of an accident with serious bleeding. If Peanut is fine now, she’s probably in the clear.
I can’t say anything about rat poison, but my beloved Australian Sheperd did once eat an entire roach trap. We called the poison control hotline and, after fifteen minutes, learned that the does of poison involved would need to be 200 times larger to pose any danger to a 75-pound dog.
it is safe to use those baits with large pets if you use them in a bait station, a container with mouse sized holes too small for the bait to come through, the mice have to eat their fill inside. there are plastic bait stations though i would avoid those with a dog and use metal ones that a dog couldn’t destroy.
Sorry I came to the thread so late, OP, but it sounds like your pup should be fine. Like CrazyCatLady, the only ones I’ve seen have problems are ones the people wait several days to a week before bringing in. Ones that are treated the same day are usually OK as long as it was the standard anticoagulant. You could have your vet run a blood coagulation test on day three, regardless, and it will help you feel much better!
My dog ate enough rat poison to kill 2 dogs her size and within about an hour, I induced vomiting with hydrogen peroxide. My trip to the vet also had me administering vitamin K for about 30 days.
That was over a year ago and she seems to have suffered no ill affects.
Just want to point out that anti-coagulant rat poison IS dangerous to dogs (and other animals). Warfarin and the more-potent second and third generation anti-coagulants target key pathways in the vitamin K synthesis of every animal I’ve studied (I’ve yet to found the exception).
The key with this type of poisoning is early detection, like you’ve done and CrazyCatLady and SeaDragonTattoo said. Another anecdote, my ex-roomate’s dogs also ate that stuff. After a same-day quick trip to the clinic, they got their vitamin K pills. They went back some time AFTER finishing the pills to get their blood levels rechecked. Turns out they were still a bit low, so they were put back on the pills for some more days. They’re still happy, healthy idiot dogs. Early detection, like you did, is key.
Now for some more information about the toxicity. The anti-coagulants in rat poison take some days to take effect, and those effects can be short or long-lasting depending on how strong the molecule is. They act by blocking two key enzymes in the pathway to synthetizing vitamin K, which is then needed to produce clotting factors that prevent bleeding.
It takes some days for symptoms to show up because the body of a healthy animal has enough clotting factors that they are not immediately used. The thing is, during those days, no new factors are produced, and the storage is slowly depleted. Normal wear and tear on the body gradually uses the factors. Eventually, something that at most would’ve caused a simple bruise or some other normal wear and tear instead causes massive bleeding. When it gets to that point, then treatment and outcome become more difficult and perhaps less satisfactory.
Giving vitamin K right away is a way of overriding the blocking so that there is still some production of clotting factors going on while the other enzymes are blocked. Usually nobody gets vitamin K because the body can make it, but in those cases, the body can’t, so that’s why the vitamin is given.
Your dog most likely will be OK. You took it to the vet right away, and treatment was started.
Now, you’ve had your first lesson on Dealing with Dachshunds. Those little buggers will eat anything. ANYTHING. They’re notorious for it. And by eat, I don’t just mean chew on, like a normal dog with a brain in its head. I mean they will chew at, swallow and *consume *things you can’t believe would actually pass down their gullet. Like a hairbrush. Or a whole fresh pineapple, spiky leaves and all.
Everything goes up and out of reach. Oh, but doxies can also climb and jump. Seriously. I don’t know how a dog with three inch legs ends up on a three foot high kitchen counter, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes. So placing the seven sheets of rolls to rise up there isn’t going to save them from rapid consumption (and a moaning, farting dog all night long with dough rising in her belly).
My suggestion is to invest in a whole lot of Rubbermaid containers and take out a pet medical care plan with your vet.
I was surprised how well hydrogen peroxide worked to induce vomiting for my dog when she swallowed…uh…something bad, I forget exactly what. But I gave her one spoonful of the peroxide, massaged her throat, and then after about 3 minutes of nothing, decided I hadn’t used enough and gave a second spoonful, and she emptied her stomach fairly easily and without too much distress within a few more minutes.
I’m not a vet by any means, but I recommend this for most cases (obviously not if the dog has swallowed something that might also be a hazard coming up, like broken glass) since it can be administered much more quickly than driving to a vet’s office.
It does sound like your doxie will be fine. I would police up all the rat poison, period; if you later see a rat you can do something about it then, if your dog doesn’t take matters into her own jaws.
Nutterdog update-as of this morning she’s running around like the goofy lil doggie she is, eating and pooping and doing fine. She DID get up at midnight and hurk up a little bit of bloody mucous which the vet said was most likely from the stuff they gave her to induce vomiting, but other than that, no ill effects. She DOES seem to like her new cream cheese/vitamin k pill snacks quite a bit though!
So after a bit of searching last night, I found the package of rat poison. It was wedged in behind the cabinet that the dishwasher is in, and had definite wiener dog toothmarks. Needless to say, it had been properly disposed of. I can’t believe that the lil goof went to so much trouble to seek out and eat something that would kill her!
Thanks so much for all the information and support, you guys. Ya’ll sure helped ease my mind.
Early detection, like you did, is key.