Posions

[Pat93238]

I recently had a 52 LB dog die suddenly (12Yrs. Old) When I had come home I found her in a very bad state.  She had all the symptoms of Rat Posion.  Her Dr. also said that too and I had an autopsy(necropsy I think you call it for animals) and the Pathologist report was unable to determine the cause of death.  What I want to know is there something else that has similar systems that a dog can die from?  She had a blood clot too.  I was very unhappy with the Vet I had, by the way she was an inside dog, plus I have another dog that was fine.  Also the dogs were walked by the dog walker the day I found between 11:30 -Noon.  The dog walker said she watched her and she did not p/u anything.  I wallked them early morning and I am confident,  with me,  she did not p/u anything.   I came in at 5:40 to find her, unable to get her up and walk.  How much posion does a 52lb. dog need to die. How many hours, after digested, does it take to get ill. She passed the next day around 1:45 P.M.  She had been in great health for a 12 yr old.  Did have arthritis but never showed any signs of discomfort (on no medicine).  Her major blood test in May was normal except for one high enzyme count in her Pancreas. Treated in May and was back to normal in Sept. per her blood test (2 weeks before she died).  Any info would be helpful, just asking some more questions to Drs. I know I will never know what exactly happened.  
Thank you.

[riverzephyr]

I am so sorry for your loss.  My 12 year old German Shepherd died suddenly on 1-9-09.  The vet said older large dogs get tumors on their spleen that can rupture and cause internal bleeding.  I have done some internet research and there is a pancreas problem and something called bloat which entails the stomach twisting.  My dog threw up 2x two days before she died and was more lethargic, but had no other symptoms.  Everyone is telling me it's great that it was fast and 12 is the life span, but I wish I knew what happened.  

I hope you find some peace eventually.  My house is so quiet without my dog.  It's very sad.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

I am very sorry about the death of your dog!

When you say rat poison I assume you mean the kind that thins the blood and causes excess bleeding?  The ingredient in this type of poison is found in human medicines such as Coumadin and other anticoagulants (blood thinners) used to treat people with heart disease and stroke to prevent clots.  It is a very common medication found in many households.  Another common though weak anticoagulant,  is Aspirin.  A 52 pound dog would have to eat an entire bottle of Aspirin to have any symptoms, but it is possible that if your dog had an underlying bleeding disorder a smaller dose of Aspirin could cause a problem.

Other causes of bleeding disorders that could be mistaken for rat poisoning are, for example: Anaplasmosis,  which is a common tick borne disease that can cause anemia, or auto-immune thrombocytopenia, in which the body attacks its own blood platelets.  Some cancers can also cause extensive bleed-outs such as heart based or splenic tumors that could burst sending enough blood outside of blood vessels to cause death.