This is the background. Our three dogs Belle, Lola, and Dottie spent the weekend (April 17 & 18, 2010) at the country home of my brother and his family and their two dogs, Sadie and Birdie. We picked our dogs up on Sunday night. Monday night Sadie was not acting like herself so Tuesday morning he took her to the vet. They kept her to do a thorough exam and for observation; initially they felt she might have a bleeding tumor of some sort. Sadie was days short of being 11 years old. After blood work it was determined that actually Sadie had ingested poison; either by eating the poison itself or from a poisoned animal. The veterinarian then called my brother and asked him to bring in Birdie so blood work could be done to determine if she too had eaten some poison. At this point Birdie wasn’t totally symptomatic however, she had been coughing and did act a bit lethargic. Birdie was tested Tuesday afternoon. Her tests came back positive. She was given a blood transfusion and started on Vitamin K. Vitamin K counteracts the deadly effects of the poison. This poison can stay in the body for up to three weeks; the standard treatment is 30 days on Vitamin K. Fortunately, Birdie survived, unfortunately Sadie did not. That same day my brother called me and asked me how my dogs were doing. They were fine, no unusually behavior here.
Then on Sunday morning, April 25, 2010, a full week after leaving my brother’s home Lola became sick. It started with her eyes, they were bulging and red and she was extremely lethargic. After an emergency room visit to our veterinarian, no answers for her condition were found. She was put on eye drops to keep her eyes moist and pain meds as it was apparent she was in pain, at that time we thought from the eye condition. The fact that her condition could have been caused from the poison seemed out of the realm of possibility because it had been at least 7 days since the exposure.
Monday morning (April 26, 2010) her condition seemed mildly improved, she had eaten some and her eyes weren’t nearly as swollen. However, by Monday night she was declining again.
Tuesday morning (April 27, 2010) we took her to another veterinarian, again they were mystified by her condition and felt she may have a brain tumor or an infection in her brain; again not really feeling that the poison played a part. While doing a test on her she had a seizure that last 4-5 minutes. Never had they seen a dog decline in such a rapid fashion.
Due to her grave condition and with no hope for a good quality of life it was determined it was time to tell Lola goodbye. Sadly, Tuesday afternoon that decision had to be made. At that point we were devastated to think that Lola would no longer be with us. Lola was only 5 years old.
At 5:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, the veterinarian called us to say that when Lola was euthanized there was such a gush of blood from her urinary tract that they then suspected that the poison may indeed been what caused her grave condition. We were asked to bring our other two dogs in for testing. Dottie’s tests were clear for poison; Belle’s weren’t perfect so to be on the safe side she is now on Vitamin K.
So what do I want you to do.............Three things:
First: If your dog’s becomes sick for no apparent reason and your veterinarian can’t find an answer through routine blood tests, ask to have them to run a Coag-PT/PTT panel. Remember we never saw the dogs eat the poison; this was learned after the fact;
Second: If your dog has been around other dogs that became sick from rat poison; take your dogs to be tested immediately, even if your dogs are acting fine, DON’T wait for symptoms to appear. The test is inexpensive and the cost of Vitamin K is cheap. Remember, rat poison can stay in a dog's body for up to three weeks;
Third: Please, please share this story with everyone you know…………for the love of Lola.
4 comments:
Thank You, I'm sure this will help others. There are no good words to convey our feelings for your loss. XO
That is one awesome picture of Lola..so worth the money. That is amazing...what a treasure. We went through vitamin K so many times with Sway and Decon..she always found that stuff. Reading your story..I am wondering why Sway is alive. Thanks for sharing...I know it is hard. She was loved and is missed! Thanks Sue!
I love the picture andam so glad you were able to get one. I hope the healing has begun. James's school had pet day this week and she ended up in the hall in tears. When the teacher finally got it out of her, it was because she missed her dog...healing does take awhile. Loves to you!
When C.S. Lewis lost his wife, Joy, he wrote "the pain now is part of the happiness then..." I think about this one a lot. I don't know how much comfort it brings but it has always helped me sort out my feelings...and that it is okay to be sad because it just means you were so happy. Lola must have been one special dog and I'm so sorry she is not with you anymore...beautiful picture to help you remember the happy times!
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