My dog ingested rat poison...and lived!

I want to share my dog, Abby’s experience with rat poison – Decon. She had it in her system for a week and she survived! Do not write your pet off, there is a good chance for survival! Here is Abby’s story. We discovered Abby ate rat poisoning, and very ignorantly and foolishly we admit, thought she was fine since we didn’t see any symptoms and didn’t think a small rodent poisoning would have the same effect on an 85 pound dog. It was only until about 6 days later, that a fistula near her anus began bleeding and wouldn’t stop. Rat poison is known to slowly kill the animal, thinning the blood and the animal bleeds internally and externally. Vet #1, to whom she was originally taken, treated it and when her bleeding wouldn’t stop, we determined the rat poison was the reason her blood was not clotting. The vet said that there is no reversing the damage done; there was nothing that could be done, and “so sorry”. We were in shock and basically spent the next few hours mourning our dog who we thought we’d have to put down. Then we decided that we couldn’t watch our dog die and decided to look on the internet to see if there was any hope. We could only find one positive article about a dog surviving; the dog was given a blood transfusion. Our veterinarian never mentioned that possibility so I called him and asked him about this. He said we could try the 24 hour animal clinic in a neighboring town but it’s expensive and he didn’t sound encouraging. We carried our beloved almost 11-year-old yellow lab in her bed out to the car, anxious that there may be a chance for her survival. Sure enough, after speaking with the doctor at Vet #2, she said this is a common case that they treat and most dogs recover with proper treatment, although our dog was a more advanced state, having been a week since she ingested the poisoning. We agreed for Abby to immediately receive the first blood transfusion and then a second. The next morning the original Vet #1 that we visited called us with Abby’s blood test results. They said it wasn’t good, although her blood was being replaced her liver was completely destroyed, only a miracle could save her, “so sorry”, we’ll send her results to Vet #2 immediately and you will have a tough decision to make today. Once again we were devastated and mourned for our dog that we thought we’d have to put down that day. After a few hours Vet #2 called and told us Abby was doing very well. We were so confused. I said what about her liver? I thought it was destroyed? Vet #2 Doctor told me it can be reversible with the right drug regimen – Vitamin K to coagulate her blood, Denosyl antioxidants to improve her liver. After the two blood transfusions and two nights in the hospital Abby was “doing great” and ready to come home. It cost us around $1600 in total. Some dogs only need one transfusion which would have cost around $1000. We were so thrilled that Abby may recover and we felt so fortunate. What a roller-coaster we had all been on. She had her appetite back, was drinking a lot of water, and was in good spirits. She did tire easily and slept a lot. Fortunately I was able to stay home with her to monitor her during her recovery, she was kept calm and she got a lot of rest in a quiet and comfortable environment. I swore if Abby survived I would share her story to give those hope whose veterinarians didn’t have any, like our original vet #1. Good luck and tell everyone you know about the severity of rat poison...and its delayed symptoms. And yes, Vet #1 did find out Abby survived. They called and said “We heard about Abby, what luck!” After two weeks, she was back to her old playful self; I wouldn’t call it luck. She is 12 and a half as I write this and still doing great! :)