Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Page 1

Hello to all, my dog has been on the field for her daily run, only this morning she picked up a dead rat, and carried it, until i managed to get it off her. What should i do ? Does anyone have any ideas, because i am really really worried about her, she has had all her jabs and shes upto date. Any Advice would be great. Thanks !!!!!!

In my opinion you don't have too much to worry about. Did the rat look diseased? Field rats are just like any of the other field rodents (mice, shrew, moles), they are useally fairly healthy. And you say that the dog had her rabies shot... Now if I'm reading this wrong and the dog picked up the rat from an infested area that is full of disease then that is a different senario (but you probably shouldn't be walking there anyway :) ). If you want 100% peace of mind and you have a lot of money you could always take the rat in to the vet for a post-mortem exam. My dogs have, in the past, picked up a few rats and my main concern were worms and if the rat had been poisoned. Even if it was poisoned though the amount that would be needed to seriously harm a GSD is much more than a rat could ingest. If anyone has other concerns then I would like to know those too!

If your dog is fully vaccinated, there should not be a problem. Mice or rats do not carry rabies. But mice and rats can carry other diseases in the urine and feces and they can carry fleas. So I would be sure the dog is on flea preventative and just watch for any signs of illness. You do not say where you live, which might make some difference.

If she ate any part of it- you will want to look into reworming her. Fleas and worms should be your biggest concern as Rats generaly don't carry rabies.

the only thing he could have picked up from handling the dead rat, is fleas - which might carry worms. molly

The best thing that you can do is take him to the vet to get him checkout, If your worried about his health problem. Just make sure that hes current on all of his shots.

Fleas will leave a warm blooded animal once the animal dies, blood stops flowing and the animals cools out. If the dog ate part of the rat, I would be interested in knowing if the rat died because of rat poison. That could indeed be a problem. If she just held it then there should be no worry. If in doubt, collect the "specimen", and call your vet with stuff like that. If the rat has been dead for a while its just a gross experience. Most viruses don't survive long on a host once the host dies, providing the host was not preserved by freezing. Not that much different as if your girl had found a dead rabit. For the future - teach your dog to out on command. If the out at a distance does not work reliably in a situation like this, don't freak (freaking or chasing after what the dog has will make this extra special, and dog will be less inclinded to comply), just call her to you (maybe use a ball as a bribe) or put her in a down, then out or Pfui. Done. Brush teeth, give lots of chewies, and no kisses for a week :o).

Be on the lookout for tapeworm.

tapeworm is what they can get from fleas - and fleas will take a while before leaving the dead animal - they prefer to go from one animal to another - many dogs get fleas (and tapeworms) from coming in contact with dead wild animal carcass. And tapeworms can't be treated with most wormers. molly