Reggie and the Rat Poison!

It started back on Thursday the 17th.  We were due to go to my brother's house to see the family and in the morning I had my usual visit to the the greyhound rescue.

Firstly, as there were some workmen working in the barn at the rescue I was cancelled.  I was still in bed enjoying a lie-in when Claire called up to me.

Reggie had been in the garden and she saw him eating something.  It looked pink.  I dressed and ran down.  Checking a few crumbs on the deck it looked like the "cakes" of poison we put under the decking as we are awash with rats.  Their runs and tunnels go under the raised beds in the garden into next door and far and wide.  

Earlier picture of Reggie!

I don't like the idea of poison as I feel it might get into the food chain.  Rats are particularly hunted by foxes locally. Also, any dead ones will be eaten by carrion birds and we have lots of crows, jackdaws and magpies. I don't want to be poisoning whole species of wildlife. 

I called the vet and was told to go to Ashford animal hospital ASAP. At this point he was behaving perfectly normally.

Once there they checked him over and then gave him an injection to make him vomit.  It was very upsetting when he sank to his belly and could barely lift his head and when he was repeatedly sick into the bowl.  Right in the middle was a lump of pink that could only be the poison cake.  Once he was finished we sat for about an hour until he started to get up and wobble about.  

We were given two bottles of liquid charcoal treatment that we had to inject 35ml from a syringe into his mouth every 4 to 6 hours.  We opted for 5 hour intervals.  It wasn't easy to get it through the gap in the teeth as he didn't want to open his mouth.

This stuff is supposed to line his internals and also bind to any poison still in his system. As soon as we see his poo being black, then it's working its way through his body.  It was late Friday when the first evidence arrived.  We gave him one more charcoal syringe to make sure.

On Saturday we were back to the vet could check him over.  They took blood and needed to run  coagulation test.  When the poison is working it stops the blood thickening and kills the rat.

We waited most of the day for the all clear.  It came late but wasn't 100% positive. The second sample did coagulate but took a longer time that they wanted.

So back today! More blood. The call came much earlier and showed that he was perfectly well and we caught in time.  That's a massive relief.

Luckily we are insured for Reggie and although it costs £43 a month we think it is worth it. The total vet's bill id a few pence under £860!  I have paid it so far on my MasterCard and the claim has been submitted to the insurance company. The vet's admin do this as they have all the access to the treatment details and the drugs etc they used.  Now we wait and see what happens and how much we get get scammed for in the policy excess...!!