If your dog or cat has eaten rat poison or chewed a cockroach bait station, call 055 620 4085 now. Pick up the packet or the station and keep it in your hand while you talk. The nurse tells you what to do next and whether to drive in.
Do not try to make him vomit at home. Salt, oil and hydrogen peroxide cause injuries of their own, and with some of these products bringing the stomach contents back up makes the situation worse.
Why the packet decides everything
Rat poison is not one product. The bait stations in a Dubai building may hold any of four or five different active ingredients. They act on different organs, over different timescales, and the treatment for one is useless for another.
The active ingredient is printed on the label, usually in small type under the trade name. That single line changes the plan more than anything you can tell us on the phone. Photograph it before you leave.
If the bait came from a building pest control contractor, facility management holds the product sheet for every chemical used on site. They can send it to you within minutes. Ask for it while you are on your way.
Where the bait sits in a Dubai building
- Black locked stations in basement car parks, bin rooms and service corridors.
- Along villa garden walls, next to irrigation boxes and landscaping.
- Loose blocks behind kitchen kickboards, under the sink and behind the washing machine, often left by a previous tenant.
- Cockroach gel dotted inside cabinet hinges, behind the fridge and along skirting boards after a scheduled treatment.
- Balcony corners and around service ducts in older buildings.
Most towers treat on a fixed cycle and post a notice a day or two ahead. A dog who walks the length of a car park, or a cat who slips onto a service stair, can reach a station the household has never seen.
Anticoagulant baits and the delay that catches owners out
Most rodent bait in sealed stations is an anticoagulant. It stops the blood clotting, and it works slowly. A dog can eat a block on Friday and look completely normal all weekend.
Signs usually appear 2 to 5 days after the dose. By then he is already bleeding internally.
- Tiredness and reluctance to move.
- Pale or white gums.
- Fast breathing or a soft cough, which can mean bleeding into the chest.
- Bruises or flat purple patches on the belly and inside the ears.
- Blood in urine or stool, or a nosebleed.
- A joint that swells and hurts overnight.
Treatment started on the day he ate it is a different case from treatment started on day three. This is why we do not watch and wait with a known dose. There is an antidote for this group, vitamin K1, and the course runs for weeks rather than days. How many weeks depends on the product, which brings you back to the packet.
What if it is not an anticoagulant?
Other rodent baits work in other ways. One group pushes blood calcium up and damages the kidneys. Another attacks the brain and spinal cord and causes tremors and seizures. A third releases gas once it reaches stomach acid.
That last group matters for you as well as for the animal. If the label names a phosphide, say so on the phone, drive with the windows open, and do not sit in a closed car with a dog who is retching. None of these groups has a home treatment, and none of them gives you a safe waiting period.
Cockroach gel and plastic bait stations
Cockroach products are a separate group, and a single bead of gel carries a small dose. The two problems we actually see are a dog who has crunched a plastic station and swallowed the pieces, and a cat who has crossed a freshly treated floor and then groomed her paws.
Drooling, a foaming mouth and vomiting are the usual signs, and they often settle. Call anyway. Sharp plastic in the gut is its own problem.
Can a cat be poisoned by eating a poisoned rat?
Yes. A rodent that has taken anticoagulant bait becomes slow and easy to catch, which is exactly why a hunting cat catches it. The poison passes on in the body of the rodent.
The same applies to a dog who picks up a dead rat on a morning walk, or a cat who eats a dying gecko on a balcony. If your building is mid-treatment and your cat hunts outside, mention it when you call, even if you never saw her eat anything.
What to tell us on the phone
- Cat or dog, the body weight, and the age.
- The trade name and the active ingredient line from the label.
- How much is gone from the block or station, and how much was there before.
- The time it happened, to the nearest half hour.
- What he has done since: vomited, drooled, passed anything coloured.
- Any medication he already takes.
We give you instructions for the drive on that call. Bring the packet, the station, or a clear photo of the label. If he has already been sick, bring the vomit in a sealed bag.
What happens at the clinic
The vet weighs him, checks gum colour, heart rate and temperature, and works out the dose in milligrams per kilogram from the label. Whether the stomach can still be emptied is a decision made here, under supervision, not in your kitchen.
Blood is taken and run in our in-house lab for a starting red cell count and organ values. Depending on the product, clotting is checked before treatment and again on a set day afterwards. Repeat bloods are part of the plan.
Many patients go home the same day on the antidote with a recheck date. Others stay on fluids and monitoring in the inpatient ward until the bloods are stable. You get a written estimate before anything beyond stabilisation begins, and the consultation and lab fees are listed on the price page.
Keeping it out of reach
- Ask facility management which products go into the car park and the corridors, and ask for the label before the treatment date.
- Ask for tamper-resistant stations fixed in places an animal cannot reach.
- Walk your dog on a short lead through car parks and service areas, away from the walls.
- After an in-flat treatment, keep your cat in one untreated room until surfaces are dry, then wipe the floors she uses.
- Check under the sink, behind the washing machine and inside kitchen kickboards when you move into a flat.
- Keep every packet you are given, or photograph the label before you throw it out.
When to call
Call 055 620 4085 the moment you find chewed bait, a broken station or blue or green crumbs near the bowl, even if he looks fine. Call again if a dog or cat who was near a treated building becomes quiet, pale or breathless in the days that follow. Urgent care at Petflix in Ras Al Khor Industrial 3 is open 8 AM to 12 AM every day, the phone is answered 24 hours, and we treat cats and dogs.