Vitamin K Treatment For Rat Bait Poisoning

[mirawee]

I had a phone call from my Dad this afternoon saying he had left some rat bait on my table and asking if I could bring it down to his house. Immediately fearing the worst given I have a chronic table surfer (when I am not around!) I checked and yep the dogs had gotten it They could have eaten it at any time in the last 24 hours.

So off to the vet. All three dogs currently look fine although I am sure at least two and most likely all three had some of the bait. So they have all been put onto vitamin K tablets but now after doing some research I am not sure the vet has given them a high enough dose.

The three dogs range from 14.5kg to 18.5kg and all are on one 50mg tablet once a day for the next two weeks and will then have a blood test done. They did not get any injectible vit K. So is the dosage they are on high enough for their body weight?

I have tried to look at previous threads, but no one mentions dosage!

[Guest RosieFT]

Can't help with the dosage, but wanted to say I am thinking of your dogs :-( .. So sorry to hear they got into the bait. At least you were onto it quickly.

[Tralee]

Rat poison is an anti-coagulant, and Vitamin K is a coagulant.

Vets are usually pretty good with the weight/dosage thingy because that's how they sell a lot of medications.

What you don't want neither, is Vitamin K poisoning.

Prayers for you pooches.

Edited January 28, 2011 by pewithers

[WreckitWhippet]

Rat poison is an anti-coagulant, and Vitamin K is a coagulant.

Vets are usually pretty good with the weight/dosage thingy because that's how they sell a lot of medications.

What you don't want neither, is Vitamin K poisoning.

Prayers for you pooches.

Vitamin K toxicity is not an issue with dogs. It's a fat soluable vitamin and no toxicity has been recorded. You can OD on the other 3 fat soluble vits but it takes massive dosages for it to happen.

[persephone]

When the vet induced vomiting, you should have seen who had remnants of poison in their vomit ....

How worrying for you With rat poison, AFAIK it can take some days for any symptoms to become apparent ....and the blood test in 2 weeks will test the clotting ability of their blood .

Thinking of you ......

[Tralee]

Vitamin K toxicity is not an issue with dogs. It's a fat soluable vitamin and no toxicity has been recorded. You can OD on the other 3 fat soluble vits but it takes massive dosages for it to happen.

That's good to know.

Which means I can eat as much Special K as I like.

But if it's fat soluble then it's cumulative.

So, doesn't that mean toxic levels just haven't been found, yet?

[stormie]

Vets are usually pretty good with the weight/dosage thingy because that's how they sell a lot of medications.

True, but some of the cases I've read about involving wrong dosage AND wrong species is pretty frightening!

Did they induce vomiting? I wouldn't be alarmed if they didn't - it's only really of benefit if they've eaten it 30-40mins prior.

The dose rate is '2.5-5mg/kg by mouth for 5 days to 6 weeks, depending on the specific product involved'. So it sounds like they're all getting an adequate amount

There is no mention in this book of overdose, but is mention that anaphylaxis has been reported if it's given IV, so this is discouraged.

Edited January 28, 2011 by stormie

[Erny]

Nothing to say that's of any help. But gosh ..... I hope your dogs come through ok. Leaving the bait anywhere remotely possible for dogs to get at is a silly thing to do, but your Dad must be feeling wretched about it right now and I feel for him too.

[julzjc]

Thinking of you Mirawee.

I went through this in september with my dogs (as alot will remember). Although my too were given the Vit K injection, they were both put on only 1 Vit K tablet a day, they are 26kg and 20kg so that dosage should be good for your lighter dogs.

I actually have the bottle here. Instructions say -1 tablet per 4-40kg of bodyweight daily.

Bonnie did go downhill for a bit (about 5days after eating the bait it started, she ate two full packets) but she picked up after fluids, lost a fair bit of condition muscle wise but is now 100% back to full health.

Just keep an eye on their gums for palness and spotting, bloodshot eyes, tiredness and take them back to the vet asap if they do go white.

Thoughts and prayers are with you, Julz.

ETA- How much did they eat? Did your vet say why they didnt give them the Vit K injection?

Edited January 29, 2011 by julzjc

[mirawee]

Thanks guys ;)

Vommitting was not induced as it would have been too long since they had eaten it. I have no idea why an injection wasn't given first up, but as I said it wasn't one of my preferred vets at the clinic. I will actually be ringing to check a few things when they open this morning as the dosage will run out 60 hours prior to me being able to get them to the vet for the blood test due to them not being open on a Sunday night for non-emergency. Vet last night said that would be ok, but speaking to a vet friend this morning she said definitely not and to get an extra dose so that it is only just over the 48 hours when they have their bloods done. It was one of the more modern rat baits so by the sounds of it they will need to be on vit K for longer than 2 weeks anyway.

I don't know how much they had, Dad seems to think there were 5-8 baits in the bag and they would likely have all had a share. The pest control guy had come and they put some into a plastic bag for Dad to take down to the aquaculture ponds to hide around there. I am a bit peeved as we have had conversations before and I have always said I don't want baits put out as it isn't great for the dogs to eat baited mice/rats but that obviously went in one ear and out the other They even put out baits in the stable where we have just gotten a new kitten to be our replacement mouser (our old cat died about 6 months ago)! Pest control guy will not be allowed to come to my house again when I am not here - not that I knew he was coming on Thursday anyway! They managed to turn the water off to two of my horses as well and since the horses weren't hanging around the water trough they have been without water for over 24 hours on a hot an humid day. I don't check that trough daily as it is a bit out of the way to get too although I think I will have to start now And of course I didn't look closely at the horses last night since I was concerned about the dogs!

I also can't give my Dad too big a serve atm though as I need him to hold a foal for another few days so I can inject her - the result getting injured in a thunder storm on Thursday night!

If one more thing goes wrong I think I will just crawl into bed and stay there ;)

[julzjc]

From memory I think Bonnie was on daily tablets for 4wks, maybe more. It was the new slow realease rat-sac that she ate.

All the best with your pups Mirawee.

[Rappie]

Whether or not to give an injection can be a matter of personal preference. Unless there is some reason not to use oral medication such as vomiting or diarrhoea or weakness significant enough to mean that a patient cannot eat, I don't normally give an injection. If given with food the time for absorption is not significantly different between injectable and oral forms, and there is a very slim risk of reaction to an injection. There is nothing wrong with giving an injection, but there is no need to worry about it if the dogs are otherwise healthy.