AUGUST – THOR
It was going to be a fairly quiet afternoon here at Stanthorpe Vet Care however, Red had other ideas…
Red was presented with tremors. She had been ok in the morning and had gone to work with her Dad. However, a couple of hours later and she started to have muscle tremors. Her dad was a bit worried so decided to bring her in to work out what was wrong and fix her as she is a great work dog and is well loved by everyone. Her dad was adamant she had no access to any toxins or plants that may have caused an issue. Close questioning and there was nothing.
She was given Valium to help with the tremors however, it did not make much difference. On close examination of her mouth however, there was the tiniest amount of green between her teeth and it was immediately evident she had access to snail bait (rat bait was also a possibility but is a slightly different green colour and ratbait does not show these symptoms and snail bait does).
So we immediately started treatment which consists of a general anaesthetic and then a continual infusion of anaesthetic to keep her from waking or tremoring as well as supplementing her with oxygen. We put a tube into her wind pipe to prevent her breathing in any bait or fluid. We then had to pump her stomach, which was very full of green snail bait. As the owner was still adamant there was none around, we were concerned for where she may have gotten it as she had been let out for a run earlier in the morning. There was no doubt however, that it was snail bait as there was white granules through it and it smelt like chemical. It took us a long time to completely empty her stomach of green bait as it kept blocking the tube also. Once we had emptied all the green from her stomach, we put charcoal down her tube to her stomach which helps to adsorb the toxin that may have been remaining in her intestine. We then had to do an enema to clear her bowel and rectum from the snail bait also. Poor Red had the works!!! Later that evening, she did a small green faeces while still asleep and we had to repeat the enema but by this stage the snail bait and charcoal were coming out so we knew the rest of her intestines were empty. We then had to wait for Red to wake up and manage any symptoms from there.
By early evening Red had started to wake. By late evening, Red was standing and walking wobbly. Then by the next morning, Red was happy to eat and drink and was good enough to go home. A miraculous recovery and quick too given all she went through. Her dad was very happy she did so well and she was very happy to see him. We eventually discovered there was in fact some snail bait that was at home unknown to Red’s dad and this is where she got it from.
Snail bait is usually a carbamate. Carbamates cause symptoms similar to organophosphates. From salivation and twitching to tremors, seizures and death as they cause muscle fasciculation and spasm and then inability to breathe. They can also cause vomiting and diarrhoea. Fortunately symptoms are short lived (which accounted for Red’s speedy recovery) and last about 4 hours however, in poor Red’s case, she must have had about a bucket in her gut and would have died if left untreated. In this case her owner’s prompt recognition of a problem and arrival here surely enabled her survival.
Today Red is just another ordinary kelpie working to keep her cattle under control, with an extraordinary life story to tell.