Meet the Team at Pewaukee Veterinary Service

A Memorable Moment
I’ll never forget Cooper—a 14-week-old, Border Collie Mix puppy, who I saw early on a Monday morning for extreme lethargy, pale gums, difficulty breathing, and a bloody nose. He was immediately rushed into the treatment area by our technical team for assessment, which was when he and I first met.

While I was examining him, I knew he was in serious trouble and saw his condition worsen in front of my eyes—he appeared to go from a stupor to bordering on comatose. I found his gums were ghost white, epistaxis (bloody nose) from his right nostril, slow ocular (eye) reflexes, tachycardia (fast heartbeat), a loud heart murmur, and muffled breathing sounds. We placed Cooper on oxygen immediately because he was having difficulty breathing, and an intravenous catheter was placed so we could give him intravenous fluid therapy to help stabilize his blood pressure. At the same time, blood samples were being collected so we could run stat labwork in-house to find out what was happening.

His laboratory results showed he had extreme anemia (low red blood cell count), low blood proteins, and clotting times that were too long to even register on the analyzer we have. With this information, I could determine quickly that Cooper had likely gotten into a rodenticide (mice bait or rat poison) and was bleeding to death. We needed to act fast to save his life.

Talking to his parents, they were certain that Cooper had no access to any rodenticide and that they did not have any in their new house. Despite their certainty that Cooper did not have any exposure to rat poison, I explained to them that in a young dog with laboratory results that Cooper has, the diagnosis strongly shows rodenticide toxicity until I can prove otherwise. Understanding the critical life and death situation their beloved pup was in and that he would need intensive care to have a chance to survive, Cooper’s owners told me to treat Cooper with whatever we felt was needed to save his life.

My team of veterinary technicians and I got to work quickly. While Cooper was on oxygen to help with his breathing, we gave him an emergency blood transfusion—this would get Cooper more blood, platelets, and clotting factors to help slow down his bleeding. We also gave him an injection of Vitamin K. This treatment is the key to treating rodenticide intoxication because anti-coagulate rodenticides prevent the body from using its Vitamin K to make valuable clotting factors—and you need these factors to stop bleeding. After Cooper received his transfusion, he became more alert and I began to see the pink color returning to his gums, however, his breathing was still shallow and rapid. Because he was too unstable to be moved, I couldn’t take an X-ray to see if he was bleeding into his lungs, so an ultrasound was performed where we found a large amount of blood in his chest. This blood was compressing his lungs, making it hard for him to breathe. A large amount of blood was removed with a needle and this helped improve his breathing. Even though he was breathing easier, he was still very lethargic and not really responsive to me and his surroundings. Medication was given to help reduce swelling in his brain and this helped him to really start improving.

At this point, I was anxious to speak with Cooper’s owners with the good news that he was improving and becoming more stable. They were incredibly relieved to hear this, and told me that they had taken a break from their vigil at the hospital to go home and scour their house for signs of rat bait—and they had found an empty container of d-CON under some furniture left by the previous homeowners. Learning what they found was d-CON was incredibly important information for me because it confirmed Cooper’s diagnosis and treatment of the right syndrome.

Cooper remained on oxygen throughout the day and had to have blood removed from his chest a few more times. That afternoon, even though he was continuing to improve, it wasn’t as fast as I was hoping for, so we gave him another blood transfusion. After this second transfusion, Cooper perked up enough to where he could actually get up and walk around outside—he even ate a whole can of dog food!

At this point, I felt Cooper was stable enough for me to recheck his red blood cell count, which after checking I found had doubled with the treatment he received. He was also stable enough for us to move him to take an X-ray. The X-ray showed he still had quite a lot of blood in his chest and also some staples in his colon—the staples were likely from the d-CON container. Cooper was breathing better, however, he would require emergency care overnight to ensure he remained stable.

We transferred him to the Wisconsin Veterinary Referral Center, where he received an additional plasma transfusion and was kept on oxygen overnight. By mid-morning the next day, Cooper was able to be weaned off oxygen and he was back to his normal puppy self—he even came back to our practice to visit us and show how great he was doing! For the next month, it was necessary for Cooper to stay on the Vitamin K therapy to help support his clotting until his body could make and use its own Vitamin K. When Cooper came in for his one month recheck, his clotting times returned to normal and he was able to stop the Vitamin K therapy. Everyone he saw just loved him up, relieved and very happy to see him back to his old adorable, high-energy puppy self!

Anticoagulant rodenticides are the most widely used rodenticides in the United States and it can take anywhere from 3-7 days after ingestion for signs of life-threatening bleeding to become apparent. They are often sweet tasting which makes them attractive for pets to eat. In addition to anticoagulant rodenticides, there are other types of rodenticides that are bromethalin based, and cause seizures and even death, and cholecalciferol-based rodenticides that cause kidney failure and heart arrhythmias. Telling your veterinarian what type of rodenticide your pet ingested is critical information to know for effective treatment.

If you suspect your pet has ingested any type of animal bait, call Animal Poison Control (888-426-4435) right away or get them to your veterinarian immediately. It really is a matter of life or death.