Cats can suffer secondary rodenticide poisoning by eating poisoned prey, with anticoagulant rodenticides causing severe internal bleeding and requiring prompt treatment to prevent death.
Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity causes severe suffering through internal hemorrhage. Affected cats may bleed into body cavities, causing breathing difficulty, weakness, and pain. The insidious onset — symptoms appearing days after exposure when owners may not suspect poisoning — means cats often suffer for extended periods before the cause is identified. The treatment course is prolonged, requiring weeks of oral vitamin K supplementation with regular blood monitoring. The welfare dimensions extend beyond individual cats — rodenticide use in environments where cats hunt contributes to broader wildlife toxicity concerns, as rodenticides accumulate up the food chain affecting raptors and other predators. Human-cat conflict around rodent control creates welfare risks for cats that hunting behavior exposes to these hazards.