Border Collie sick and worried about rat poisoning

[Jakeda04]

My dog has recently in the past couple of days become sick and weak. She has not been eating, she has had some blood in her feces. We found a mouse in the garage next to her yesterday and don't know if she has been poisoned by any poison the mouse ingested?

[AnxiousGurl]

Definately call the vet ASAP as the others said. My dog actually found a bag of rat poison and ate some of it, right away I got on the computer and looked up what I could do. So I did as it said, and poured just a little bit of hydrogen peroxide down and seconds later he threw it all up....he's fine now thank god!! But ALWAYS call the vet first to make sure it is safe to do so and how to do it and how much etc, better to be safe then sorry!!

[Splash29]

Our Border Collie was the same two months ago. Get your dog to an emergency hospital now. Unfortunately we must have waited too long fo ours as she died of chronic renal failure a week later.

Does anyone know if renal failure is very common among Border Collies? We loved this faithful companion a lot and perhaps we could have done something sooner if we knew.

[skydnsr]

Yes, take the dog to the vet immediately.  There is an easy blood test to tell if the dog's blood is coagulating properly.  At least there is such a test for humans, so I assume the test can be run on dogs also.  Most rat and mouse poisons are anticoagulants, so that is the concern.  

I doubt that the amount of anticoagulant in one mouse that was killed by the poison would harm an average size dog, and it sounds like your dog hadn't even eaten the mouse that you found.  But dogs will eat the poison itself, if they can get to it.  I had one of my dogs do that, and I had to induce vomiting to keep her from being harmed.  (Fortunately I saw her do it, just not close enough to grab her before she snarfed it down.)  Even if your dog didn't get into rat poison, something is wrong that needs to be diagnosed.    

[ginger899]

It is hard to tell. The mouse on the ground was presumably not eaten? Or partly-eaten? Or she could have caught another mouse.
It is always so dangerous for dogs to eat any rodents, except in the wildest, wildest places, because there is always a risk of poison. But of course it is hard to stop them doing this!

But what is important is your dog is unwell, and whatever is causing her to be sick needs to be assessed by a vet. I would take her as soon as you can to either your regular vet, an ER vet, or if it is already past surgery hours (or because it's Sunday)call your vet's office, and they will usually give an out-of-hours number to call.

If it is mouse poison there are things that can be done for her, but the quicker she gets attention the better.

Blood in feces CAN occur for various reasons. My dog was once sick, lethargic and had bloody diarrhea from eating chocolate. She was fine after a day on plain water, then bland food for a couple of days. I was really scared by this symptom, but the vet (who was very good and competent) did not seem to think this was so bad, and said it can occur after any dietary indiscretion sometimes.

But that of course doesn't mean you can afford to be easy-going about this. I would definitely get your dog to a vet as soon as you can. It might be helpful to take a stool sample with you. You could also bag the mouse (or what remains of the mouse) to be tested if they are unsure.

[lindapalm]

Take your dog to the vet ASAP.