Malicious paraquat poisoning in Oklahoma dogs

Abstract

Paraquat is a restricted use herbicide which is extremely toxic to companion animals when ingested. This report details one incident of malicious poisoning involving 6 dogs. All dogs were from the same geographic area, and 5 had pulmonary and renal lesions consistent with paraquat toxicosis. Diagnosis was initiated by a modified dithionite spot test on vomitus from 1 dog. Subsequent tissue paraquat levels ranged from non-detectable to 1 ppm.