Rodenticide Poisoning in a Cocker Spaniel Dog

Abstract

A dead Cocker Spaniel, a one-year-old male, was presented from a local animal hospital to the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University with a history of vomiting right after the ingestion of the anti-coagulant rodenticide 14 days before. At necropsy, the thorax was filled with uncoagulated blood and the thymus was markedly hemorrhagic. Hemorrhages were also found in the subcutaneous or mesenteric adipose tissues and the submucosal layers of the intestine and stomach. The spleen was atrophied. In microscopy, hemorrhages were detected in the thymus, submucose of the stomach and intestine, and adipose tissues around several organs such as the heart, kidney, and intestines. However, hemorrhages, were not detected in lungs. Centrilobular necrosis was observed in the liver. In conclusion, the cause of death was severe hemorrhages, which might have been due to the reabsorption of a small amount of anti-coagulant rodenticide that still remained in the body after vomiting. Therefore, the diagnosis was decided as intoxication with anti-coagulant rodenticide.