Yes ponies do eat rat bait! The long story by Penny Dyson
It was another busy weekend at our house with netball and tennis on Saturday morning. Sam (and her pony Perry) had been training for months for the team of four flat team (this is best described as synchronised swimming for Pony Club kids on ponies). One member (Danni) had already had to drop out as she had broken her arm. At last weeks practice Lachie’s pony had pulled up lame but had recovered during the week with new shoes. On Saturday there were 2 ponies (Perry and Reggie) and two girls (Sam and Missy) at our place and 2 ponies (Monty and Danny) and 2 kids (Sarah and Lachie) at Alison’s house.
Girls spent the afternoon riding the ponies (final practice) at our place, the ponies were washed and plaited and ready to go into the stables. Unfortunately only one stable was ready so the guest pony (Reggie) went in there. The other stable required a few things to be cleaned out so that Perry could go in. We left Sam and Missy to do this and clean their saddles so that Christine and I could go and plait the other 2 ponies.
Arriving at Alison’s we found two ponies washed ready to be plaited and whilst Chris gave Alison a lesson in how to plait Monty I plaited Danny for Lachie.
Whilst we were away Sam cleaned out the bikes and wheel barrow etc from the other stable and put Perry in. Craig had seen the rat station in there (for those who don’t know there is a mouse plague in northern Victoria) and had meant to take it out but was busy building the fence for our new ménage. As Craig came around the corner he saw Perry had pulled the lid of the rat bait station and eaten some rat bat. Craig took the rest immediately away.
As I wasn’t there I am not sure exactly what happened next but Craig did the following. Looked up the label on the rat poison, rang the poison’s help line- whilst useful don’t deal with animals so told him to ring Werribee Vet School, who said should not be as bad for horses as dogs but a little vague with comments about drenching, and Vitamin K.
Craig worked out the at most Perry had ingested 190 grams and also Goggled the poison. He then rang Echuca (local vet) who said he didn’t really know how bad it would be for horses but as he was very busy already with an emergency that Craig should ring Goulburn Valley (GV) Equine Vets. Vet on call (Simon) did not answer as out of range but rang back. Said he did not think it would be bad for Pony as a dog but would do some research and ring back.
About this time Chris and I arrived back, ready to put Perry in the float and rush him to GV Vets. Vet (Simon) rang back with information. As past half an hour poison already in small intestine so can’t wash it through, it is a slow acting poison so will be a long treatment, Perry needs to be kept as immobile as possible as it is internal bleeding that will kill him (poison is an anticoagulant), need to give him Vitamin K as a coagulant.
What are the signs of anticoagulant poisoning? If a pet is affected by an anticoagulant poison, the signs of the toxicity may not be evident for several days. The main signs of such toxicity relate to anaemia from blood loss. The blood can be lost from many areas of the body but commonly it is seen in bloodstained faeces, blood appearing in the saliva or appearing from the nose. Breathlessness, from blood pooling in the chest cavity, is a common sign also. Weakness is very common and the gums and tongue are usually very pale due to blood loss and the resultant anaemia.
So there was Perry and Reggie looking beautiful in the stables and we weren’t going anywhere. As it was a team event the fact that Perry could not be ridden meant the end of the team as it was too late to train anyone else.
The next part of the story is sourcing the Vitamin K. Vet had some at GV Vets (Shepparton) said Perry would be fine until the morning. I headed off bright and early Sunday (after not sleeping too well and going to check on Perry) to pick up the 100mls (for dogs and cats) he had. Perry on 25 mls morning and night so only enough to last the weekend. The girls unplaited the ponies, who all looked pretty happy when I got home.
Monday found some more information about Vitamin K..its in green things so Perry ideally should be eating green feed not locked in the stable on hay. GV vets ordering equine Vitamin K as should be cheaper but unlikely to get here to late in the week. Craig rang local Vets and manages to get all their supply plus some from work colleague Lyndal (whose dog had been on it after eating rat bait). So should have enough to get us to Friday. Equine Vitamin K beings specially made in Queensland!
Next problem how to keep Perry on green feed without him moving too much. Issue was many of our fences are down as we are in the process of building ménage and refencing recently lasered area. Built a yard with steel posts and orange electric tape but concerned as could not electrify this (as many fences down) and we know hungry ponies will push through a fence. So able to borrow a set of portable horse yards (thanks Chris) which have been placed on the greenest grass I can find!
Giving the medicine- the horse form comes in liquid so you squirt into their mouth with a syringe. I have found a liquid nurofen syringe perfect as it fits into the bottle and you only give 5mls at a time making sure Perry swallows it all. I found the big 25ml syringe the Vet gave me hard to get the Vitamin K out of the bottle and too fast going into Perry’s mouth ( at over $1 per ml you don’t want to waste any!!). Also have pills (usually for dogs)- Lyndal gave me the honey sandwich trick. Spread honey on a piece of bread place about 5 pills on then fold bread over and feed it carefully (Perry has to have 10 pills so he gets two). This works well as Perry loves bread.
So Perry spends his nights in the stable and days in his yard, is getting lots attention but really a bit bored and wondering why he is not out in the paddock. He is not to be ridden for 7 days, then can resume light work. He will be on Vitamin K for 3 weeks.
In the mean time trying to do some work and keep the home fires burning! Every morning Craig goes around the rat bait stations, filling them up, probably picking up 10 dead mice a day. I clean out the stables give Perry his medicine twice a day.
So lessons learned.
- Always check the stable, or paddock before you put the pony in.
- Ponies will eat rat bait as it has grain in it to make it attractive to mice.
- Vitamin K is in green feed and it is a coagulant