How does rat poison kill humans?

Answer 1

Painfully. If you mean, how does it kill a human, according to a National Poison Control Service, the amount of rat/mouse poisoning needed to kill an adult human is so great that it would not "make sense." (as if any of this would!) Several boxes full would make an adult sick, but ingesting several boxes would be awfully hard to ingest.

The way in which rat poisoning kills mice or rats is through the same mechanism as Warfarin (used in humans under the brand name blood thinner, "Coumadin." These chemicals "thin" the blood and reduce its ability to clot. That is great news when trying to avoid a stroke or a heart attack, because the blood can "fit" through narrowed vessels, but bad news to a very small mammal, who, by eating enough of it, would bleed internally until it died. Even a large rat, though, weighs so little compared to a human, that the active poison in boxed rat/mouse poisoning would have little toxic effect. Dogs can get terribly messed up, though, as the stuff often seems tempting and tasty to them, so keep containers away from all pets.

An overdose of a Coumadin-type product, whether intentional or not, can seriously damage/kill a human. The result is similar to the way in which a hemophiliac would bleed internally, possibly leading to death. The remedy, if applied in time, is a combination of blood transfusions and vitamin K, which increases the clotting factor found in normal blood, that has been depleted by the poison. This is why ongoing testing must be done whenever anyone is on blood thinners, so the right amount can be administered and titrated.

Answer 2

There are different classes of rat poison. One common type is the warfarin-class of poisons, which work to thin the blood. After consuming enough of the poison, the rat loses the ability to clot its blood and it basically bleeds to death. Another type is a neurologic poison, which causes the rat to have seizures and die.

The poison thins their blood, causing them to bleed through mucus membranes. The rat's blood pressure is lowered. The rat's blood gets to the point that the blood is too thin to carry oxygen and they die.
The poison (most likely arsenic) in the rat killer poisons the rat, therefore killing the rat because of the poison.

The actual effect of most rat poisons on a rat is to cause the animal's body to bleed to death internally, due to the anti-coagulants in the poison.

Answer 3

I think it can.