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jhenley · 10-05-2007, 03:37 PM

First of all, I want to say thank you to all of the members… I have learned so much from reading the great posts on here. But especially to the members who responded to “Gucci ate a piece of poison for mices” . I just finished reading it and you guys are truly Hero’s for all of the love and support you unselfishly gave.

Here is my rat poison experience and I hope this never happens to anyone else.

Last April I heard our two dogs (Tuffy our Yorkie, and Bentley our 127lb Shep/Rot mix) fighting with something in the backyard. Just as I jumped up to see what was going on, in came both dogs. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a huge, badly injured rat in my little Yorkie’s mouth! I yelled at him to “drop it” and thank God he did. (the rat also had huge teeth marks on its body from Bentley)

The following evening I noticed Bentley’s gum was bleeding. We thought that he maybe cut it while fighting with the rat. The next evening Bentley began to drip a small amount of blood from his mouth. The next morning I took him to the vet.

I told the whole “rat story” while the vet took a look in Bentley’s mouth. Not only were his gums bleeding but he had a large (10cm x 2cm) sublingual hematoma (the whole length of his tongue) on the under side of his tongue.

She asked me if there was any rat poison he could have gotten into, and I told her I have never bought or used any kind of poison because of the dogs. She then told us that Bentley probably bit and or injured his tongue and or gum while chewing a bone. Told us to take him home and come back in one week if he’s not better.

At that time I knew nothing about rat poison, or whenever there is a question of doubt, go ahead and treat with Vitamin K as it can’t hurt them. So I stupidly took Bentley home.

I stayed with Bentley every minute, promising him he would feel better soon. Around 5:00 am, two days later, I woke up to Bentley crying. His mouth was still bleeding, and now his left back leg was hurting him. Then within an hour he was really crying and both of his hind legs were no good. He kept trying to get up but his back legs wouldn't work. I had him back to the Vet's by the time they opened for the day.

The Vet said Bentleys problem with his legs was probably from arthritis that he has had for a couple of years, but that his mouth was much worst and his eyes were a little blood shot. So she would keep him and put him under so she could do ex rays and check out his mouth. She also gave him a Vitamin K shot because now she thought it was rodenticide toxicity.
We went home and waited by the phone.

The Vet called us later that afternoon and told us Bentley had bled out and died.

Two weeks later we went back to the vets to try to understand what happened. All she could say is that she was sorry, and that if she would have given Bentley the antidote on the first visit he would be alive today.

10-05-2007, 03:37 PM	#1
jhenley YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 1	Bleeding and Vitamin K First of all, I want to say thank you to all of the members… I have learned so much from reading the great posts on here. But especially to the members who responded to “Gucci ate a piece of poison for mices” . I just finished reading it and you guys are truly Hero’s for all of the love and support you unselfishly gave. Here is my rat poison experience and I hope this never happens to anyone else. Last April I heard our two dogs (Tuffy our Yorkie, and Bentley our 127lb Shep/Rot mix) fighting with something in the backyard. Just as I jumped up to see what was going on, in came both dogs. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a huge, badly injured rat in my little Yorkie’s mouth! I yelled at him to “drop it” and thank God he did. (the rat also had huge teeth marks on its body from Bentley) The following evening I noticed Bentley’s gum was bleeding. We thought that he maybe cut it while fighting with the rat. The next evening Bentley began to drip a small amount of blood from his mouth. The next morning I took him to the vet. I told the whole “rat story” while the vet took a look in Bentley’s mouth. Not only were his gums bleeding but he had a large (10cm x 2cm) sublingual hematoma (the whole length of his tongue) on the under side of his tongue. She asked me if there was any rat poison he could have gotten into, and I told her I have never bought or used any kind of poison because of the dogs. She then told us that Bentley probably bit and or injured his tongue and or gum while chewing a bone. Told us to take him home and come back in one week if he’s not better. At that time I knew nothing about rat poison, or whenever there is a question of doubt, go ahead and treat with Vitamin K as it can’t hurt them. So I stupidly took Bentley home. I stayed with Bentley every minute, promising him he would feel better soon. Around 5:00 am, two days later, I woke up to Bentley crying. His mouth was still bleeding, and now his left back leg was hurting him. Then within an hour he was really crying and both of his hind legs were no good. He kept trying to get up but his back legs wouldn't work. I had him back to the Vet's by the time they opened for the day. The Vet said Bentleys problem with his legs was probably from arthritis that he has had for a couple of years, but that his mouth was much worst and his eyes were a little blood shot. So she would keep him and put him under so she could do ex rays and check out his mouth. She also gave him a Vitamin K shot because now she thought it was rodenticide toxicity. We went home and waited by the phone. The Vet called us later that afternoon and told us Bentley had bled out and died. Two weeks later we went back to the vets to try to understand what happened. All she could say is that she was sorry, and that if she would have given Bentley the antidote on the first visit he would be alive today.