Bondi Vet's Most Terrifying Pet Poisoning Cases

Come on Cliffy, can you come? Up we go. 16-month-old Cliff is being rushed into the Bondi Clinic after eating something very dangerous. You're all good. Hello, I'm Kath. I called about the rat poison. Oh, this is Cliff? Yes, this is Cliff. Hello Cliff, we're going to get you in straight away. Okay, well this is quite crisp. Thanks. Besotted owner Kath is terrified the Australian Shepherd has ingested a potentially deadly dose of rat poison. I took my dog Cliff to work today, which I've done a few times lately. He was rummaging behind some furniture and he came out with a packet of blue powder and he pierced it and there was some in his mouth and then I looked at it and noticed that it was rat poison. And here we are. How long ago do you think he ate it? He ate it at 5 past 11. Alright. So, 50 minutes ago. Alright. There are lots of different varieties of rat bait. The type that Cliff has eaten is bromodialone. This one is tricky because they only need one dose for it to cause potentially fatal bleeding. So, the obvious concern with rat bait is it goes into their body and it blocks something called vitamin K, which is what they use in their system to cause their blood to clot. And whilst it doesn't sound like you necessarily need that all the time, each time you even move your arm or your leg, tiny little bleeds can occur. And without that vitamin K, those little bleeds can cause massive hemorrhages. You don't know how much he ate though? No, the sachet was about this big and he pierced one side of it and a whole bunch of it fell out. There was a bit of swallowing but I don't know if he ate maybe a thumbnail's worth or just got it in his mouth and went, yuck, I don't like it. And that was that I rang Neil and he said you should come in. You've done exactly the right thing in bringing him in when you have because with this sort of poison, it takes them some time to absorb it. So the sooner we can act for him, the lesser chance there is that he's going to absorb this and he's going to have a blood clotting problem and then a bleed. Cliff is everything to me. I'm completely obsessed with him so I just hope that he's okay. You stop eating things you're not supposed to. The real concern I have here is we still have no idea exactly how much rat bait Cliff has eaten. The simple fact is that if Cliff has eaten a lot of rat bait, it's currently being absorbed by his system which means that his blood will very soon have trouble clotting. The sooner you can intervene, the better off he's going to be. Let's just remember before I do what I'm about to do that you got yourself into this mess. Let's do it then. The best treatment for dogs that have swallowed rat bait is to make them vomit as quickly as you can. So it doesn't look like much but in here is enough of a drug called epimorphine to make him vomit. But once he does have that, I'd probably recommend we get him down on the ground fairly quickly. Okay. Good boy. Go on Cliff. Good boy. Good boy Cliff. It's rat poison and it's obviously designed to kill. I've known dogs who've died of ingesting poison and I just hope that we caught it in time. The anxious pacing is really a place with well-being. Right. Looks like he's starting to feel a bit spewy. If Cliff vomits up blue, we know he's eaten a lot of rat bait and we're about to find out. There we go. A bit more to come Cliffy. This one's coming from deeper. Get it all out. It's alright Cliff. Good boy. That was important. You see that? Yeah. I'd be quite concerned if this was awash with blue. Yeah. It's not. There's little chunks of blue. Yeah. But if he'd eaten a lot of it, it would stain the entire vomit. Yeah. So I'm confident that since we've got to him within an hour that he hasn't actually absorbed enough rat bait for it to be a problem for him. Okay. And that's the really comforting thing here. Oh good. Thank you. It's been quite an effort for Cliff but thankfully all the bad stuff inside of him is now outside of him. That look on your face Cliff really says it all doesn't it? It's not a good day. I don't know if he's going to want to watch your show anymore. You might have lost a viewer. Lost a viewer. Cliff does look pretty helpless right now but thankfully I can give him an injection to reverse some of this nausea and make him feel a lot better. So he won't exactly be bounding out of here but at least he won't be projecting himself out of here. Yes, yes. And we know he's okay. Yeah. I feel really lucky that we found him before he ate the whole packet because I can't imagine him being sick or not being with me. So I just feel really, really lucky and I can go home knowing that he's fine. Good luck. Yes. Thank you very much. Hopefully it'll be the last time we see you for a while. Yes. At least. While Cliff might be leaving here today with slightly sad and confused eyes, it's the eyes of Kath that are always going to need to be on Cliff in the future. No more rat bait. Ever. Sorry I saw you there. Three month old Archie is suffering severe convulsions. So what's happened? You've just come home and he's been like this? Yeah. The Labrador puppy is confused and frightened. Have you got any baits or anything in your backyard? Not that I know of, no. Yeah. Has he vomited at all? Not that I know of, no. Okay, I'll take him through straight away. We just need to see what's in his stomach because to me this looks like a poison, like he's taken on board some sort of toxin. We'll just get a thermometer. I'm just worried if he has ingested something he could be overheating and going into some sort of hypothermia. Yeah, so it's 41.3 degrees. So he's very hot. So can we get a cool bag of fluids now? Hey buddy, he's going to settle down, mate. I know, I know what's going on, okay? Just keep calm, mate. So before we even get the fluids in I'm just going to give him something to make him vomit straight away. Because the longer this toxin, or what I think is a toxin, sits in his stomach, the worse off he's going to be. Hello. Do you know how long you were out? We all left home about quarter to eight this morning for school and work. Archie's owner, Danielle, arrived home early after she had an unexpected trip to the dentist. I'm grateful that I had to leave work and get this tooth taken out in an emergency, and otherwise I wouldn't have been home until after four o'clock this afternoon. By four o'clock, Archie would have been dead. Looking at the total hold over Archie's body that that poison has right now, if it gets much more serious, he'll die. This will target his brain and actually make him vomit, and vomit quite thoroughly. Hopefully the result is that we remove whatever is in his stomach as much as we can. For a young puppy that's already immature and fragile, it's really damaging. Looks like a snail bait. Alright, so that's green, so this looks like a snail bait, guys. Snail bait is designed to kill. It kills snails and it kills dogs too. It works by causing the nervous system to go haywire. When Archie takes on huge amounts of it like he has, it's like hooking him up to electricity and turning up the voltage. And there's no antidote. 42.5, 42.5, so up again. His temperature's gone from 41.3 to 42.5. It's going the wrong way, we need to bring it down. The only way you can do that is through giving cool fluids, cool towels, fans, cold water enemas, and stop the convulsions. The muscle contractions are right now what's putting that temperature quite high. Okay mate, you've just got to keep calm. I'm going to do some things to you you're not going to like, alright? But if you keep calm, you're going to come out the other side. That's fine. Just because he's well now doesn't mean that Archie's out of danger here. Because there's no antidote, the treatment is all about getting rid of that toxin out of their body as quickly as you can. And you just hope they stay alive long enough. Unless we can get him through the next hour, then I'm not going to be confident. This is really no different to a stomach pump. We're putting fluid in to get fluid out, but when that fluid comes out, it brings with it that snail bait. That's the critical part of this whole procedure. Chris has now anesthetised Archie so he can flush the poison out of the Labrador system. It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah, it just keeps on coming. That's what I'm finding so incredible is that Archie's not a big dog, but geez, he went at this big, didn't he? Once I'm confident that I've actually got all the toxin out, I'm going to put some charcoal down through the same stomach tube. That's going to absorb any remaining toxin that's sticking to the intestinal wall. From there, we turn everything off and we wait. Hey. You alright? A bit confusing, isn't it? What's going on with you, buddy? Do you remember us? There's no food here. What we don't want is that uncontrollable tremory, which we're not getting right now. This is good. I'm happy with this. This is good. Look, he's been through a lot. He's going to be exhausted. So he'll stay tonight? Yeah. And I suppose if he's too tired, the kids can't see him? Well, look, the kids can come in and see him if you want. He'll only pick up from here, won't he? Hopefully. The liver's the only worry I have and we're going to test for that. Alright. It's tricky because right now everyone's relaxing and going, geez, that was close. But was it close or are we just beginning to see the signs of something more serious in the form of liver damage and even liver failure? Bye-bye. We'll see you in a while. Blood tests need to be taken later today to find out if Archie has suffered any long-term organ damage. Rest up. You'll feel a lot better. Don't get too excited but someone's here to see you. Chris is happy enough with Archie's progress to allow his family to visit. But the young dog is still fragile. The puppy's been through a lot today. He's still very sick though and he's still very frightened about what's happened to him and what's going to happen to him. Be really gentle with him and don't make any loud noise and just walk him very quietly and just keep calm. I love him so much. He's like another brother. He's just so special. Let's chat in the morning and fingers crossed his liver's okay and then he can push on through. Okay, thank you for everything. That's alright. No worries at all. You're very lucky. Thank you. Try to relax tonight, okay? We're doing everything we can for him. Thank you. Bye-bye. Alright. There is one more important test Chris needs to perform on Archie. So this blood in here, it's all about checking for organ damage. He's been through a lot. How much his organs were affected during that two hours of chaos? We've got to find out. Are you ready for food? If I put the food down, you're actually going to eat it. Are you sure? I think you might be sure. Archie's appetite is back after his snail bait ordeal and so are his test results. It's fine. No way. Absolutely fine. Wow, amazing. Look at your dog. The results are what we really weren't brave enough to hope for. His liver's fine, so it's managed to cop all that abuse it's been through, come out the other side and not be showing any serious signs of damage. Do you want to go home before you eat the bowl? Archie's setting a bit of a pace there. Look at his hair. Archie! A happy Archie is back at home, seemingly oblivious to his near-death experience. He'll probably end up sleeping in the bed with one of us. Yeah, just unconditional love. Danielle has finally tracked down the snail bait that nearly killed Archie. It had been spread over the lawn at the back of their house. I don't know where it's come from. And to see that there's still that much there, I can still see something too. So the packet's here as well, so the whole box has been thrown over here. It's all through here. It's everywhere? Yeah. I'd hose it in and then I'd put dirt over the top. And keep them inside until you can really be sure that that's been rinsed out. After all we've been through, where that snail bait came from may be a mystery. But the most important thing is that Archie's alive, he's happy, and the kids are over the moon. Incredible. I'm better. Good boy, come here. Rascal. Me? You rascal. A young border collie has been rushed into the Bondi Referral Hospital's sash. Rocket ate a loaf of bread that I was making, nearly an entire loaf. There was all but about one bun's worth less. And we've noticed he's been expanding ever since and looks like he's about to give birth to a litter of buns. Katie and her children are worried about the greedy pup's behaviour. Rocket has been known to eat quite a few things that he's not supposed to. So far he's eaten the arm out of a chair, he's eaten underpants, bras, T-shirts, socks, several pairs of shoes. So he's got good taste, but a bit naughty. Hello. Got four. Four children here. Which one's Rocket? The big fat one, full of dough. Sweetheart, what did you do? Come through. Thank you. When Katie first arrives, she thinks Rocket has been up to his old tricks again, eating something he shouldn't have. And as soon as I look at Rocket, the first thing I see is that his abdomen is really, really big. He's pulled down a tray of dough and it was quite a large amount. I'd made two breadsticks. The biggest concern is that when they have eaten dough and that yeast rises, that yeast can form alcohol and then he can actually get alcohol poisoning from it as that alcohol gets absorbed into his bloodstream. So it's a really, really serious problem. It can be fatal. Katie's face literally drops when I tell her how serious alcohol poisoning can be. Yeah, so his tummy is feeling really full and uncomfortable there. Yep. As time passes, Rocket's stomach is getting bigger and bigger, which means that that dough is continuing to rise as if his stomach is an oven. So the plan is I'm going to take him out into the treatment room. I'm going to give him an injection to make him vomit. OK. If he doesn't bring up the dough, then we'll have to give him an anaesthetic and pump his stomach. If we can't get it out that way, he'll have to have surgery today. OK, all right. Have the ball of dough taken out of his tummy. I understand. Oh, my God, I could really lose my dog. And, yeah, that's not a place we want to even go. We lost a dog a couple of years ago and the family's not really been the same since. Come on, Rocket. Come on, bud. I know it's scary. Come on, doll. All right, Sam, we're going to just give this IV. It's an injection to make him vomit. All right, buddy, it's just going to be a little sting. At Sash, greedy young Border Collie Rocket is in grave danger after gorging on a huge batch of bread dough. Eating raw bread dough is a serious emergency in a dog. That dough rises from the yeast and as the yeast releases alcohol into the bloodstream, that dog is going to get alcohol poisoning and that can lead to death very quickly. It's OK. Look at me. What's going on? It's now a race against time to get the fermenting dough out of the young pup's stomach. All done. Done. It was like a little bee sting. Hopefully, Rocket will respond to this injection and will vomit up the bread dough, because if he doesn't, things are going to be a lot more serious for him. I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've made you feel sick. Hey, bud. Good boy. Here you go, darling. Let's get it all out. That's the way. Come on, hun. Good boy. That's a nice big amount. Let's get it out. Out it goes. Oh. Good boy. Hey, that's a nice big one. I wasn't expecting such a big vomit. Rocket hasn't stopped vomiting. There is just more bread dough pouring out of his mouth. His stomach was absolutely packed with the stuff. Good boy. Oh, there you go, sweetie. As much as I hate making dogs vomit, I kind of feel good about making Rocket vomit, because he's brought up this big lump of dough and he's potentially saved his own life. So there was the one piece of bread. There. And here's the other piece of bread. And then the rest of the liquid is probably just... It's starting to be digested. That is disgusting, buddy. Rocket's sitting there with a very sad and sorry look on his face, and I think he's feeling a little bit guilty too. But the exhausted pup's ordeal is not over yet. Lisa wants to run urgent blood tests, and the pup will have to stay overnight at SASH. We're running some blood tests on Rocket. Now we need to make sure he's not developing signs of alcohol poisoning and that he's not becoming dehydrated. We'll have to keep a really close eye on him while he's in hospital with us. I think Pip is more worried than anyone, isn't she? She misses her big brother already, don't you? At SASH, Katie and her family are anxious to find out if Lisa has managed to get the bread dough out of their other puppy's stomach. When I first saw that he'd eaten a heap of dough and he was feeling a bit sick, I said, well, you brought this on yourself, buddy. That's what happens when you steal things off the bench, because he does it a lot. And I had no idea that it was actually quite as serious as it was, to be honest. Hi. OK. How is dough boy? All right, so the good news is we managed to get him to vomit out quite a lot of that dough. Oh, good. So two very obvious pieces in there. OK. Because some of it probably has been absorbed already, we do need to keep a close eye on him. So it's for the best if he stays in hospital tonight, get on a drip so that we can flush any of the remaining toxin out of his system. Don't worry, Mike, it's going to be fine. Rocket is not completely out of the woods. He's still at risk of some form of alcohol poisoning, so we need to have him in hospital on a drip to make sure that he's going to be safe. All right, guys, do you want to come see Rocket? Yes, please. Hey, do you want to come see your brother? Yes, please. Let's go. It's going to be really horrible going home without Rocket. The kids are going to miss him. I'm going to miss him. So let's just hope we can pick him up tomorrow and that everything's OK. Good boy. He feels like he's lost about 3 kilos. Don't you, hey? You got rid of the buns from the oven, hey? I know, I love you too. Yes, I do. It's really not going to be easy for the family to leave Rocket here in hospital. He's only one year old, he's just a baby, and they are really going to miss him. I just hope that I can get him home to them as quickly as possible. Good boy. We'll be back soon, OK? You be good boy. We'll be back soon. Good boy. I hate walking away seeing him like that with the drip about to go in and potentially not knowing what the outcome's going to be. So, yeah, we're going to think positively, kids, aren't we? Hey, buddy. How are you feeling today? Hey? Come on. That's a cat. At Sash, it's been 24 hours since Rocket's breakdown binge. Let's have a feel of your tummy, see how you're feeling. Lisa had to act fast to induce vomiting to get the fermenting dough out of the dog's stomach. He's bright, he's happy, his abdomen is no longer filled with gas, and the good news is he hasn't shown any signs of alcohol poisoning, which means that he's ready for some food and hopefully will be able to go home. Rocket, have a look what I've got over here, bud. Sit. Up. I think this is wishful thinking, but sit. With bread off the menu, Rocket will have to settle for good old-fashioned dog food. Good boy. Rocket has definitely turned a corner today. He's eating well and I think he's ready to go home. Have you seen Dr Lisa yet? Rocket's welcoming committee is anxiously waiting. I think we've all missed Rocket very badly, haven't we? Yeah. Yeah, he's the main fixture of the household. Who's over there? Come here, buddy. What you doing? Hi. Hello. I'm pleased to see you too. He's going to try and fight with everyone. Hello. We're pleased to see you too, matey. You've lost a bit of weight. Eh? You lost a couple of loaves. Rocket is a completely different dog from yesterday. He's about half the size that he was. He's full of beans. He's lively. It's good to see him back to his usual naughty self. Thank you so much. No problem. Oh, thank you. I have to keep these ones away from Rocket, I think. Yes. Knowing his behaviour. Given what happened. You know what? I'm just going to pass on bread for a while. When Katie brought Rocket in, I don't think she realised quite how deadly eating dough could be. But he's responded well to the treatment and luckily he's going home back to his normal self. And hopefully from now on, she'll be keeping that bread dough well out of reach. Good luck. Thank you. Thanks very much. He's going to push you. See you later. Thank you. Come on. Alright. Just had a call about a Newfoundland, 82 kilo Newfoundland that's eaten an ice block, but not just an ice block. The whole thing, including the stick. He's a real personality and this is something he'd do. Kylie has been bringing ice cream addict Rowdy to the clinic since he was a puppy. Hey, big guy. You've done it this time, yeah. So how long ago did he eat it? Probably about an hour ago now. OK. And he basically gulped the whole ice block as well as the Pamplop stick in one go. In one go? Yeah. The critical thing is whether it's still whole or whether it's broken. Sure, it's going to be in smaller pieces, but at the same time, it's going to have sharp edges. So I can't really leave that just to go through his intestines because if it does, it'll shred them. Not that I'm doubting your intelligence, Rowdy, but he obviously doesn't know what he's just done. Yeah, no, it's happy days for him. He loves ice cream. That's the Pamplop stick and it's got to get out of the stomach. The stomach's got an opening like this. Yeah, right. We need it to come out like that. Yeah, OK. If it comes out like that... It's not going to come out. It doesn't come out. OK, so I'm just going to inject that now. Vet student Ali holds the massive Rowdy as Chris injects him with apomorphine. What it does, it acts on his whole body basically to make him feel nauseous and he'll then vomit pretty quickly. He's going to start salivating, just looking a little bit uncomfortable. You can tell he feels sick, poor little fella. It's such an awful feeling, don't you feel for him? Wow. It's deep. We've all been there, Rads. It's deep. Yay! Oh, yay! I think we all saw it. Chris, I'm so sorry. I think I wore a bit of it too. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Well done. Oh, puppy, well done. Sorry, Chris. That's the best thing of all. Yay, Rowdy. Good boy, mate. Sorry, Dr Chris. How do you get that down in one go? He was really hungry for ice cream. So relieved to see that paddle pop stick come up. It's like, yay, and it came out without breaking. Are you all right? Hell of a night on the tiles, huh? He seems fine, although he looks still a bit sort of down the dumps now, but yeah, I'm very relieved. Up you get, mate, come on. Good boy. Very good. Not too far forward. That's awesome. Thanks, Dr Chris. No worries. Thank you. Take care. I will, thanks. See ya. Rowdy's bounced back after swallowing an ice cream stick. Hope you don't mind sharing the shower with him. No, he's fine. But with the temperature soaring at Bondi Beach, the big fella's still pining for his favourite treat. Come on, buddy. Let's go get you an ice cream, huh? It's too hot. No, Kylie hasn't forgotten Rowdy's scary emergency. I could not bear going through that drama ever again. It was kind of funny, but it was also so stressful. So now, although he's still allowed a treat occasionally, I make sure it's an ice cream without a stick in it, because he loves his ice cream. Good boy. Happy days. It's alright, Lily. At the Bondi Referral Hospital SASH, Deb and her daughter Meg have brought in their five-month-old kitten. It's alright. Lily Pilly. The family adopted Lily only five weeks ago, and 12-year-old Meg is already in love. This much. I love her a lot. But now her new best friend is in real trouble. Well, she's eaten a rubber band about that size, I think. Ooh, that's quite a long one. It was around a bunch of flowers, and as I was opening the flowers, it flicked off. Excellent. She pounced on it. OK, so you can see there it's not under her tongue. No. The problem with leaving it in, if it's as long as that, and she's chewed it, it can cause the intestines to sort of all bunch on top of each other and it can be a really nasty obstruction. That can be life-threatening. To avoid invasive surgery, Lisa will first attempt to make Lily vomit up the rubber band. But for cats, this can be a tricky procedure. They just don't respond to the medications in the way that dogs do. So it's a bit of a nightmare. Can I ask as well what type of flowers they were? Ah, lilies? Lilies cause kidney failure in cats. Really? And any part of the plant is toxic. Most of the time we can't get them back from that. OK, so it's actually better for her that she's eaten the rubber band rather than gone and had to nibble on the lilies. Oh, OK. Good luck. Thank you, good luck, absolutely. Throw up well. I had no idea that it was this serious. I just thought, oh yeah, they'll just give her a tablet and out it comes and off we go. Hey, little miss. I had no idea that it would be like this. Yeah. At the moment, Lily's got a rubber band in her stomach and if we wait too long, that's going to move into her intestines where it can cause an obstruction. So it's really important that we act quickly, we make her vomit and try and get it out of her. Oh, so brave. Lisa's now giving Lily a sedative shot to try to make her vomit. If she doesn't, the kitten will need to be cut open. Come on, little one. I know it's horrible, I feel really mean. Come on, little one. Come on, licking the lips. Licking the lips. A big vomit, please. In reception, Deb is trying to calm down the very worried Meg. I'm scared that she might not be coming back. Before, when I gave her a kiss and bye-bye, good luck, that might have been the last goodbye to Lily that I would have with her. Hopefully it's not going to be that grim. No, let's hope not. Hopefully they know what they're doing in there. Yeah, I reckon they will. We don't want you to have to have surgery, you're only a baby. An hour later and still no action. The question now is whether the kitten is going to listen to Lisa or cause herself a whole lot of pain. It's the easy way out. You've got to feel worse before you can feel better, eh? You're a naughty little thing. It wasn't a lizard. Hey, darling. Come on. A big vomit, please. A big vomit. Finally, some encouraging signs. Come on, good girl. Good girl. That's a girl. Oh! I'm sorry, my sweet. And there's a rubber band. Yes, there is. Woo-hoo! Success. Success! Yeah. Well done. But seriously, that is a long piece of rubber in a cat of this size. That could have been really bad. She's a one-hit wonder. Oh! Hello, Lily. Now Lily just needs rest and love from her family. As for little Meg, she can stop worrying. Hello. Feeling better now? She's so happy. Big relief. Yeah.