Rat poison.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
If your pet is in any way exposed to modern rat poisons it is a medical emergency that you cannot put off. “Exposed” includes having been in the vicinity of the poison and you’re not sure whether he actually ate any or not.
Most of today’s rodenticides work by interrupting the body’s blood clotting systems, resulting in fatal bleeding. Even though they are called “rodent”-icides, they will kill any mammal that ingests them. Many rat poisons will also kill birds and fish.
The potency of rat poison has been ramped up dramatically over the last twenty years. “Poison corn” of three decades ago killed a lot of mice and rats, as well as many dogs, cats and not a few people. Still, if a victim was found quickly, vomiting was induced and anti-anticoagulant treatment was instituted for a week or so, the victim survived.
Not so today’s rodenticides. They can be fatal in extremely small amounts and their effect can last for thirty days and beyond.Treatment starts with removing the poison if it was ingested recently. While this can be a good test for whether poison was actually eaten, it is not foolproof. Poison eaten several hours before emesis (vomiting) therapy may have moved too far into the digestive tract to be vomited up. Further, because these poisons are effective in such small amounts, if a pet or person vomits some up we still don’t know whether he vomited all of the poison, and enough might be left behind that it could still be fatal.
Therefore, the usual course of therapy after vomiting is to begin anti-anticoagulant therapy with an injection, followed by oral therapy for thirty days or more.
In cases where the ingestion time is unknown and the patient is already symptomatic (blood in the stool, urine and/or vomitus, bleeding under the skin, in the whites of the eyes, inside the eyes or other locations around the body), not only must anti-anticoagulant therapy be given but blood products must also be provided in case the patient has used up all of his own clotting mechanisms. When Jasmon came to see us today her owner had merely seen her standing over the area where a cake of rat poison was. There was none in her teeth and she vomited twice for us and we saw no trace of poison. Jasmon might have been fine with no further treatment at all, but waiting is simply too risky.
Waiting might have cost Jasmon her life.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
My cat has possibly ingested rodenticides from around the house or eaten a mouse that has ingested them. It has been vomiting up any food eaten in the next couple of hours after ingestion. I have found no signs of blood in the stool, blood under the skin, salivating, convulsions, or very pale gums. The cat seems to be acting normal but just to be sure I was thinking of giving it Vitamin K. Other sites seem to point to Vitamin K-1 to help clotting. Should I wait it out? Give it the Vitamin? or what?
“I’ll quote from the Article: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
If your pet is in any way exposed to modern rat poisons it is a medical emergency that you cannot put off. “Exposed” includes having been in the vicinity of the poison and you’re not sure whether he actually ate any or not.”
That said, in the total and complete absence of rodenticide poisoning signs I would advise that when you seek medical attention don’t try to influence your pet’s doctor to focus on rodenticide poisoning. The likelihood of OTHER causes of gastrointestinal upset are much more likely. You could waste valuable time trying to practice medicine when your pet needs to be at a doctor’s office. Don’t delay.
Thanks for writing, Dr. Randolph.
Thank you for the post regarding rat poison. Our dog “found” rat poison and consumed 2 boxes of bait (we think). We induced vomiting and took her for emergency treatment. We believe she is on her way to full recovery.
Lisa you have reaped the rewards of not delaying when a potentially deadly event occurs. Good job! We always like to hear good news here at MyPetsDoctor.com. Thank you for your readership, Dr. Randolph
Hi… I just wanted to share my story. My girlfriend has a 3 year old Pug. She got into the rat poison at a friend’s house. We knew she got into it but didn’t know how much. We were looking for any signs at all of her getting sick and we were very close to taking her to the emergency vet. We were out of town and monitored her closely throughout the night but she acted fine.
A little over 24 hrs later.. can’t remember exactly…Lily had a bright green stool. We thought… good.. she got rid of the poison in of her system since she was still acting 100 percent fine.
Fast forward around a week later.. and my girfriend comes home from work and finds Lily bleeding from many points on her body and she is very bruised. The rat poison was kicking in. Well.. my girlfriend rushes Lily to the emergency vet where the damage is assessed. Her blood wasn’t clotting at all and she was bleeding internally. They put her on a IV. She goes through two blood transfusions with some plasma treatment and Vitamin K injections over a couple of days. She was alive but she was still having trouble breathing cause there was bit of blood in her lungs. The emergency veterinarian sucked that blood out of her lungs. She is slowly but surely getting better. She is eating again and snorting again (which for a pug is awesome). This of course cost my girlfriend a ton of money (but there was no doubt on her trying to save Lily). So far.. its been over a week and Lily is improving day by day. She is still on the Vitamin K doses given orally and she is getting more love than a dog knows what to do with.
If you see the green stool or know your dog got into this rat/mouse poison then please take your dog immediately to the emergency veterinarian or your regular veterinarian. It is a matter of life and death for your pet. Our mistake was not taking the dog to the emergency veterinarian right away which would have saved the dog alot of pain and us a lot of money. Even after seeing the green stool.. we could have saved the dog alot of hardship if we took the dog to the doctor. Just because your dog had a green stool doesn’t mean you are out of the woods. Quite the contrary.
Thank you, Bill, for the testimonial on how important a quick response is with rodenticide poisoning. Because modern rodenticides last so long it is imperative that treatment lasts as long as the poison.
A week ago today my 4 month old beagle cross got into rat poison, I rushed him immediately to the veterinarian where they induced vomiting, and gave him charcoal and now he is on an oral dose of vitamin K over the next 21 days. I cant imagine not dealing with it right away. He is definitely on the road to recovery. I would say even if you think they might have eaten something they shouldnt have, chances are they probably did. Better to be safe than sorry.
Genevieve, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Thank you,
Dr. Randolph
I didn’t realize that dogs love the taste of rat poison, but found out the hard way. My small dog got into a box of poison we had put behind some boxes in the garage. I just let her out of my sight for only 7-10 minutes when I noticed she was not at my heels. I called her name and she crawed from behind the boxes and was licking her mouth. I immediately remembered the poison. I opened her mouth but didn’t see any traces (green coloring), so I moved the boxes to see if the poison was still there. My heart fell when I saw the empty poison box. I called the emergency veterinary clinic and was instructed to induce vomiting. After 20 minutes, she had not vomited so we headed to the veterinarian. On the way, she did vomit and all I remember seeing was the green color and some of the pellets. At the veterinarian’s office, she was given something to cause more vomiting, charcoal, and vitamin K. I was given oral vitamin K for 21 days. Needless to say, I feel guilty for putting the poison down and then not watching her more closely . She seems fine but I am still afraid.
Crystal, you certainly learned your lesson the hard way. I once had a patient, a tiny five pound Poodle who turned over a huge concrete block to get to rat poison! You have little to worry about now. Finish the 21 days of Vitamin K, watch carefully for blood in the urine or splotchy bleeding under the skin. Some of the newest-generation rodenticides can have long-lasting effects, but you will be watching carefully and you will see the evidence should that occur. I’m delighted you got proper care promptly. It paid off for you. Thank you for your continued readership of MyPetsDoctor.com.
Dr. Randolph
My story does not have such a happy ending. Saffi, our 5 year old Golden Retriever, loves to visit neighbors and has been known to take off into the woods. She didn’t move Monday morning to eat her food. When she did eat, after much prompting, she vomited, very little food. I took her to veterinarian and X-rays showed a very full stomach but no blood anywhere. They sent us home. Three hours later I took her to an emergency center where they said it may be a possibility that she ingested rat poison and were willing to keep her overnight so she could have a CT scan in the morning. I already had an appointment with her regular veterinarian for 8 am the next day and chose to take her home. Unfortunately, the next morning, Saffi was not conscious. I took her back to the emergency clinic and she was “unstable”. Because she was so unresponsive, they really encouraged us to put her to sleep since damage was done to the brain, at this point. A neocropsy showed internal bleeding in her neck, chest and brain. I feel as though I let her down. I don’t know why they didn’t choose to test and/or treat her for rodenticide even with a tad of speculation. She was a healthy and beautiful dog. I’m devastated after reading all these articles, because I feel I brought her in as soon as I noticed her not eating, yet still wasn’t able to save her. This is a horrible, horrible tragedy.
I have been reading success story after success story for rodenticide. My veterinarian prescribed Tramadol. I just Googled it, and it specifically says when taking this medication to reduce any anticoagulant meds because results can be fatal. Could this have caused the bleeding? I feel very unsettled.
Hi, Gina,
The only reason I can come up with for prescribing Tramadol is that he perceived a pain syndrome to be present.
Did the necropsy not show poison in the stomach? Of course, it’s entirely possible that it could have been long enough since the ingestion that all of the poison and its carriers were digested and no longer apparent.
While guilt is part of the healing process in grief, you should not beat yourself up. As you read in our posts on rat poison, therapy has to be instituted quickly. Unfortunately the index of suspicion was not high for rodenticides in this case and there was a bad outcome.
Did Tramadol play a part? I seriously doubt it. In fact, prior to you mentioning it I’d never seen or heard mentioned that as a complicating factor, probably because people are routinely on anticoagulants and dogs and cats rarely are.
I’m so very sorry for your loss. I can tell by your story that you were very dedicated to your Golden and that you miss her terribly.
May God bring healing for your grief,
Dr. Randolph
My cat just recently found her way into my back-basement, where we keep the rat poison. I got her back upstairs and went down to check if she ate any, she didn’t. But I don’t know if she licked it or maybe took a small bite. I don’t think she would have done either, but there is a higher chance that she licked a piece of the poison. I understand that eating the poison would be dangerous, but is licking it dangerous as well?
Yes, Sarah, licking rat poison or ingesting it in ANY way can be dangerous. There is NO harm to properly treating a patient for rat poison exposure, even if there was none ingested. There IS danger is NOT getting treatment right away, OR having blood-clotting tests done to see if her clotting is normal. Either can be done by almost any veterinarian.
We just had our 1 year old Pekingese Nick pass away on January 3, 2010, we don’t know if he ingested rat poison but after taking him to emergency Veterinarian he had X-rays taken and he was shown to be bleeding internally. They sedated him. He never woke up. They let us take him home and said if he awoke and was worse to bring him back or go to our Veterinarian the next morning. He never made it and our loss is tragic. I feel the emergency veterinarian could have done more (but we didn’t have the money to cover it all) and so the price cost was our dear little pet! He will be missed greatly.
Sharon Davids & William Calvert
Hi. We left our two cats with my parents over the weekend and they somehow managed to get up onto the shelves and took a packet of rat poison from off the shelves. My mother found the poison on the floor and the cats by it. Well my mother took them to the veterinarian immediately and they induced vomiting (one of the cats vomited, the other didn’t) and we are now giving them the Vitamin K twice a day for three weeks. My girlfriend is very upset. The incident happened on Sunday morning (now Tuesday Morning) but we found that both their feces is green this morning, we rang the veterinarian again and understand that this is the green dye in the poision, so it looks like they ingested more that we managed to get them to vomit out. I suppose what I’m looking for is some sort of indication as to the chances of them surviving, they are taking the Vitamin K no problem orally and we are keeping them quiet and they seem themselves.
Any help/reassurance would be greatly recieved as my partner is very worried (as am I).
Regards
Simon
Simon, seeing green in the stool is an indication, as you rightly concluded, that the cats ate a LOT of poison that wasn’t vomited out. There may be more poison there than the amount of Vitamin K you can get into them orally can handle. That can easily be determined by testing bleeding times and clotting factors, so have them see your pet’s doctor first thing Wednesday morning (or tonight if there is blood in the stool or hemorrhage under the skin or in the whites of the eyes). Please keep us posted. All of our readers will be wanting an update, as do I. Dr. Randolph.
A week ago this evening my Dachshund ate rat poison. I immediately gave him hydrogen peroxide and made him vomit. I made a call to my local emergency veterinary clinic and was told that my bill would run about $400. I decided to wait it out until the morning since I believed that he vomited everything up. The next morning we rushed him to his regular veterinarian and all of his blood work came out good. They game him a vitamin K shot, an antibiotic shot and pills for both for 10 days. They told me to come back in a week for a follow up blood test. The next day my dog pooped out MORE rat poison. He seems to be 100% normal…thankfully. My question is do I REALLY need to take him back for a follow up blood test? Money is tight these days and I am not sure what to do. Advise please.
YES, Crystal, you REALLY need to take him back for followup. It’s a good sign that his initial clotting factors test was normal, but I am concerned that passing more rat poison could indicate he’s still absorbing it, which would be a clear indication for longer therapy. With modern rodenticides, duration of activity can be a month or more, so he could be OK now, but start bleeding in a week or two if you don’t follow up. I know money is tight, it’s a tough economy, but modern rat poisons are just too deadly to take chances with.
Thank you so much for the advice. We took Oscar back to the veterinarian today and all blood tests were normal. We are VERY happy. But now I am concerned. Do you think that 10 days on vitamin K is enough? He did give him a vitamin K shot at the first visit. Should I question the veterinarian?
No, if the bleeding parameters were normal today, he should have little risk remaining. Watch for spots or patches of blood in the whites of the eyes, the hairless side of the ears, the unhaired part of the tummy and in the gums. Watch his urine as he urinates, there should be no blood, ever. Watch his stool for signs of blood, there should never be any. Do that for another month, closely, and take him in at the FIRST sign of any blood. After that you know you’re home free UNLESS he finds MORE rodenticide!
Best wishes,
Dr. Randolph
My Lhasa Apso ventured downstairs after my husband didn’t tightly secure the gate and proceeded to eat a block of rat poison. We are renting a house and didn’t know there was rat poison downstairs. We immediately got to him within minutes of eating it and contacted the veterinarian. We induced vomiting with peroxide and was sure he vomited it all up. The next morning there was green in his stool, so, worried, we induced vomiting again and it seemed to be clear. He was very tired and even growled at me when I tried to pick him up that next day. And he NEVER growls or even barks. After that initial stool the rest have been normal and he received a Vitamin K shot at the vet. He goes back to get one more shot next week. He is more playful, eats normally, and more cuddly now. He seems to be back to his normal demeanor, but should I still worry? Are we out of the woods yet? He is only one year old and my little baby…so I am VERY worried and probably a little overprotective of him…which is why it hurts so much to know this could have been prevented!
That there was green in the stool indicates that rat poison had moved beyond the point in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that vomiting could reach. When mammals vomit, they can empty only the stomach and maybe a little of the duodenum, the first section of small intestine after the stomach, if there is some reflux into the stomach. What comes out as stool is WAY beyond what vomiting can reach. A single injection of Vitamin K will last a day, and modern rodenticides can continue to trigger effects for up to a month. Your options are to continue oral treatment 4-6 weeks OR to have periodic clotting tests to determine whether there is anticoagulant activity going on. Your veterinarian can help you in deciding which course of action you would rather take. A vitamin K injection once a week assumes that there is little or no rodenticide left in the body, which doesn’t seem to jive with your observation of “green” in the stool. If he were my patient I would be more aggressive, unless there were more medical information that you haven’t given to me. Watch for spots or patches of blood in the whites of the eyes, the hairless side of the ears, the unhaired part of the tummy and in the gums. Watch his urine as he urinates, there should be no blood, ever. Watch his stool for signs of blood, there should never be any. Do that for another six weeks, closely, and take him in at the FIRST sign of any blood. After that you know you’re home free UNLESS he finds MORE rodenticide!
My 170 lb English Mastiff got into some rat poison while we were out of town. I was told to induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide and she did vomit within 15-20 minutes after ingesting the poison. I took her on to the veterinarian (out of town) anyway and he induced vomiting again and there was no more rat poison in the vomitus. He gave her a shot of Vitamin K and pills to take for 3 weeks and said to follow up with her regular veterinarian once back home. What is the proper dosage for Vitamin K and can she develop toxicity to it? I read somewhere online that the dose should be 5 mg/kg. Is that correct? She is taking 2 pills twice a day. I am not sure if the pills are 25 mg each or 50 mg. If she vomited up all of the poison within 20 minutes of ingestion, is it necessary to continue taking Vitamin K for the full 3 weeks?
Thank you for some excellent questions, Jean.
You did the right thing taking your pet to see the veterinarian despite vomiting poison, because we can never be sure how much is still in the body based on how much was produced in the vomitus.
Because Vitamin K is water soluble, it is difficult to produce toxicity.
I’ve never seen anything but 5 mg. tablets, but the strength of the medication ( http://www.mypetsdoctor.com/stronger-antibiotics ) should be on the label. If it’s not, call the dispensing veterinarian and ask him the strength.
Is it necessary to finish the medication? Yes, because (see #1!) we can never be sure how much is still in the body based on how much was produced in the vomitus and modern rodenticides have no forgiveness.
Please let us know how your Mastiff is doing and if you have any other questions,
Best wishes,
Dr. Randolph
My 8 month old kitten, Milo, ingested some mouse poison while we were out of town this past weekend. He somehow got locked in the basement without light, food, or water for 3 days and when we got home we immediately heard him crying. My fiance looked around and noticed that one of the bricks of poison was half eaten and there was a dead bat nearby the brick. We immediately took Milo to the emergency veterinarian last night, where they said he was dehydrated and appeared to have ingested some poison. The veterinarian gave him a Vitamin K shot and gave us 7 days worth of Vitamin K pills. I see on here that a lot of other owners were given 10-21 days worth of pills. Also, Milo is not eating much (almost no wet food) and I noticed some green stool in the litter box today. Is 7 pills going to do the trick? I know we’re supposed to look out for blood in his eyes, ears, and anus, but is it normal that he doesn’t have an appetite after starving for three days? He also didn’t excrete anything in the basement, so is the stool still green because he wasn’t able to defecate? When should the stool get back to normal?
Dr. Randolph, I have a wonderful 8 year old 75 pound female Rottweiler. She has been in excellent health. She has made the trip back and forth to Africa with me several times. We have been living in Africa for most of the past 8 years. About 10 days ago, she began bleeding profusely from her nose. I took her to the veterinarian who thought that maybe it was the dry season that was provoking the problem. I found that hard to believe because of the amount of blood, but that was was my best hope for help, I thought. They gave her two injections and said to return the next day for another. Neither injection was Vitamin K. The bleeding diminished that night but began again the next morning. Again, it was profuse. The veterinarian again gave the injection and then said that they thought it would be better if I were to give her an anti-hemmorhage medication (pills twice daily) at home for 5 days rather than putting her in the car and driving her to the veterinarian each day - they have no facilities for hospitalizing animals. The bleeding didn’t stop and at times was quite profuse - she became a bit “shocky”. As I talked to friends, I wondered if she had inhaled some of the poison in the outside storage room where she had chased a cat. (Normally that room is closed and locked but I had gone in there to put something away) We use the poison against termites but I am fairly certain that it is a rodenticide as well. On the chance of that, I went to a local pharmacy and purchased Vitamin K 1 and began treatment. I also completed the 5 day treatment of the anti-hemmorhage medication (dicynone). We have gone without any nose bleeds for 1 week. Her gums are turning pink again, there are no signs of bleeding in her eyes or urine or stools. While her appetite isn’t quite normal, neither is her activity level. I am sure that she is quite anemic and we are working on that via diet as blood is not available for animals here. I am encouraged by how well she seems to be doing but I am wondering how long I should continue the Vitamin K treatment. What would be your recommendation? Thanks so much. I am so grateful that we seem to be on the road to recovery but don’t want to risk a relapse by discontinuing the Vitamin K treatment prematurely - I don’t think either of us would survive a reprisal of those 2-3 days.
Lorinda, allow me to make a list:
1. What is the active ingredient in the termiticide? (it should be on the package)
2. Just in case she got into a modern-generation rodenticide I would continue to Vitamin K for at LEAST 30 days. Some pets suffer from bleeding problems and require treatment even longer.
3. Interesting that you can buy Vitamin K OTC in Africa, it is a prescription product here.
4. It would be REALLY nice if we could have a PVC (packed cell volume), at least, and a bleeding panel if such is available from a laboratory there.
5. While there are dozens of things that can cause bleeding, it sure sounds like you are on the right track.
Tessa, Milo is probably going to need a more in-depth workup to identify ALL of the problems he has, including blood and urine tests. I never treat rodenticide victims for less than 30 days with Vitamin K, and some patients need it for even longer. That he is passing green in his stool means that the poison was (and probably IS) in his system for a long time, so he ingested a lot of it AND it had a long time to have some really bad effects on his body. So, please:
Ask for a more in-depth workup if he is still not eating.
Ask for a longer term of oral Vitamin K.
My 6 year old Chihuahua walked into a closet for 10 seconds before I got her out. There was a powdered type rodent poison in there. I certainly saw no signs of her eating any as it was only 10 seconds. 48 hours after she stated to shake and didn’t act herself. We took her to the Veterinarian and she said she looked just fine and showed no signs of distress…besides a upset tummy. We have put her on the Vitamin K pill for 30 days just to be safe. I understand symptoms can still arise from reading this post. If she does develop symptoms from the poison, what are survival chances since we didn’t even start treatment until 48 hours after the consumption?
Ashlee, it’s unlikely that your Chihuahua will have difficulty after 30 days of treatment, even though some rodenticides can cause problems this long after ingestion. That you started treatment 48 hours after ingestion is no longer a concern. If she were going to have problems from that factor it would have already shown up. Simply continue to watch the skin, eyes, urine and stool for evidence of bleeding, and she should be fine! You’ve done a good job!
I quote from our article on rodenticide poisoning: “If your pet is in any way exposed to modern rat poisons it is a medical emergency that you cannot put off.” No, mineral water was not the right thing to do. Going STRAIGHT to your veterinarian is the right thing to do. As that was midnight Saturday night, about two and one half days ago, he has fully processed the poison and will require treatment, even if he is not yet symptomatic. “Pain and discomfort” are NOT signs of rodenticide poisoning! Further, you don’t want to WAIT. If you are at work now, beg your boss if you have to but get off work and take your pet to the veterinarian NOW. Call ahead to let them know you are coming and what the problem is.
If a dog responds favorably to the Vit K treatment, are there any long-term health issues related to rat poisoning? We were in the process of adopting a dog and he ate rat poison before we got him. He is being treated now with Vitamin K1. We are now concerned about adopting a dog that could have future health issues related to the rat poisoning. Please advise.
Be sure to read the entire article carefully so that you can be sure the treatment is appropriate, especially in terms of the length of treatment (http://www.mypetsdoctor.com/rat-poison-rodenticide-treatment-dog-cat). After a successful treatment of an asymptomatic rodenticide poisoning victim, there should be no after-effects. Enjoy your new pet and thank you for adopting and not purchasing from a breeder.