Q: Should I get my cat checked over by a vet as she brought in a dead mouse the other day?
Q: Should I get my cat checked over by a vet as she brought in a dead mouse the other day?
A: Not necessarily, but it depends on how worried you are. There are two possible problems that your cat could acquire from a dead mouse - tapeworm, and rat poison. Both rely on the cat eating the mouse, but just because she did not et the one she brought back, does not mean that she has not eaten others.
Tapeworm is easy enough to deal with - you can pick up a dose of dewormer at your veterinary surgery. Not every dewormer will be effective against tapeworm, so make sure you specify the type of wormer you need. It is available as a tablet, paste, or spot-on treatment (applied onto skin at the back of the neck), so you have options even if your cat is difficult to give a tablet to.
Rat poison is a more serious problem. The poison causes internal bleeding, and symptoms can be seen anywhere between 12 hours and 7 days after eating the toxin (the dead mouse, in the case of your cat). There are quite specific blood tests your vet can do to check whether the cat has eaten rat poison, but timing is part of the problem - one of these test will identify poison activity after 6-8 hours of ingestion, but is not widely available. The other test will identify poison activity after 48 hours, by which time your cat may already be showing symptoms.
Symptoms of internal bleeding tend to be weakness/lethargy, swollen abdomen, difficulty breathing, vomiting blood, blood in faeces or very black faeces, and pale gums. If you see any of those, take your cat to the veterinary surgery immediately. Rat poisoning can be treated very successfully if caught early.
The best course of action would be to discuss the situation with your vet and decide how to proceed - wait and see, test for rat poison, or treat the cat just in case.
If you have a question for Dr. Dalya simply send it through to drdalya@petside.co.uk
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