Two dogs poisoned in Minto neighbourhood

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This article was published 27/07/2021 (1888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Someone is poisoning dogs in Winnipeg.

Two dogs have been poisoned in recent days in the Minto neighbourhood after someone threw rodent poison in plastic bags into fenced-in yards.

The first incident occurred on July 14 when a dog died after eating the poison.

Two days later, Jeremy Koop looked out the window into his backyard and saw his 11-year-old dog Toby eating something. After hearing about the first incident, which happened just down the street, Koop jumped into action.

He bolted to Toby and told him to let go of something that looked like a block of suet for bird feeders. Koop scooped a six-centimetre chunk out of his dog’s mouth and rushed to the Pembina Veterinary Hospital after a quick Google search for rodent poisons.

“Initially, they were going to make us wait because they were not open for emergency yet, but I pushed back. I said, ‘Look, I think my dog’s been poisoned,’” said Koop.

The vet quickly confirmed Toby had been poisoned and rushed him in. They induced vomiting, gave him charcoal to absorb toxins and gave him a shot of some kind. For a day or two, Toby was lethargic but he survived.

“Just the fact that someone is trying to hurt my dog…” Koop stumbled over his words trying to order his thoughts, then said sharply: “I’m so angry that I don’t feel angry, almost.”

Koop described Toby as a dog everyone loves, even those who are not dog people. Toby is well-behaved and friendly with everyone, he said.

“He’s a constant source of joy,” said Koop. “He’s a part of the family — he literally is — so it’s a personal attack that somebody would try to have him killed.”

Koop couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if things had gone differently.

“If he had eaten the whole thing, we would’ve noticed in maybe a couple of hours, when he started to feel sick, but what if we’d gone to bed early or something?”

After the attack, Koop and his wife filed a police report, and his wife started spreading the word on social media. It was his neighbour’s warning that had helped save Toby, so they wanted to do the same.

On Tuesday, Winnipeg police released a statement on the poisoning of the two dogs in an effort to raise awareness.

Dr. Ron Worb, a veterinarian at Anderson Animal Hospital, said he has seen dogs intentionally poisoned now and again throughout his career, but it’s not a regular occurrence. In his experience, it’s usually been chalked up to a neighbour who was disgruntled about barking or some sort of misbehaviour.

“I feel sick to my stomach when I see a pet develop some of these symptoms, regardless of what the underlying cause is. But I get upset and angry when there’s nefarious people that are trying to harm and poison pets,” he said.

If owners suspect their dog has ingested poison, they should bring their animals to their own veterinarian or to an animal emergency clinic immediately, Worb said. If it’s caught quickly enough, they can induce vomiting before the poison is absorbed into a dog’s body.

However, rodent poisons that are anticoagulants act more slowly and can begin to affect a dog days after it is swallowed.

“It could be three to five days, maybe even a little longer,” Worb said. Dog owners should then be on the lookout for symptoms of poisoning: blood in their stool, paleness, weakness, fatigue and rapid breathing.

And in cases of dog owners using rodent poisons to deal with problem rodents in their own home, the owners should always know what sort of poison they are using in the event their dog accidentally consumes it.

Intentionally poisoning a dog is a criminal code offence that can come with up to five years in prison or up to a $10,000 fine.