Anticoagulant Rat Poisoning in Pets: How to Identify, Treat, and Prevent Exposure in 2025 🐀☠️🐾

By Dr Duncan Houston BVSc, Ask A Vet Blog
Published: July 7, 2025

Anticoagulant rat poison may no longer be sold in stores for home use, but it’s still a major threat to dogs and cats through older stock, commercial use, or secondhand rodent exposure. Unlike bromethalin, this poison has an antidote—but time is critical. 🧪🐾

🧪 What Are Anticoagulant Rodenticides?

These poisons stop the body’s ability to clot blood by depleting vitamin K, which is essential to activate clotting factors. When vitamin K runs out (usually in 3–5 days), internal bleeding begins. 😟

💊 Common Active Ingredients

• 🧪 Brodifacoum
• 🧪 Warfarin
• 🧪 Diphacinone
• 🧪 Bromadiolone

🟢 These poisons are green or blue and often mistaken for kibble by pets. They're designed to be palatable and slow-acting so rodents keep eating.

⚠️ Symptoms of Rat Poisoning in Pets

• 🐶 Weakness or coldness
• 😨 Pale gums
• 🩸 Nosebleeds or blood in urine/stool
• 😵‍💫 Collapse or difficulty breathing
• 🐾 Bleeding from multiple areas

Symptoms appear after 3–5 days—by then, the bleeding may be life-threatening. Internal bleeding is often not visible.

🔬 Diagnosis: Clotting Tests

• 🧪 PT (Prothrombin Time) – detects early changes in clotting
• 🧪 PTT – becomes abnormal later
• 🧪 PIVKA test – detects vitamin K deficiency and inactive clotting proteins

💉 Treatment for Anticoagulant Poisoning

The antidote is vitamin K1. Therapy includes:

• 💉 Initial vitamin K1 injection
• 💊 Oral vitamin K1 tablets for 2–4 weeks (never use K3—it’s ineffective and harmful!)
• 🩸 Blood transfusions if internal bleeding has begun
• 🧪 Retesting 48 hours after stopping vitamin K to ensure poisoning has resolved

⚠️ The recheck is critical. If you delay it, bleeding may restart once vitamin K runs out again.

🚫 What Not to Use

• 🚫 Vitamin K3 (menadione) – toxic to red blood cells
• 🚫 Over-the-counter supplements – not potent or absorbable enough

🐁 Can Pets Get Poisoned from Eating a Poisoned Rat?

Yes, especially with second-generation rodenticides (e.g., brodifacoum), which accumulate in the liver of rodents. Dogs or cats that eat a poisoned rat’s liver are at risk. Barn cats are particularly vulnerable. 😿

📞 Poison Control Emergency Numbers

• 📱 ASPCA Poison Control: 1-888-426-4435
• 📱 HomeAgain Hotline: 1-888-466-3242 (free with full registration)

🛡️ Prevention Tips

• 🔒 Keep all bait stations out of pet-accessible areas
• 🧼 Clean up any bait spills immediately
• 📦 Know which type of rodenticide is in use and keep packaging
• ⚠️ Avoid using bromethalin or other rodenticides with no antidote

📱 Ask A Vet Can Help

Worried your pet may have been exposed to rat poison? Symptoms can be subtle—don’t wait.

📲 Download the Ask A Vet app to chat with a licensed vet and get urgent care advice now. 🩺🐾

✅ Summary: Anticoagulant Rat Poisoning in Pets

• ✔ Takes 3–5 days for symptoms to show up
• ✔ Causes fatal internal bleeding if untreated
• ✔ Has an antidote—vitamin K1
• ✔ Requires monitoring with clotting tests
• ✔ Secondhand ingestion from poisoned rodents is possible

Anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning is dangerous but treatable—if caught early. Act fast, monitor closely, and keep toxic products out of paw’s reach. 🐶🐱🧪

Visit AskAVet.com or download the Ask A Vet app to connect with a veterinary expert 24/7. 📱🩺