JanetGeorge
Well-Known Member
Everyone knows the risks. We HAVE to use the stuff - being a busy stud with a yard right on the edge of woodland we are always invaded in October - and we're VERY careful! Obviously this time we weren't careful enough - or a spiteful rat decided to hurl the sachets out of the pipes we use to feed it ......
The wierd thing was the first symptoms! On Wednesday, the farrier had been trimming foals' feet and she went beserk scoffing the bits (she always does and while we try to get it cleaned up before she gets to it, she IS a Lab!!
So on Thursday, when she was off-colour and very sensitive around the belly, I suspected a blockage and took her to the vet. He thought there was extreme constipation and she was medicated accordingly,
Friday she was about the same - but had a small nosebleed (literally less than a tea-spoon). I took her back to the vet and he decided to x-ray the abdomen - found only a pile of gas in the stomach and small bowel. But she had another - slightly more noticeable nose-bleed. So he endoscoped her - and the blood was definitely coming from the lungs. He rang me and said: 'likely to be either lungworm - or rat bait!." We agreed rat bait far more likely - my terriers are constantly attacking snails - but the Lab doesn't fancy them!
He treated her for both - and I picked her up - still very groggy after the GA. But over the next few hours she did not improve - her breathing and heart rate were up and she was weak, So BACK to the vet - her PCV was down to 16 and we took her to the Vets Now Clinic near Birmingham (at 11.30 pm!) and she stayed there overnight for monitoring and treatment. Thankfully PCV didn't drop enough to make a blood transfusion essential. We picked her up at 8am and - via another trip to my vet - she came home.
The thing that nearly costed her life was the abdominal symptoms - and my knowledge she'd been scoffing horse foot trimmings. If we'd treated her for possible rat bait poisoning a day earlier - it would have been far less severe.
So the purpose of this post is to warn all dog owners: IF there is ANY chance your dog might have had rat-bait - don't be fooled by the early symptoms. Giving Vit K1 is cheap and easy - delaying it is life threatening (and hellishly expensive!!)
The wierd thing was the first symptoms! On Wednesday, the farrier had been trimming foals' feet and she went beserk scoffing the bits (she always does and while we try to get it cleaned up before she gets to it, she IS a Lab!!
So on Thursday, when she was off-colour and very sensitive around the belly, I suspected a blockage and took her to the vet. He thought there was extreme constipation and she was medicated accordingly,
Friday she was about the same - but had a small nosebleed (literally less than a tea-spoon). I took her back to the vet and he decided to x-ray the abdomen - found only a pile of gas in the stomach and small bowel. But she had another - slightly more noticeable nose-bleed. So he endoscoped her - and the blood was definitely coming from the lungs. He rang me and said: 'likely to be either lungworm - or rat bait!." We agreed rat bait far more likely - my terriers are constantly attacking snails - but the Lab doesn't fancy them!
He treated her for both - and I picked her up - still very groggy after the GA. But over the next few hours she did not improve - her breathing and heart rate were up and she was weak, So BACK to the vet - her PCV was down to 16 and we took her to the Vets Now Clinic near Birmingham (at 11.30 pm!) and she stayed there overnight for monitoring and treatment. Thankfully PCV didn't drop enough to make a blood transfusion essential. We picked her up at 8am and - via another trip to my vet - she came home.
The thing that nearly costed her life was the abdominal symptoms - and my knowledge she'd been scoffing horse foot trimmings. If we'd treated her for possible rat bait poisoning a day earlier - it would have been far less severe.
So the purpose of this post is to warn all dog owners: IF there is ANY chance your dog might have had rat-bait - don't be fooled by the early symptoms. Giving Vit K1 is cheap and easy - delaying it is life threatening (and hellishly expensive!!)
