HEARTACHE AVERTED!! WARNING: KEEP YOUR DOG AWAY FROM D-CON
Well, we’ve had a learning experience at our house this past week. We’ve been having a rat problem in our garage for several months. Hubby put out some D-con and it seems to have had some effect on the nasty buggers as he found one dead outside near the trash. He also put some under our deck as Dell kept trying to dig through the deck boards - a clear indication a rodent is residing under there. Hubby placed the D-con far enough under the deck that Dell shouldn’t have been able to get ahold of it. Well, guess what…yep, he did. I didn’t realize it until about 12 hours later, when I took him outside in the morning to potty, and there were blue pellets strung in a line across the backyard and the now empty D-con box lying torn apart next to a pile of pellets. One quick Google search to find out the problems that could arise and two panicked calls to the vet and Hubby later, Dell was on his way to the vet for treatment.
What I learned about D-Con has me shaking in my skin knowing this could have been my beloved dog. I knew he needed to be kept away from the stuff because it’s poisonous but I had no idea that D-Con works by depleting the Vitamin K in the blood, causing the blood to stop clotting, causing anemia and internal bleeding resulting in death. It’s a horrible death. When a dog eats the D-Con, he is subject to the same type of death as the mouse unless he receives immediate emergency veterinary attention. The same problems arise if your pooch eats a rodent that’s been poisoned by D-Con. The bait pellets have a sweet odor that attracts dogs. Dogs aren’t too picky about what they eat so they are more likely to eat the D-Con packets than cats.
We were fortunate in fact that I found the torn apart box and pellets when I did. Symptoms of poisoning may not appear for 2-5 days and sometimes the time period can be significantly longer, up to 11 days. Apparently there are two types of D-Con; One has a 5-day reaction time, the other has a 6-week reaction time (why on earth would you want a rodent poison with a 6-week reaction time????). Be sure to check with your veterinarian, but you might want to consider keeping your dog on vitamin K tablets for at least 6 weeks as a precaution.
Symptoms include:
* Depression
* Lack of appetite
* Exercise intolerance
* Hemorrhage
Hemorrhaging may occur into the skin, causing bruising, into the chest cavity causing difficult breathing and bloody nasal discharge, into the stomach and intestinal tract causing bloody saliva, vomiting blood or bloody feces, into the spinal column or brain causing central nervous system disorders such as seizures, or into the abdominal cavity. If the animal is anemic, he may show signs of disorientation, lethargy, or sudden death.
Treatment depends on how quickly the dog is brought to the veterinarian. If the dog is brought in within 4 hours of eating the D-Con, the veterinarian will use charcoal to induce vomiting. If hemorrhaging is already present, this treatment won’t help. At this point the dog is treated with Vitamin K to help him make new clotting factors in his blood. This treatment can take several weeks or even months and is very expensive. Some dogs may require blood transfusions and antibiotics. Cage rest and restricted exercise are recommended until the animal heals.
D-Con poisoning is an emergency. Call your veterinarian immediately. Fortunately my baby boy is okay, but things could have been so much worse. Please don’t let this happen to you and your pupper.
http://www.petroglyphsnm.org/medalerts.html
