[LuciaB]

Cannoli ate an entire container of rat poison last night! She slipped in to the garage when I went out to get something, amazing that a dog that size can slip past you without you noticing. She got shut in there and when we realized where she was she had managed to get in behind boxes and find a thing of rat poison.

We called the vet right away, he said to induce vomiting and that her being a big gal worked in her favor that she should be ok. I was at the vet when they turned their sign on this morning, they looked her over and gave her a shot of vitamin K along with a 10 day prescription of vitamin K tablets. She shows no sign of internal bleeding and they think she will be just fine. I am still anxious and will be checking her ears and gums carefully for the next week.

The vet said "That's a basset for you, they'll eat anything, edible or not."

 

[LuciaB]

I will post updates, so far she is acting like nothing happened. She didn't like the Vitamin K shot but otherwise she is as crazy as ever. Takes more than rat poison to stop a basset apparently!

 

[LuciaB]

Happy to report

Cannoli is doing great, no signs of any bleeding for several days so she is out of the woods. She loves the chewable vitamin K tablets she has to take, somehow I feel like I've been scammed - she eats rat poison and gets treats LOL.

 

[LuciaB]

Here is what I learned for anyone who might face this event, though I hope you never do!

If caught right away, as in our case, you should induce vomiting. If they've had a chance for it to start breaking down in their stomach you'll need to administer activated charcoal to absorb as much poison as possible. Peroxide is an easy way to induce vomiting, we used peroxide and a turkey baster. My tip would be to do this in an area you can easily clean up, we realized belatedly that we had piles of rat poison filled throw up that we had to police knowing how dogs will revisit the scene so to speak.

Rat poison blocks the bodies absorption of vitamin K and leads to internal bleeding, so the therapy is vitamin K which you have to have a prescription for. It cost us $30 for a 10 day supply, well worth it. Our vet also gave Cannoli a vitamin K shot to get things started.

We had to watch her for signs of internal bleeding, the vet said sometimes it takes several days for that to show up. Best way to check is looking at the gums, inside of the ears and on the belly where there is no hair, look for bright red spots or bruise like areas.

Hope this is helpful!