Katherine, a veterinary assistant at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital, and her boyfriend, 
Rat poisons, also known as rodenticides, have become increasingly effective at killing rodents over the last few decades. On top of killing rodents, they are very harmful to most other mammals (even in small amounts). Most rat bait works by blocking the body from clotting blood, so eventually the victim bleeds out. Even if not caught right away, ingesting this type of rat bait is usually treatable with vitamin K. However, the kind that Sammie got into was a neurologic form (bromethalin), which causes severe seizures and weakness, and eventually death. There is no treatment for this type of rat bait once they start showing symptoms, other than trying to control seizures.
Sammie was lucky that she was caught eating it and was brought in right away. We were able to induce vomiting and get most of the rat poison out of her before she absorbed it. We also followed up by giving activated charcoal, a substance that binds to any toxin that was still in her stomach to keep her from absorbing it. We had to give charcoal for 3 days, but Sammie was a good sport about it. Her blood work after her treatments looked great, and she fortunately never showed any symptoms of the toxicity.
Sammie is still her chipper, loveable self, and Katherine has since forgiven Corey for the incident. Although everyone agrees that Sammie has a lifetime ban from the chicken farm.
