Poppy Clark , a border terrier has been awarded the Fromus Vet Group’s

OCTOBER 2006 PET OF THE MONTH AWARD

Poppy is a bubbly border terrier puppy, just six months old.

Her dad brought her in to see the vet on Thursday 31 st because she was lethargic and off her food. The vet found that she had a slightly raised temperature and there was a bad smell coming from her mouth. When the vet took a closer look he found that a loose baby tooth had not been completely shed. Food had collected between it and the new tooth erupting below and begun to go rotten. Poppy had not been cleaning her teeth properly!

The tooth was easily removed and Poppy went home on a course of antibiotics and pain relief.

However…

Poppy was rushed in the following night just before midnight bleeding profusely from her gums. The on-call vet quickly admitted her and called the on-call nurse to help.

Poppy’s mucus membranes (gums and inside of her mouth) were very pale – almost white. They should normally be a healthy pink colour and this indicated that she had lost a good deal of blood.

When her temperature was taken there were dark black faeces on the thermometer indicating that she was also bleeding in her bowel.

The signs all pointed to a failure of coagulation(clotting) of the blood and the most likely cause was rat poison. Poppy lived on a farm and was constantly exploring outbuildings and places where rats are to be found.

The loss of blood had made her very weak. Her blood pressure was low and this meant that her kidneys and liver might not do their jobs properly and she could get even more poorly.

The vet set up an intravenous drip to give her an artificial plasma called Haemacell. This would help raise her blood pressure and counteract shock.

Modern rodenticides (rat/mouse poison) work by stopping certain clotting factors in the blood from working properly. The most important factor to be blocked is Vitamin K. Poppy was therefore given a large intravenous dose of Vitamin K.

Poppy was in a critical condition for the next few hours. She was watched carefully for signs of improvement throughout the night.

The rest of us were all relieved to find that she has made it though the night, but she had been vomiting up nasty black stuff containing cereal grains. By now the owner confirmed that she could have had access to rat poison which is often mixed in with grain to attract the rats and mice.

Poppy made steady progress, receiving a series of Vitamin K injections. She was soon off the intravenous support and her blood was clotting normally. She began to behave like a puppy again.

Although she showed no more clinical signs of bleeding anywhere she had to continue taking Vitamin K tablets for a couple of weeks because the effects of the poison anticoagulant can last up to fifteen days.

Poppy was discharged 3 days later and the owner was warned to look out for signs of kidney failure which would be drinking and urinating excessively. However, she has recovered well and is back to creating mischief and generally being a Border Terrier.

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Rodenticides (Mouse and Rat poisons) should be laid down carefully where pets cannot get at them. A dog or cat may well survive a single large dose without ill effect. Problems arise when there is repeated ingestion over a short period of time as the poisons are cumulative.

As Poppy demonstrated, poisoning is not always obvious in the early stages but once the overt clinical signs show prompt treatment can be successful.

Signs of possible anticoagulant poisoning

• Persistent bleeding from nose, gums, bowel and/or any wound
• Pale mucous membranes (gums)
• Blood in urine and/or faeces
• Petechial haemorrhages (bruising spots) on gums
• Blood in vomit ( often black and tar like)

Prolonged blood loss can lead to:

• Lack of appetite
• Lethargy and extreme tiredness
• Collapse

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