A labrador had to be rushed to the vets for life-saving treatment after eating rat poison left in a trap. Owner Joanna Firth spotted playful one-year-old Ernie eating the poison and made an urgent call to Vets Now.
Rat poison is highly toxic to dogs and can cause internal bleeding, kidney failure, organ damage and even death if eaten by your dog. Occupational therapist Joanna had left Ernie with her dad while away for a short break and had popped back to collect him.
“My dad lives locally and used to have Labradors himself, so he’s quite happy to look after him,” said Joanna. “Unfortunately, his house has a bit of a rodent problem from time to time and he had put these rat bait sachets down. Obviously, he thought they were in places Ernie wouldn’t be able to get to, but Labradors have a way of sniffing out anything they think may be food.
“I walked in literally at the very moment he was at the sachet. We lunged to get it, but he ate the whole thing before we could stop him. We knew we needed to get help fast and phoned Vets Now right away as it was in the evening and our vets was closed. Although Ernie hadn’t been sick and was actually looking fine, we realised there was no time to lose.”
As soon as he arrived, Ernie was assessed and urgently treated. “Our team gave him an injection to make him sick and he brought up some food and the rat bait,” said vet nurse Olivia Hurst.
“It’s vital to get the poison out of the system quickly and happily we were able to do that with Ernie. After checking his condition, we were then able to let him go home with activated charcoal liquid and a course of tablets to counteract the effects.”
There are several types of rat poison with the most common anticoagulant rodenticides which can cause internal bleeding. Other varieties can result in acute kidney failure, brain swelling and depress the central nervous system.
“Ernie was fine when we got him back later that evening, but we know it could have been different,” said Joanna. “We wouldn’t have realised anything was wrong until much later if I hadn’t walked in at that moment and saw him eating it. That’s what worries me the most and I think we were very lucky indeed.
“It was a really frightening time and my dad felt bad about what happened, so I’d just urge every owner to make sure they keep any rat bait away from dogs. And not to delay in getting help if you need it. Thanks to Vets Now it all worked out happily for us.”
