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Rat poison: the underestimated danger for your dog

Rattengift

From poisonous plants to household cleaning products and poisonous bait, there are numerous ways in which a dog can be poisoned. A particularly insidious poison with which dogs can unfortunately come into contact for various reasons is rat poison.


If your dog has eaten rat poison, this is a life-threatening emergency that must be treated immediately by a vet. Without medical care, the consumption of rat poison is very likely to be fatal for your dog or at least to cause permanent damage. In the following, we will explain how to protect your dog from rat poison, what symptoms occur in the event of poisoning and what you must do in such cases.

Rat poison is also a danger for dogs

Normally, rat poison is naturally used to control rat infestations and to control the spread of the annoying pests. For this purpose it is usually used as bait, which rats confuse with food.


However, the toxic effect of rat poison is not limited to rats, but also develops in other animals, such as birds of prey or dogs. As the poison is not always labelled with the appropriate warnings, there is a certain risk that your dog may inadvertently ingest rat poison while out walking.


In addition, dog haters unfortunately always use poisoned bait in order to harm dogs in a targeted manner. These often contain rat poison in addition to other harmful substances.

Why rat poison is particularly insidious for dogs

In most cases, rat venom contains coumarin derivatives that interfere with vitamin K metabolism and thus disturb the formation of blood clotting factors. As a result, massive internal bleeding occurs, which ultimately leads to death.


Since rats are extremely cautious and would hardly eat anything if a conspecific died immediately after consumption, the active ingredient has been modified in such a way that its lethal effect is delayed.


This is not only true for rats, of course, but also for other animals. If your dog has eaten rat poison, it may therefore take several hours or even days before symptoms appear, depending on body weight and the dose ingested. Until then, the rat poison can spread unhindered in your dog's body.

How to protect your dog from rat poison

Another problem with rat poison is that it is available in many different forms. Anyone wishing to combat a rat infestation can choose between pellets, grains or pastes, among other things.


In many cases the rat poison is coloured with food colouring. For example, it can be pink, blue, red, green or even quite inconspicuously brown. It is therefore often not easy to immediately recognise the rat poison and protect the dog from it.


For this reason, it is all the more important that you keep a close eye on your four-legged friend when you take him for a walk and make sure that he does not eat anything he finds on the ground. 


In this context, your four-legged friend should have learned from a very early age that he may only eat if you allow him to.

Symptoms of rat poisoning in dogs

What consequences the consumption of rat poison has for your dog and how long it takes before the poisoning becomes noticeable depends primarily on the type of poison and the amount ingested. It can take several hours or even days before the first symptoms appear.

Rat poisoning manifests itself in your dog with the following symptoms in particular:

  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhoea
  • Blood in the faeces
  • Blood in the urine
  • Unrest
  • Cyanosis of the tongue
  • Pale gums
  • Shortness of breath
  • Muscle tremor
  • Cramps
  • Nosebleed
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Apathy
  • Unconsciousness

Charcoal tablets against rat poison in dogs

The possibilities, which are available to you in the case of poisoning as a holder for the initial care of your quadruped, are very limited. Although the administration of charcoal tablets can help to bind at least part of the rat poison in your dog's body, it is not always possible to treat the poison with a simple tablet. 


However, this only works if your dog has just eaten the rat poison. If your dog is already showing symptoms of poisoning, it is usually too late for charcoal tablets, as the poison has already spread through the body.

Dogs that have eaten rat poison must go to the vet

If your dog has eaten rat poison, you must see a vet or veterinary clinic as soon as possible. To ensure prompt care, you should announce your arrival by telephone in advance.


To assist the veterinarian with the treatment, if possible you can bring a sample of the rat poison your dog has ingested. This makes it easier for the veterinarian to determine the necessary measures and increases the likelihood that your dog will survive the poisoning with rat poison without permanent damage.

Prognosis for dogs that have ingested rat poison

The consequences of the consumption of rat poison for your dog ultimately depend on several factors. First of all, the amount of poison ingested and the weight of your four-legged friend determine how strongly the rat poison acts in your dog's body.


In addition, the time between ingestion and taking countermeasures also plays an important role.


The sooner you take your dog to the vet after eating rat poison, the better his chances of surviving the poisoning and not suffering permanent damage.

Support for your dog's immune system

After the veterinarian has taken care of your dog and hopefully got the poisoning with rat poison under control, it is important to strengthen the defences of the four-legged friend.


We recommend Shiimun Immune to support the immune system. This high-quality food supplement provides your dog with valuable nutrients from shiitake mushrooms and other natural ingredients.


In this way Shiimun Immune can contribute to your dog's speedy recovery and optimally support the recovery after rat poisoning.

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