Littledoglover Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Last night my little dog found some rat bait and ate it. I discovered the remains of the bait in her bed when I went to put her in bed for the night. The bait was not there a few hours earlier so I know she ate it within the last few hours. She was not showing any signs of poisoning , but I immediately rang the vet and took her down to the vet who gave her an injection of apamorphine which induced vomiting. The amount of green she vomited up was huge. She was then given an injection of vitamin k and sent home with vitamin k tablets for the next 10 days. The vet seemed confident she will be fine, but I can't help worrying. From what I've read on google she should be having vitamin k for at least 30 days? Has anyone else had any experience with dogs eating rat bait? Was your dog ok? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jemappelle Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Yes my Cav managed to get some. I saw her eating it so we went straight to the vet. Vomiting was induced and she had Vitamin K for 10 days after and was fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 (edited) it's great she vomited a lot of it up! guess it will depend on how much the dog ate, the chemicals involved.. as to what vit.K dose the vet uses? this might be useful ... LINK it shows commonly used chemicals in rat bait - and the toxicity levels . We have recently changed to one of the 'safer' baits ... and I usually put pelletised bait in soft drink bottles or little lockable bait stations from a $2 shop .. tucked away behind furniture, etc. Hope your little dog shows no ill effects now :) Edited March 11, 2015 by persephone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 One of my Cavs ate some rat bait when a packet of it blew in during a storm. Vet gave him an injection, did an ACT test and put him on Vit K tablets. His next ACT blood test within 24 hours of him finishing the tablets showed clotting was normal. Your vet will probably do another ACT blood test when your dog has finished the course of tablets. Try not to worry, you did everything right and acted quickly and your dog is taking Vit K tablets. All will be well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 The duration of the course may depend also on the particular anticoagulant ingested ie. Warfarin vs brodifacoum. The volume of bait vomited back up confirms ingestion but does not guarantee the poison has not been absorbed, particularly with the wax baits. Ideally you would run a PT 24-48 after the course of meds finish, and if it is prolonged the course would be continued for 28 days (total). The ACT that CavNRott mention can be used but it is an insensitive indicator of clotting problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 The poison my dog ate was Brodifacoum. I wonder why my vet did ACT testing if it's an insensitive indicator of clotting. What was the point? The vet said after the first ACT test that clotting was slower than what he considered to be normal. I didn't discover the rat bait packet until about 36 hours after it blew in during a storm, it was around at the far side of the house where I rarely go so there's no telling how long the poison had been in my dogs system. He hadn't ingested very much as it was a small throw pack which was still about one third full when I found it. What sent me searching around the grounds was that I noticed green material in my dog's feces when I was doing the pick up during our walk. I hadn't fed him anything green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littledoglover Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 What does PT stand for please? My vet didn't do any tests like that at the time and didn't ask me what type of bait my dog had eaten. It was green so maybe she already knew. It was Tomcat BTW. I guess I should ring after the 10 days and see if they can run the tests to make sure her blood is clotting normally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 The ACT is a reasonably easy, cheap test to run in house. If it Is prolonged then it confirms that there is a problem with any one of the mechanisms that come into play in blood clotting including a lack of platelets. In anticoagulant poisoning it is factor 7 which is used up first and it is this pathway (along with the other components of the intrinsic pathway) that is tested with the PT test (and sometimes APTT as well). A dog with a prolonged ACT will also have a prolonged PT but conversely a dog can also be clinically normal and have a slightly prolonged PT, normal ACT and no signs of haemorrhage. This is what I mean by insensitive - it will pick up a problem but if it is prolonged it is no specific to vit K antagonists (rat bait) and the PT will detect a problem at a much earlier stage. There are some factors that could limit the PT being performed - it requires special tubes and is for most practices an external lab test so there is a turnaround time and an increased cost compared to ACT. I am lucky in the area that I practice to have a lab very close so we have either same day or next morning results depending on the time of collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julzjc Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just a side note, try and keep your dog from rough housing or recieving any knocks and bumps for the next 10days just incase. My old girl got in to rat bait years ago and that was a crucial bit of advice that I learned from the DOL brain trust :). Better to err on the side of caution just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) What does PT stand for please? My vet didn't do any tests like that at the time and didn't ask me what type of bait my dog had eaten. It was green so maybe she already knew. It was Tomcat BTW. I guess I should ring after the 10 days and see if they can run the tests to make sure her blood is clotting normally? PT is the prothrombin time. It is something that is ideal to run but in real life does not always get done, often due to cost. If I don't run a PT for Some reason I would always still start any dog with a suspected poisoning on vitamin K usually for 2 weeks, although 7 days may be sufficient for known warfarin cases. If it's brodifacoum or an unknown bait I usually go for 4 weeks. It is ideal tp test PT 24-48 hours after the last dose of vitamin K, though as I mnetioned it can be used to confirm poisoning - usually I would send this off and still start vitamin K as a precaution. Edited March 12, 2015 by Rappie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Just a side note, try and keep your dog from rough housing or recieving any knocks and bumps for the next 10days just incase. My old girl got in to rat bait years ago and that was a crucial bit of advice that I learned from the DOL brain trust :). Better to err on the side of caution just to be safe. Yes and also watch out for bones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Many vets only do testing 24hours post last Vit K tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) PT is the prothrombin time. It is something that is ideal to run but in real life does not always get done, often due to cost. If I don't run a PT for Some reason I would always still start any dog with a suspected poisoning on vitamin K usually for 2 weeks, although 7 days may be sufficient for known warfarin cases. If it's brodifacoum or an unknown bait I usually go for 4 weeks. It is ideal tp test PT 24-48 hours after the last dose of vitamin K, though as I mnetioned it can be used to confirm poisoning - usually I would send this off and still start vitamin K as a precaution. Thanks Rappie for the explanation. I knew my dog ingested brodifacoum as the print was still barely visible on the throw packet. My dog was on Vit K tablets for 4 weeks and vet instructed we be at the surgery 24 hours after dog had taken last vit K tablet. The Vet did another in house ACT test and clotting time was what he considered to be normal. The vet instructed at the start of the Vit K tablets that the dog be kept very quite, no walks etc., until the final test was done. edited to fix quote Edited March 12, 2015 by cavNrott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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