Tatura Veterinary Group Pet of the Season - Winter 2009

TOXIC TIFF

Tiff is a 9 month old female kelpie cross who was raced into the Tatura Vet Clinic on a Wednesday afternoon in May.  Her owner works on one of the local orchards and while operating his forklift he noticed that she was not her normal self.  Moments earlier she had been running around, playing with the other dogs on the orchard.  She was now salivating profusely and seemed a bit wobbly in her back legs and was not her normal playful, happy self at all.

Tiff’s concerned and alert owner did not hesitate and brought her straight into the vet clinic at record breaking speed!

Dr Brett was the first vet on the scene and did not hesitate to get a quick history from Tiff’s owner.  She was presenting with signs of toxicity – ie sudden onset salivation, wobbly on back legs and altered behaviour.  These signs could also be consistent with snake bite (tiger or brown snake) which are common in the region, but certainly not at this time of year.  Most snakes will be in hibernation by May.

It seemed most likely that she may have ingested a toxin so they quickly induced Tiff to vomit and she hastily brought up a large meaty looking meal.  There were no clues however, within the ingesta, as to what toxin Tiff may have eaten.

There are many chemical products used on orchards that we were concerned about but Tiff’s owner was confident that all chemicals were appropriately contained and stored out of reach of children and pets!

Over the road from the orchard is a dairy farm, where Tiff frequently and mischeaviously goes to visit.  She will occasionally bring home with her parts of fetal membranes or other unsavory treats!  But after speaking with the dairy farmer at a later date he was also confident there were no baits or poisons anywhere on his farm.

Tiff’s condition quickly improved after vomiting and after being placed on an IV drip, although she was still quite lethargic and subdued, as could be expected after such an ordeal.  Approximately 30 minutes after vomiting, Tiff had her first seizure.  By now she was under the observation of Dr Phil, who sedated Tiff to calm her down and to reduce the likelihood of further seizures.

Seizuring is another common presenting sign of toxicity.  If the toxin reaches high enough concentrations in the blood and the central nervous system, patients can experience altered neural activity in the brain, leading to a seizure.

Tiff suffered several further small seizure episodes over the next two days.  She was maintained on a light sedative to help reduce the frequency and severity of her seizures by Dr Phil.  Why Tiff’s seizures continued over a period of two days was a little concerning, we were hoping she would have no further seizures after her first night in hospital.  So Dr Phil took a blood sample for analysis to see if there were any clues as to why Tiff’s seizures were continuing.  Her blood results to our relief were normal and by Saturday morning she was looking much happier and back to her normal self and had not experienced any seizures for 24 hours.  So Tiff was allowed to go home, much to the delight of her relieved owner.

It is still a puzzle as to what caused Tiff’s toxicity.  Common toxins in the region include snail bait and 1080 fox baits.  These can both cause signs similar to those shown by Tiff and if not treated quickly, both can be very lethal to dogs.  Such is the mystery in many veterinary cases, we may never know the cause of Tiff’s toxicity!

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