When I let my dogs out this morning I caught Baloo nibbling the tail of a dead rat.  I think a cat just left it there as it had puncture wounds and blood poured out it's mouth as I picked it up. 

He is up to date with his vacinations but should I take him to the vet anyway, puppy Thor was with him but I think just watching. Is there anything the vet could do to prevent lepto if he has picked it up?

What a nightmare :(
Mel

I have to be quick I'm just leaving for the dentist but YES do go to the vet

You don't know what killed the rat or whether Baloo consumed any of it and you need to be really cautious about rat poison.  This happened with my youngster just a few weeks ago (thread here)  and ideally you want to make your dog sick within 1/2 an hour.  Even if it's later than that the vet will give an injection to induce vomiting and give Vitamin K tabs

Thanks dogs a babe but he didn't eat any of it, it was very freshly killed by something, just a couple of small puncture wounds in the body. 

He's not the type of dog to eat anything he finds, he was just picking it up by the tail and trying to get a good grip, if I hadn't told him to leave it he would have presented it to me as a gift!  I was really more concerned about disease.

> blood poured out it's mouth as I picked it up

That's a possible indication of poison...  even it had been finished off by something else

Lepto vaccine wanes after 9 months so do check dates.  My boy was due again in November but I asked my vet to re vaccinate early