Roscoe and Rosie are young terrier mixes rescued by a kind lady who saw someone shooting at them. Apparently they appeared on a man's front porch and because there was no animal control in his area he was told to shoot them. They were rescued and brought to the vet. The vet contacted us to see if we would place them in our adoption program. We agreed and spay/neuter appointments were made. The pups seemed to be in good health and around 8 months old.

After their spay and neuter the vet realized they were free bleeders. The incisions would not stop bleeding. Bloodwork was done and everything looked ok except for the PCV levels. Basically the pups lacked the necessary coagulants in their blood to allow the blood to clot. The vet administered vitamin K and began researching what could cause this. After much research it was determined the new rat poison is the most likely cause. The old rat poison would cause kidney and/or liver failure and almost certain death. The new rat poison causes the animal's blood to lose its ability to clot. This isn't apparent through normal tests and the situation would most likely correct itself in one to three months.

Unfortunately these pups didn't have time for their heart to replenish their blood supply with healthy blood cells. Rosie's bleeding was much worse than Roscoe's, most likely due to the invasive nature of the spay. Although everything was tried including a blood transfusion Rosie passed away the evening of her spay. Roscoe remained under observation at the emergency clinic for several days. Roscoe has stopped actively bleeding and his PCV level is on its way up! He will be going home soon.