Winter dangers for pets
Your pet’s routine is likely to change as the temperature drops, with the routine changes come some precautions to look out for to keep you pet happy and healthy.
Lock your rubbish bins.
During winter pets spend more time indoors keeping warm, you need to be wary of keeping your rubbish bins locked and inaccessible to your pets.
Exploratory laparotomies are not something vets perform every week, however sadly at this time of year there is an increase. Among the offending objects removed during exploratory laparotomies are corn cob and walnuts.
Please be careful about what your pet has access to and what it can swallow!
Be very careful with antifreeze.
During winter antifreeze for vehicles are required. Unfortunately, both the smell and taste of anti-freeze is generally appealing to pets. Even in small doses the results can be fatal if ingested.
Many cars have some component of anti-freeze in their radiators and unbeknown to pet owners their pet may stop to lick or drink this sweet tasting liquid from a leak or puddle of inadequately disposed of fluid. The harmful ingredient in antifreeze is ethylene glycol, an extremely toxic chemical. Even the smallest amount can be fatal to a dog or cat.
Symptoms of antifreeze poisoning include a drunken appearance including staggering, lack of co-ordination, and apparent disorientation, vomiting and even seizures.
Take your poisoned animal to the vet as fast as possible. The faster the treatment the better the chances of recovery.
Rat bait is very poisonous!
During the winter months with the cooler temperatures, rats and mice are more attracted to our sheds and heated homes. During the times, as Veterinarians, we annually see an increase in poisoning of pets by the baits laid to manage the unwanted visitors.
The modern rat poisons are much more toxic to dogs (and rats and mice of course) than the old warfarin-based chemical poisons. They still work as an anti-coagulant (they stop blood from clotting so that the animal dies of internal bleeding) but the modern baits are much more potent. The amount of bait required to poison your dog is small and the amount of antidote required to treat it is much higher.
Cats can be poisoned too if they eat any bait, and second-hand toxicity from eating poisoned vermin is rare but does occur.
What do I do with rat bait?
Consider using traps instead. Alternatively, good pet-proof bait stations are now available from hardware stores. These can be fixed to your rafters and contain the baits inside so that the rats do not remove the entire ball of bait and then drop it where your pet can access it.
Keep the packet of bait in a high, secure cupboard. Many poisonings result from dogs getting into the packet when it has been left within reach or has fallen off a shelf.
If you know your dog has eaten rat bait, get to the vet immediately! If it has been recently ingested; drugs can be given to make your dog vomit it up. Your vet will decide, based on the likelihood that some of the bait will have been absorbed into the bloodstream, whether a blood test 72 hours later (to confirm normal clotting times) or a 3-4 week course of antidote is the best choice.
If the bait was ingested too long ago to prevent absorption, or your dog is already bleeding because of the poison, treatment with Vitamin K1 (by injection and then orally) will be started right away and continued for 3-4 weeks. A blood test after the last dose confirms if your pet has been treated for long-enough.
Severely affected dogs and cats sometimes require life-saving blood transfusions and hospital care.