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(moved from medical exchange)

ACR rat poisons use anticoagulants to cause internal bleeding and thus death in rodents. If used improperly, poisoned rodents may pass the poison on to predators, including local pets. One possible symptom I read about is effusion (internal fluid 'leaks') as internal bleeding stays in body cavities. Multiple articles describe processes of using anticoagulants under lab conditions to obtain plasma. Does this mean that abdominal fluids in a pet from ingesting ACR rat poison would be mainly plasma, as opposed to 'full blood', and thus clear/yellow instead of red?

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    Who moved this(it does not have the "migrazed" tag right?)? I assume it needs a lots of medical knowledge to answer... Which would cause me to say "please ask at medical.SE" ;) Jan 22, 2021 at 17:57
  • I did, by copying. I noticed Pets included veterinarians and that would be a better fit, after it went unanswered in Medical. The original was deleted to not do double posting. Jan 23, 2021 at 10:29
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    @HenryStone Sorry to disappoint you, but this community consists mainly of pet enthusiast and we have very few vets or medical professionals in general who would be able to answer this kind of question. The scope of this SE ends at first aid measures and preventable medical problems, but any medical emergencies are explicitely off topic. I'm unsure whether or not your question is off-topic, so I'll let the community decide. Did you get close votes on Medical SE? If you don't get an answer in a week or so, I would try again at Medical.SE.
    – Elmy
    Jan 23, 2021 at 11:13
  • For me it is on-topic, but maybe low chance of getting an answer you would be satisfied with. I think cases of people getting poisoned by accidentally consuming rat poison are much rarer than cases of pets getting poisoned by accidentally consuming rat poison, I'd expect veterinarians to have more experience with this and thus Pets SE being more appropriate than Medical SE.
    – lila
    Jan 23, 2021 at 20:45
  • Probably find what you want looking up "warfarin" on the net. Jan 23, 2021 at 20:54

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Anticoagulants are commonly known as "blood thinners". They would be used to avoid the blood getting thicker and "clumping". For example this is useful for people that get thrombosis quickly, or people who could not move some time, for example after surgeries.

The use of Anticoagulants as poison against rodents uses this effect with a higher dose. The rodents will die (even days after eating the poison) by the smallest wound, because it will not stop bleeding. Modern poisons combine a second substance, causing internal wounds, so the rodent can not carry the poison to rodent-eating-predators.

To obtain blood plasma, the blood needs to be taken from the organism. By contact with the air, the blood starts to thicken and clumping. To avoid this, the Anticoagulants will be added, until the process of separate the plasma from all other natural blood-parts is successful finished.

So no, the internal fluids in the rodents will approximately not be yellow or clear. But I had no occasion until now, to confirm my guess at any poisoned rodent.

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