Part 2: Treatment of Snail Bait Toxicity in Dogs: retrospective Study of 56 Cases

A retrospective study was done of 26 cases of metaldehyde and 30 cases of methiocarb toxicity in dogs. Physical signs and treatment protocols are described for four stages of toxicity: asymptomatic exposure; initial toxicity; convulsions; and post-convulsions.
Diazepam-ketamine combination was used as the primaty anesthetic agent in all cases requiring general anesthesia, and proved effective. Metaldehyde cases required a significantly higher number of sedative and anesthetic doses (p < 0.001). Pentobarbitone was not used. There were no incidents of respiratory or cardiac arrest at the time of anesthesia induction.
Emetics, gastric Iavage, and rectal enemas were productive in removing the molluscicide from the gastrointestinal tract. Ninety percent of the methiocarb patients and 69% of the metaldehyde patients were fit for discharge in 12 hours or less, though there was a wide variation. Both metaldehyde and methiocarb groups had a high survival rate, 100% and 93%, respectively.