Human medications including dropped pills sickened more pets in the United States last year than any other toxin.
It's the third year in a row that human medications top the ASPCA’s list of top 10 toxins, which was released Friday.
Over-the-counter medicines with ibuprofen and acetaminophen, antidepressants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medicine topped the list.
Over a quarter of the calls received by the ASPCA poison centers hotlines in 2010 alone were about pets who had swallowed human drugs. The poison centers do not track deaths because there are too many variables.
Pet owners won't always know what their animals have gotten into – they just know they are showing symptoms like lethargy, vomiting, depression, seizures or refusing food.
A dog who has swallowed pills to treat ADHD will get agitated. What happens when a pet gets hold of birth control, Viagra and Rogaine pills?
Luckily birth control pills today have very small amounts of estrogen in them. Viagra is used for dogs with pulmonary hypertension and it was originally marketed to regulate blood pressure. Rogaine can be very dangerous, especially in cats, and can cause heart failure.
One aspirin or one heart pill probably won't kill a pet, but a month's supply, a big bunch of grapes, a few bars of dark chocolate or a single lily could.
Insecticides, rodenticides, people food, veterinary medications, chocolate, household toxins, plants, herbicides and outdoor toxins (like antifreeze and fertilizers) round out the top 10.
Over the past few years, there has been a slight increase in the number of chocolate-caused deaths and a larger increase in the number of dogs ingesting life-threatening doses of methylxanthine, which is found in chocolate, Dogs love chocolate and they are gluttons. They won't stop eating it. It would take about an ounce of milk chocolate per pound of dog to be deadly, but only an eighth of an ounce of really dark chocolate per pound.
At Easter time especially when lilies are very popular it’s important to watch your cats. If a cat bites on a leaf or bats at a lily and gets pollen on its paw, then licks it off, leave for the vet immediately.
Researchers have only determined in the last four or five years that grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs. They don't know what it is in them that makes this happen, but three-quarters of a pound of grapes can cause very significant toxicity in a dog.
Alcohol , especially cream-based drinks like Russian eggnog, can make an animal very drunk very quickly. The animal will wobble, vomit, maybe inhale vomit into its lungs and become comatose
Bread made from scratch can also be a problem. The reason the dough is rising is because it produces gas, but it also produces alcohol so your dog can get drunk that way too. In addition, the dough will continue to expand inside the dog.
This may seem funny but the number of marijuana calls the centers receive have increased recently. Dogs and cats like to chew on plants, and munching on marijuana plants can increase their blood pressure. While you may not think your pet would every come in contact with marijuana, just realize that it does still grow in the wild to some extent.
To learn more go to the link below for the
ASPCA Top 10 Toxins of 2010:
No comments:
Post a Comment