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Hi everyone,

 

We've had a serious problem with our Fynne recently. She fell ill last Thursday, not being able to eat, being weak and inactive, irregular heart beat, etc. Michelle took her to the vet the next day and they did some blood tests and found elevated white cells count. It was thought then that she is fighting an intestinal bug and was sent home to rest. She continued to get worse and last night Michelle rushed her to the emergency. She had serious trouble breathing with swollen throat and was close to death! The emergency people did so well (and charged a lot of course!). They identified the problem to be rat poisoning. It seems that Michelle's dad has the stuff in some corners in the garage. This morning, she seems to be better and is breathing on her own and has been able to eat a bit. Apparently she seems to have suffered from internal bleeding and continued to be very weak as she hasn't been able to eat much since the incident. She should be home later tonight.

So I wonder if you guys have any experience with rat poisoning? Does itt cause any permanent damage?

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Rat poisoning basically causes the animal to bleed to death. It is not a good way to go, and if your Fynne makes it through unscathed, she is very lucky. I suspect they gave her lots of Vitamin K? It will be touch and go with her. Michele needs to look for breathing problems (bleeding by the lungs), bruising under the skin- leaking capillaries, and pale gums. The uncle needs to get rid of that poison.

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Rat poisoning basically causes the animal to bleed to death. It is not a good way to go, and if your Fynne makes it through unscathed, she is very lucky. I suspect they gave her lots of Vitamin K? It will be touch and go with her. Michele needs to look for breathing problems (bleeding by the lungs), bruising under the skin- leaking capillaries, and pale gums. The uncle needs to get rid of that poison.

 

Yes your description fits with what happened to Fynne. They gave her vitamin K, but they also had to do some emergency work with tubes for breathing etc. I think she was very close to death last night and we may well have lost her had it not been for Michelle speeding to the emergency.

 

I was surprised that the day time clinic where she checked in the day before didn't identify the problem. We lost valuable time then. May be she didn't show visible signs. I don't know. I hope Michelle would post here later as she is not online right now.

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I know SincereArtisan lost 3 dogs to poison about a year ago - a horrible horrible way to lose one pet, let alone 3. It's one reason why I NEVER let my dogs roam unsupervised at other people's houses unless I've specifically asked if they use rat poison *anywhere* and they don't (not even in the attic, garage or sheds).

 

Good thoughts for Fynne from the girls and I here in SC.

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Yes, I lost my first 3 BCs to rat poisoning. The symptoms can be so subtle...before its too late. They experienced much of what you described, in varying degrees...I almost thought it was kennel cough, seeing as a friend had a new dog come down with it...I was naive, I didn't know. Unfortunately, by the time they figured it out, sadly it was too late.

 

It pays to read up on et poisoning, there is some oddball stuff out there that can cause weird symptoms, even death, and knowing a bit beforehand really can come in handy.

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Yes, I lost my first 3 BCs to rat poisoning. The symptoms can be so subtle...before its too late. They experienced much of what you described, in varying degrees...I almost thought it was kennel cough, seeing as a friend had a new dog come down with it...I was naive, I didn't know. Unfortunately, by the time they figured it out, sadly it was too late.

 

It pays to read up on et poisoning, there is some oddball stuff out there that can cause weird symptoms, even death, and knowing a bit beforehand really can come in handy.

 

Terribly sorry to hear of your loss.

Michelle had Fynne on the phone earlier for me and she sorta barked in a faint way. I think she is on the mend, thank God for that. This has been a hard lesson. Will make sure that such poisonous stuff is not used where she is.

Boyden and the cats are doing well. But the vet recommended giving them vitamin K as well just in case.

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I almost lost my GSD from rat poison. My vet had done everything she could, and told me, just take him home and try to enjoy the time you have left with him. He'd blown every IV they put in him, hemotomas caused that to happen, he'd been there for over a week, and wasnt getting any better, in fact, he was getting worse. I thought it was because he was getting depressed even though I went twice a day every day to spend time with him, and I found my vet laying on the kennel floor trying to get him to eat some canned food. So lack of attention wasnt it. Then I thought if I didnt come and visit, that maybe he wouldnt be so depressed, and she said she thought it best that I keep coming, so I did. He went from a healthy 110lbs to 68 lbs in a week and a half. As far as dying was concerned, I told her that wasnt an option, and asked her to tell me all that I needed to do, to pull him through. Though she didnt hold much hope. That was 4 years ago, and he is doing great. However, he had never had a thyroid problem, until he started to get on the mend, and was eating, but not gaining weight. I took him back in, and they tested and found that his thyroid had quit working properly. I think it was hypo they said. The vets couldnt give me a reason that this had happened, and I attributed it to the poisoning, as his vital organs had started to shut down when I took him home. We put him on meds. 3 times a day. After he had started to gain his weight back, and it took about a year to get him fully recovered to where he was back to his old self again, I ran out of the pills. They were costly, so I didnt get any for about 2 weeks, and then, instead of giving him 3 a day, I gave him 2. Then it swindled down to one, then none. A year later, He was at the same vets, and she commented on how great he looked and said, "boy those thyroid pills really did the trick! " It was then that I had to confess that he hadnt had any pills in a year. She reminded me that thyroids dont just start back working, but admitted that he looked great, and took another blood draw to see if he still showed a thyroid problem. It was neg for thyroid. So we both pretty much had to come to the conclusion that it was the poisoning that had caused this problem, and when he got healthy, so did the thyroid. Wether thats what really happened, we'll never know, but we still chocked it up to the poison. The only real lasting effect that I noticed with him, besides that was that it took a long time for him to get his energy back up to where it was before he'd gotten sick. And I think the thyoid pills made him lethargic as well. Today he has no ill effects from it, but it was a long hard road to pull him through, and get him 100% again. Good luck with your kid, ...poison.... I hate it!

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Hi guys. Fynne found some rat poison sticks in the garage a few weeks ago so I warned my dad about them. He thought he had them all put up but apparently missed at least one. He had the dogs in the garage with him Wed morn so that must be when she found it. Anyway, local vet thought she had an intestinal bug (not rat poisoning) but Fynne got worse, particularly with breathing and swallowing, so I rushed her to the emergency vet. She got real bad on the way and couldn't breathe. I thought for sure I wouldn't make it in time and just kept praying.

 

They put her on oxygen and did a clot test and x-rays. Her diaphram is full of blood and it's pressing on her lungs and heart. That's partly why she's having trouble breathing, and her heart is not beating properly. Her throat is swollen and bleeding, and she has a little bleeding/bruising elsewhere on her body.

 

They did a blood transfusion (plasma) and vitamin K, fluids, etc. They did another clot test this evening and it's still not good but it's better. I have to take her back for another clot test to see if the K is working. Her breathing is still noisy and labored but she's breathing. She's suprisingly alert and perky today. That sparkle is back and I am very hopeful that that means she will pull through and be ok.

 

They advised me on what to watch for and what could still happen. She's going to rest for several days and get babied. She's not out of the woods yet but I am hopeful.

 

It's been a long few days and I'm so tired so I'm going to bed. I sure would appreciate if you'd take a minute and say a prayer for her. Thanks.

 

Miz

 

Sincere Artisan, I thought of you and your dogs the whole time. I can't even imagine what that was like for you to have to deal with. (((hugs)))

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I haven't had a dog get into rat posion yet, but I have had to take a dog from the shelter I work at to the vet to donate blood for other dogs that have. So far both have survived. I don't use it and never will. You just never know where these guys can get.

 

I'm so glad that she is doing ok after all of that. Hugs and kisses for her to get better soon.

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I hope Fynne recovers fully from her ordeal. My heart is still tugged by what SincereArtisan went thru with her three lovely dogs.

 

I got quite upset at work last week when I discovered that another staff had put out rat poison in the group home where I work. We have 2 in house cats. We also have some severely autistic residents who cannot be trusted not to pop anything they find into their mouths. Some days you just wish you could find a sale on brain transplants...

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Hope she gets well soon. She must have eaten a lot of poison... I heard a 30-40 lb dog needs to eat a good bit to be harmful.

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I went through this with Sophie about five years ago. I used to bring Sophie to work with me back when I managed a kayak shop. The owner of the shop was my boyfriend at the time, and we broke up for a few months, during which time I left the shop. When we got back together, I came back to the shop (I'd have done both me and Sophie a favor by making the first breakup stick, but hindsight is 20/20). During the time I was away, they put out rat poison in an effort to control the odd mouse that found its way into the shop.

 

Well, one day I saw Sophie happily munching away on a block of something that looked like wax. I took it from her and discovered it was poison, so we rushed to the vet. She began a 3-week course of Vitamin K and very minimal activity. We were VERY lucky that I saw her eating it, as the poison did not have very much time to work, but I didn't know how long she was eating it before I saw her (she could have been snacking on it all that morning for all I knew). Anyway, she recovered, and shortly afterward we went to a herding lesson, and she seemed fine, but later that night spiked a fever and began acting very lethargic again. I took her back to the vet and she had to undergo three more weeks of Vitamin K and minimal activity.

 

She did make a full recovery. But I'd recommend a very slow return to normal activity for Fynne.

SincereArtisan, I'll echo others' sympathies. Your loss is just awful and difficult to even comprehend.

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She is doing very well!! According to Michelle, she is back to normal 'as if nothing happened', munching her food as normal and eager to be active.

But no hard activities allowed for now. We'll keep an eye on any lasting effects.

She had such a close brush with death and according to the emergency vets, they weren't confident that she would pull through at the time of the crisis.

Thanks for everyone for their concerns and for the valued information.

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I'm glad she's doing better. That has to be a scary thing to go through.

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It's good to hear Fynne is doing better! You guys are very lucky. I just wanted to throw in there a story from when I was training horses. The barn had a resident rat catcher named stubby. (lost his tail to a tractor) The farmer had put out poison around the barn in places he knew Stubby couldn't get it. One day he came staggering in to the tack room while I was there. Myself and one of the kids took him to the vet. Of course he asked about poison and I told him where it was and out of reach. It didn't matter because the cat had eaten the rats that had eaten the poison. Even though he got it indirectly, it was still enough to kill him. The vet said there was probably enough in the rat's belly that wasn't digested yet and that's what he ate.

 

Since then, I never let my dogs wander another person's farm without supervision. Even when they say the poison is in the feed room or where ever they say is safe.

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It's pretty hard to diagnose rat bait poisoning unless it is known that the dog has (or could have) ingested rat bait because there are many other illnesses that can cause the same symptoms and blood results. You say they gave her vit K, did they also send you home with Vit K tablets? We send all of our rat bait dogs home on Vit K until they're blood results are normal for awhile, they come in regularly for bloodwork until we know it is all ok. Usually they're on it for a few weeks.

 

You're very lucky that she's ok. I've seen many that come in right at the point of death, when they're bleeding from everywhere and there's nothing we can do. Sadly, alot of these owners know their dog ate rat bait but because most don't show signs immediately they think that nothing is wrong until it is too late, it is sometimes weeks after they'd eaten the bait. We tend to see quite a few rat bait cases in my area so it's often one of the first questions we ask owners when they come in with a sick dog.

 

I hope Fynne continues to get better, I'll be thinking of you both!

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When my son was 2, I was looking at a house to rent out in the country. As I wandered around the house, so did my son. He found some rat poison under the sink in the kitchen, and of course promptly ate some! I caught him in the act, and seeing what it was, threw him and daughter in the car to rush to the hospital. On the way, he lays down, and goes to sleep. All my yelling back at him didn't budge him. I, of course, did not remember it was nap time, and figured he was dieing! I laid on the gas and sped even faster. HOPING for a cop to stop me! Of course, none to be found. When I got to the hospital, that old ford was steaming and I was in full blown panic. Naturally, he woke up as soon as I got him out of the car. They made him throw up. I had the presense of mind to bring the package of poison. They said it was the kind that makes the rats basically bleed to death internally, like the kind we are talking about. He said my son would have had to eat quite a bit more than the approx. 2tsp. they got out of him. Now, he was only two. Was the doc wrong or does it act different in dogs? Seems like the dogs don't have to eat that much to get pretty sick.

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Aussiered,

Well the emergency vet told us that it is 'definitely rat poison and yes Fynne was sent home with K tablets.

She continues to do well and so far there doesn't seem to be any further problems.

 

Dixie,

I guess the response to poison differs also with the brand of poison as well as the amount.

 

I can't help but compare poison bait with landmines used by humans which have already been banned. Both types of 'baits' often end up with the wrong target with catastrophic consequences.

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I really can't see how setting out posion is better than just putting out a mouse trap. Sure you have to empty it, but there won't be any emergency trips to the vet for mouse traps.

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