SNAIL BAIT KILLS dogs.. please pass on
I received this email from a friend yesterday.. I do mention snail bait poisoning in my podcast about dngers in you home.. please pass this on and help save a life..
Last Saturday, my friends dog died. He was a beautiful 1 year-old chocolate lab named Coco. He was so sweet and would come down and visit us during the day. The way he died was horrible and I wanted to get the word out to everyone I knew so that this doesn’t happen to other dogs.
At 12:00 noon on Saturday, he ate some snail bait and by 6:00 he was dead. They came home and found him in a pool of excrement as he gasped his last breath. He suffered terribly and alone in their yard while they were out. Most people don’t know that snail bait is coated with oats and molasses and is attractive to dogs. My friends did not know this when they bought it. Later they realized there was a warning on the box, but with all the text on the box they missed it.
They NEVER would have bought something to put in their garden that would killed their beloved dog. Needless to say, they are distraught. While we all know that poison are hazardous, we don’t think the the snail bait that we put out is not only hazardous, but is attractive to dogs. 1 teaspoon will kill a dog in 4 hours.
PLEASE let everyone in your neighborhood know this. We have thrown out our box and will not put it out because we have friendly dogs in the neighborhood. Please do the same. Next time you are in Home Depot-ask the manager to prominently post warnings about this danger to dogs. Please do this for Coco. Please send this anyone you know who has a dog.
This is NOT and urban legend.
(METALDEHYDE TOXICITY)
In California, snail bait constitutes the most common poisoning agent in the dog. Not that malicious poisoning is the issue; most cases are inadvertent as many gardens have both dogs and snail problems. Snail bait is commonly formulated in pellets (which can resemble dog food) and flavored with molasses or bran to attract snails (and unfortunately is attractive to dogs as well). Snail baits are also available as liquids and powders which can get onto paws and be licked off in normal grooming. Very little snail bait is required to cause poisoning (less than a teaspoon per 10 lbs of body weight).
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OBVIOUS TWITCHING
Signs of poisoning begin fairly quickly after the poison is consumed. The dog will begin anxious twitching at first only slightly and then uncontrollably. This progresses to seizures and potentially to death. The muscle contractions of the twitches raise body temperature so high that brain damage can result, leading to the colloquial emergency room term “shake and bake syndrome.”
Patients can also exhibit racing heart rates, vomiting, diarrhea, and rigidity, and respiratory failure.
There is a liver failure syndrome that occurs in some patients approximately 2-3 days after poisoning, so it is important for liver enzymes to be monitored by blood tests through out the recovery period.
MAKING THE DIAGNOSIS
Generally, the appearance of the twitching patient is very characteristic even if there is no known history of snail bait exposure. Testing of stomach contents or urine for the presence of metaldehyde can be done but is generally not necessary.
TREATMENT
There is no direct antidote for metaldehyde toxicity; treatment is aimed at controlling the clinical signs. If less than one hour has passed since exposure, it may be possible to induce vomiting. If the patient is already twitching badly the stimulation involved in inducing vomiting may not be in the patient’s best interest. In this case, the patient can be anesthetized and stomach pumped. Activated charcoal can be given to prevent absorption of metaldehyde into the body from the intestine. Cathartics (used to induce diarrhea) can also be used with the activated charcoal to assist in removing the metaldehyde from the intestinal tract promptly.
Twitching can be controlled with methocarbamol (a muscle relaxant) or injectable valium® (diazepam). Fluid therapy and body temperature monitoring will be needed through the recovery period.
Chance of recovery depends on how much poison was ingested, how quickly therapy was initiated, and the general health of the patient. While this is a very serious type of poisoning most patients have a good chance at recovery if treated properly.
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