Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Brodifacoum poisoning caused bleeding in newborn puppies
By Munday, J S & Thompson, L J·Published in Veterinary pathology·2003·College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Brodifacoum toxicosis in two neonatal puppies.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Two newborn puppies from a litter of 13 died shortly after birth, and a necropsy revealed that two of them had internal bleeding. Tests showed they had been exposed to brodifacoum, a type of rat poison, even though their mother showed no signs of being affected. This suggests that the puppies were more vulnerable to the poison while still developing in the womb. Unfortunately, the puppies did not survive, highlighting the dangers of rodenticide exposure during pregnancy.
People also search for: puppy died after birth · rodenticide poisoning in puppies · brodifacoum effects on newborns
Abstract
Eight out of a litter of 13 puppies were either born dead or died within 48 hours of birth. Three puppies that died shortly after birth were necropsied. Two puppies had hemorrhage in the thoracic and peritoneal cavities, intestinal serosa, and meninges. The third puppy was smaller than the other two puppies but did not have detectable hemorrhage. Brodifacoum, a second-generation coumarin anticoagulant, was detected in livers from the two puppies with hemorrhage. The dam did not have clinical signs of coagulopathy before or subsequent to whelping. The owners were confident that the dog had not been exposed to rodenticide for at least 4 weeks before whelping. A presumptive diagnosis of in utero brodifacoum toxicity was made. To the authors' knowledge this is the first time a second-generation coumarin anticoagulant has been detected in the liver of a newborn animal. This case is also unique because the dam was unaffected, suggesting that fetuses are more susceptible to brodifacoum toxicity than adult animals.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12637764/