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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A relaxing weekend with flooding, tornados, and rat poison.

We spent the weekend at J's parent's house. We had a nice time, but there were a few interesting things thrown in there.

After arriving around 10:30 / 11:00 pm Friday night, we all talked for about an hour and then went to bed. It was late and we needed to get some sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast without any real plans in mind. My mother-in-law N, and I decided to go for a bike ride while J and his dad G, sat and talked up by G's workshop. It was still cool and cloudy out so that really helped N and I. We probably rode about 2 miles, and by the time we made it back home our legs felt like jello. We sat with J and G for a little while just talking, enjoying the nice weather, and Kira relaxed on the concrete pad keeping her belly cool.

Later back inside, N had said something about how her computer was really acting sluggish. J opened it up and we took a look. It needed to be cleaned, but it also needed new RAM. For the processor and programs it had, the memory was much too low. We decided that after we got showered and ready, we'd go into town to pick up some memory and anything else we needed.

I was getting ready and as I came out I heard J say something in a panicked voice. I don't exactly remember what he said but here's what happened.

Kira had found a block of rat poison that was pushed back in between the fridge and the stove. J and I didn't know it was there, and N had forgotten. We're still trying to figure out how Kira managed to get at it since it was pushed back towards the wall. Also because Kira couldn't stick her head in the opening. We think she may have stuck her paw in and pulled it out, but how she actually did it while most everyone was in the kitchen is beyond us!

Anyway, J walked into the living room and saw Kira chewing on something. He asked his mom what Kira had that was blue.

[stomach sinking feeling]

N knew instantly that it was poison. I think that's when J called to me. I was in the bathroom, just having finished drying my hair or something. I came out and he and his mom were both on the phone with vets. J was calling our vet back home and N was calling a local vet.

We were told that we needed to get Kira to throw up and get the poison out of her stomach. Fortunately we found her before she had ingested too much, but we still needed to get it out. That was a chore since Kira is so extremely strong. You should have seen three adults out in the backyard trying to hold and pour hydrogen peroxide down a dog's throat.


Note: Do not take this information word for word if your pet, dog, cat, etc. has gotten into poison. Call your veterinarian immediately, and do whatever they tell you.



That is what we did. The vet asked Kira's weight and according to that, she told us to get at least 1 cup of peroxide down into her stomach. We tried just pouring it from a measuring cup, getting a little down. Then we tried a plastic flavor injector syringe (without a needle). The syringe helped, but it was still very difficult. N and J have some scrapes to prove it.

Once we got most all of the 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide in her stomach, Kira threw up and we could see the blue specks. She got sick a second time, and then we tried to get the rest of the peroxide down to make sure she got all the poison up. After that I brushed her teeth, because I could still see blue caught in her molars and I didn't want her ingesting that little bit either.

[Our poor baby!]

We watched her for a while and after she calmed down from the stress of us manhandling her, she was back to her normal, playful self. The vet told us to check her gums and urine periodically to make sure there wasn't any blood showing up. The vet also said that she would meet us up at the office at 8:30 am on Sunday morning to check Kira's blood and see how quickly it clotted.

The thing with most rat poisons is that they are basically blood thinners – anticoagulants (this particular blue block type was Warfarin). I won't go into what the poison does to mice and rats, but it's how they die and it's really not reader friendly or pleasant to think about. The same goes for any animal that eats the poison. It will thin their blood, and if they ingest enough for their size, it could kill them. The effects do not show up immediately either. It takes 24 to 48 hours for any symptoms to appear. Other than getting the poison out of Kira's stomach, we couldn't do much else until Sunday. We were told not to worry though. We had gotten most, if not all of the poison out of her system quickly. Thankfully she hadn't ingested a lot, but if needed she would receive an injection of vitamin K.



How to Tell if Your Dog Has Eaten Rat Poison -- powered by ExpertVillage.com


That night there was a huge storm cell in the area. We had been to dinner, and when we came back we found out a tornado had passed nearby! Roads and creeks were flooding, so we watched the weather, said some prayers and went to bed.

Sunday morning we got up, and made our way to the vet so Kira could be checked out. The vet informed us that she would draw some of Kira's blood to know if she needed any other treatment. Fortunately the blood clotted inside the vial within 2 minutes. That was great news, and Kira was free to go! If her blood had taken longer than 3 or 4 minutes to clot, the veterinarian would have given Kira the injection of vitamin K. From what I understand, the vitamin K helps thicken blood and allow it to clot again. It is not always necessary, as was our case this particular time. Take note though, that the injection may not always work to save a pet, especially if they have ingested a poison or toxic plant/food and you are unaware of it.

We were so thankful that Kira was fine. We knew to keep Kira out of the garage and the laundry/utility area since there had been poison there last time we visited. There had been a rogue mouse that was getting into all the cabinets and leaving droppings. Even chewing on one cabinet door trying to get out. N said she felt so bad since she had forgotten about the poison in the kitchen. It wasn't her fault, but we'll all pay closer attention to things on the floor, and within reach from now on. It's still so odd that no one saw Kira get at the poison, especially since they were in the kitchen at the same time she was. She's proven to be sneaky!

Over all we had a nice weekend and enjoyed visiting. Next time we'll do a sweep and make sure there isn't anything a child or pet can get into.

3 thoughtful comments:

Laura said...

I'm so glad Kira's ok! Poor girl! I bet that was stressful for all of you. It definitely sounds like it was a crazy weekend.

Jennifer said...

wow...glad she's ok! (And you guys are ok with the storms and all!)

Ann(ie) said...

Scary!! So glad your baby's okay. =/ What an eventful weekend!

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