LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) – With the cooler weather comes more pests trying to get inside your home, but before you set out any traps, make sure they will not poison your pets.
“They kind of scurry in the backyard and [my dog] likes to snatch them up,” Allyson Laster said.
Laster’s dog Huckleberry is a 3-year-old, 100-pound rescue dog. She said he is always on the hunt for something.
"He is notorious for catching rats and letting them go,” Laster said.
But his instinct to hunt got him into some trouble last year when he walked into the house and immediately got sick.
"He came inside and just stopped and threw up a bunch of blood,” Last said.
She took Huckleberry to the vet and they said it was likely rat poison.
"Not everybody realizes just how serious that can be when their pet ingests rat poison,” Dr. Andrea Razer said.
Dr. Razer, a veterinarian at the Hillcrest Animal Clinic, said she sees cases of pets getting into rodenticides at least once a month.
"The most common type of rodenticides we see are anticoagulants. That means they kill rats and mice by not allowing the rodents to make clotting factors and they start to bleed,” she said.
Dr. Razer said this reaction is exactly what happens when a pet ingests the poison.
"They lose the inability to clot which causes internal bleeding,” she said.
Instead, some vets recommend using manual traps because they're not poisonous and therefore can be less harmful to your pets. But if caught early enough, pets can be treated for the poison. Vets will treat the dogs with vitamin K to help the pet make clotting factors again.
"He had to take vitamins for two weeks to counteract the effects of rat poison and his stomach has still been sensitive ever since,” Laster said.
Dr. Razer said if you suspect your pet ingested rat poison, bring them in right away. Sometimes it can take days for an animal to show symptoms, so the sooner you treat the better.