Attention Poison Bait! - What types are there and what can I do in an emergency?
You don't want to believe it, but they really do exist: people who hate dogs so much that they actually want to kill or torture our beloved furry noses. These psychopaths lay out poison bait in the hope that dogs will track them down, eat them and brutally perish from them. What gives these people such ideas and how can we protect our beloved dogs from their machinations?
Different types of poison bait
Dog haters are creative when it comes to poison bait. They prepare the supposedly tasty piece of sausage, the small meatball, the cookie or other food interesting for our faithful four-legged friends with sharp-edged objects, e.g. needles, nails or razor blades. Other monsters work various toxins or even narcotics into the "treats". They then hide their deadly wares preferably in parks and forests but also in the bush on the street corner in the middle of the city. For some criminals even the search for a suitable crime scene is too time-consuming. They simply throw their nasties in the middle of the green strip next to the sidewalk.
Symptoms that may indicate poisoning
If your beloved dog has eaten a poisoned bait, the range of possible symptoms is so diverse that you probably cannot recognize what kind of toxin he has ingested by yourself. Many dogs react first with fatigue, apathy, as well as severe tremors or stomach cramps. Many have a distended, hard belly, produce more saliva, pant, have pale mucous membranes or even foam at the mouth. Other symptoms: Gagging, trouble swallowing, blood in vomit or bloody diarrhea. Let's take a closer look at the four most dangerous poison baits that can cause these ailments.
Poisoning with rat poison or thallium
The tricky thing about this poison attack is that you hardly notice it, at least not right at the beginning of the poisoning. Valuable time for a possible rescue of your treasure can pass. In the beginning usually only inconspicuous symptoms appear such as fatigue. Your dog seems listless, has no desire to go for a walk and apparently just lets life pass by. The body temperature is lowered, your darling eats and drinks no longer. Often only days later the fatal consequences of the poisoning become clearly visible with bleedings on mucous membranes and from the body openings. The rat poison gradually decomposes the internal organs and disturbs blood clotting, so that your faithful fur nose bleeds to death internally.
Poisoning with snail pellets
No less tricky! The colored, mostly blue powder, magically attracts dogs with its sweet smell. And because this snail poison also tastes sweet, our four-legged friends leave nothing of this fateful discovery. While a small dose would often not even be life-threatening for them, a higher concentration kills them within 30 to 60 minutes. Typical symptoms: strong heart palpitations, restlessness and muscle tremors.
Intoxication with narcotics
An overdose of sedatives acts just as quickly as snail poison and shows itself within a very short time. You will notice that your dog has fallen to this devious attack when he becomes extremely tired, can hardly stand on his feet, staggers and finally loses consciousness.
Bait with sharp objects
Hard to beat for meanness and brutality! Dog haters spike food with sharp objects for this attack, which slit your faithful friend's gullet, stomach and intestines and quickly lead to death. If you are lucky, if one can speak of luck at all in the case of such poisoning, then your dog injures itself already while chewing and spits the bait out again by itself.
What should I do if my dog has eaten poison bait?
If you think that your precious dog has found something dangerous on the side of the road, your first priority is to stay calm! And the second: Go to the vet or to the nearest animal hospital - immediately. Every minute can now save the life of your beloved one. "Doctor I" is not a good idea in the poison bait case, because you usually do not know what the quadruped has eaten. The first aid tip of making the dog vomit, for example, can make the situation worse if the dog has eaten something corrosive or sharp. Charcoal binds toxins in the body, but popping 20 or 30 tablets robs precious time. Sauerkraut wraps itself in the dog's stomach like a cloak around sharp objects or even poisonous seeds. However, even if the sauerkraut takes care of draining the foreign object, it does not heal possible wounds. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to have charcoal tablets or also sauerkraut in the storage cabinet, in order to be able to act in an emergency also with the veterinary surgeon on the telephone already. Pay attention to your four-legged friend when you go for a walk and if you notice anything unusual a call with the vet is always the right decision to be able to act quickly and as a precaution!
How can you protect your faithful friend from a poison bait attack?
Actually, there is only one thing that helps - training! Teach your dog to only accept food from you and otherwise spurn it - no matter how delicious it smells. The good news is that even breeds that would sell their owners for a piece of sausage can learn to say "no".
Have you had any incidents of poisoning? How did you act? Feel free to leave more tips and help in the comments so we can work together to fight the criminals and protect our beloved dogs!
