I’ve just got home from the vet’s place. What an experience! A few days ago I ate a pile of little green pellets that were spilled on the floor of the shed. They tasted good! After a few days I started feeling crook. I was tired and weak. My owner called the vet when they found what I had been eating in the shed. The vet did some blood tests and then put a needle in my arm and gave me someone else’s blood. (Yuk!) Now I have to take some Vitamin K pills each day. Can you tell me what was going on? (Jen, Jack Russell, 6 years, Kianga)

Dr Alan

Jen you’re one lucky dog. You ate some rat poison that caused you to bleed internally making you anemic and weak. The blood tests determined there was something wrong with your blood clotting mechanism that is reliant on Vitamin K. The most common rat baits use a chemical that interferes with the function of Vitamin K in the clotting process. You were in shock and the blood transfusion you received supported you while other drugs were administered to get your clotting mechanism working again. It is essential you keep taking the Vitamin K for a while as the chemical in the rat bait can last for several weeks. It would be wise to have some more blood tests when you stop taking the Vitamin K to make sure your clotting mechanism is working again.