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Thread: Milo ate a rat

  1. #1
    Puppy milobuddy's Avatar
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    Milo ate a rat

    Hey everyone--my two year old lab vomited a rat in the early hours of the morning this morning (he has never done this or brought any dead animals to me before). I called the emergency vet who suggested just bringing him in to his regular vet this morning, which I did. The doctor performed an x-ray (to make sure there were no other rats in his tummy), did some tests, and did a blood panel at my request. She told me that he is going to be fine and that there were no signs of poison so far, and told me that vitamin k12 (the one sometimes given to dogs that eat rat poison) would be overkill, but told me to watch him for signs of vomiting or lethargic behavior.


    I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with this before? It seems if the rat had been poisoned he would be in more danger than the vet seems to feel he is. I consulted a trusted source who said that he would have needed to eat more rats for the poison to affect him (he's about 80 pounds). And, of course, it could have just been a rat he caught with no poison involved. But I wanted to ask: if you have gone through this, what other symptoms might I watch for? Don't these kinds of poisons take a while to show symptoms? Is the vet thinking he's in the clear because he didn't actually digest the rat?


    Any thoughts would be helpful!

  2. #2
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    My only thought is....bleah....and that probably isn't helpful at all.

    Hope the vet is right and that Milo will be just fine. I'd brush his teeth.

    Somehow the word "rat" is much worse than the word "mouse". (Decomposing mouse is what I fished out of Baffle's mouth once...didn't know what was in there till I got my fingers on it.)

  3. #3
    House Broken EGrant23's Avatar
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    I've been in Pest Control for many years so I get this question often. Basically rodenticides are non transferable in almost all situations. An 80lb dog would have to consume 15 rats. I've tried to attach a reference guide, not sure it will work. If it doesnt, you can message me your email address and I can get it to you that way.

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  5. #4
    Puppy milobuddy's Avatar
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    Thank you for this, having this from multiple sources is comforting. I'm still watching him but he seems fine as of now.

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    OMG, that is so gross! I hate rats so much but am also fascinated by them.

    There are different types of poisons and the newer ones do not respond to vitamin K. I also understand that a dog has to eat quite a few poisoned mice/rats to be affected by the poison.

    Rats don't travel far from their homes (100-300 feet) when looking for food, so you could also ask neighbors if they have put out poisons for peace of mind. Did he chew the rat or just gulp it? Do you think he ate it dead or did he kill and then consume it? Might be worth putting out some dog-safe traps.

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    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    Ugh. My husband live-traps rats all over our property and if Thor finds them before the husband does he bounces and play-bows to the poor terrified critter in the cage. I never let him *actually* play with one but now I wonder if he thinks it is some kind of fun fuzzy toy that he can toss about (....and eat).
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    What they won't do to gross us out. Think he is going to be OK, just keep an eye on him like the vet said.

    Got the creepy crawly feeling now. YUCK
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    Senior Dog SamsonsMom's Avatar
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    Wow, I spent yesterday at the vet because Samson overfilled himself on Rose of Sharon blooms (in excess of 20). I'm not sure which would have horrified me more? Coming home to a vomited rat on the floor or an abundance of toxic blooms? So happy to hear he is going to be OK. It's a scare for sure. They can do some crazy things for sure.

  10. #9
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MightyThor View Post
    Ugh. My husband live-traps rats all over our property and if Thor finds them before the husband does he bounces and play-bows to the poor terrified critter in the cage. I never let him *actually* play with one but now I wonder if he thinks it is some kind of fun fuzzy toy that he can toss about (....and eat).
    So, what do you do with them?

  11. #10
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    So, what do you do with them?
    He 'disposes' of them humanely and leaves the carcasses out for the carrion birds and animals. They are a problem all around our neighborhood (borders BLM open range land, lots of volcanic rock fences, horse/hay barns, etc) but the only other trap that seems to catch them is the glue traps which are awful. They'll tear their own backend off to escape one of those. We also don't use poison because of all the farm dogs in the neighborhood - don't want them to poison themselves by eating a dead poisoned rat. Since Milo seems to prove that rats are tasty. Ew.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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