Pets and Common Household Poisons

Consult your vet immediately if you suspect your pet has ingested poison. Be prepared to provide as much information as you can, such as what type of poison it was, how much your pet ingested, and when it happened. Follow your vet's instructions carefully.

Common poisons include:

• Human medication, such as aspirin or Tylenol.
• Antifreeze (windshield wiper fluid). The taste appeals to dogs and cats - but a even a small amount can be fatal!
• Household cleansers - oven cleaners, floor cleansers, furniture polish, etc.
• Rat and mouse poisons.
• Gardening supplies - weed killers, insecticides, slug bait, etc.
• Paint and paint solvents.
• Plants, both indoor and outdoor.
• Animal stings or bites, ie. snake, bee.

TYPES OF POISONS

Paint
Animals are interested in anything that interests you. When painting a room, it is a good idea to have your pets locked in another part of the house. They will want to see what you are doing and besides making an absolute mess with tails and paws and curious noses, they can also become intoxicated by the fumes, or ingest the paint or thinner. If they do get paint on their fur, DO NOT WASH THEM WITH TURPENTINE! Most interior paints now days are latex based and clean up with soap and water. If your pet does get into enamel, use a paint thinner that does not contain turpentine, wipe the paint off quickly, preferably outside, and then wash your pet thoroughly 2 or 3 times in a mild degreaser dish soap like Dawn, or Joy. Then rinse at least twice. If you can still smell the thinner after you towel him off, wash him again. If they drink the paint or thinner, call your vet, check the side of the product for emergency instructions, or contact poison control. Do not give your pet anything before doing this because some caustic substances recommend milk, antacids, food, or water, while others advise making the pet vomit.

Pennies/Zinc
An unusual but highly dangerous toxin is found in pennies. Yes, those things you have laying around on the table, kept in jars and cans, rolled in paper, and collected without a thought can harm or even kill your pet. Pennies made after 1983 contain large amounts of zinc. The symptoms of zinc toxicity are depression, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. It can cause hemolytic anemia, and even acute renal failure (this applies to human babies as well!). So if you drop one, trust me, it’s definitely good luck to pick it up!

Pet Products
Your pet can also become toxic from substances indicated to be safe to use on pets. How? Well, most commonly it’s an allergic or hypersensitive reaction to flea products, grooming sprays, or vaccines. We see this a lot in cats, kittens and puppies that have been treated with strong flea spray or compound flea treatments, (i.e.; flea bath followed by flea dip followed by flea spray on their bedding and a flea collar around their neck) even a healthy medium sized dog could get sick with that kind of overdose. When you choose a flea product, check the label and don’t use it with other flea products unless recommended by the manufacturer. Even then, watch your pet for several hours after treatment, if he begins to drool, cry, scratch and rub incessantly, vomit, becomes stuporous or hypersesthetic, wash him immediately in a mild dishsoap containing a degreaser. Repeat 2 or 3 times and then rinse several times. Check the skin for signs of hives or irritation (the belly is a good place to check this). If the symptoms continue, call your vet to get treatment with antihistamine, steroids, or other medications indicated by the symptoms. Your pet may even have to be put on IV fluids to flush their system, depending on the severity of the reaction.

Outdoor Hazards
As dangerous as it sounds on the inside of your home, your pet faces even more hazards outside. Motor oil, fertilizer, and insecticides can burn your pet’s skin, eyes and nose, and if ingested can cause a variety of toxic reactions. To remove any of these types of substances from your pet’s fur/skin, use multiple washings with degreasing dishsoap and multiple rinsings. If swallowed, check the label and call your vet, your local poison control or call the National Animal Poison Control line. Have the label available to read ingredients to them. Your pet can also get sick from eating grass that has been treated with fertilizer or insecticides. Ortho, a chemical company that makes a lot of different insecticides and fertilizers, has it’s own tox line for information on it’s products (see list below).

Mouse Rat Poison
Another hazard your pet faces is ‘double trouble’ from mouse and rat poison. Not only can they eat the poison itself, but they can kill and eat a mouse that was already dying from eating poison too. This is called secondary poisoning. We see this mostly in cats and small dogs who are, depending on the amount of poison the mouse ate, within the weight range of the toxin. The biggest problem here is, you don’t always know that the pet ate the mouse, then you don’t know which poison the mouse ate. By the time the symptoms become evident enough to diagnose rat poison, it’s usually too late. Don’t think that just because you don’t use mouse/rat poison that your pet is safe from this situation. Rat poison doesn’t kill instantly, older generation poisons kill within 3 to 5 days while the newer generation poisons (synthetic) kill within 24 to 36 hours. The vermin can travel quite far from the site of poisoning before he actually dies. If your cat or dog goes outside unsupervised, they are at risk! If they run loose, the poisoning may even be intentional! Many people don’t like animals messing in their yards or killing birds at their feeders so they will put out poisoned meat to solve the problem.

Antifreeze
Pets can’t tell if something is bad for them, they will lap up antifreeze like it was ice cream, it smells and tastes very sweet, (human toddlers will drink it like KoolAid) and it can kill them within 24 - 48 hours. When you flush your radiator, drain the old antifreeze first into old gallon milk containers and take them to a safe disposal area, any gravel or mulch covered dirt area with good drainage, (it could damage grass or plants if poured on your lawn or shrubs). Then, make sure that you use soap and lots of water to wash any spillage off of the pavement. They now make ‘pet safe’ antifreeze (propylene glycol based) but until it’s in universal use we must still guard our pets against this deadly threat. If you suspect that your pet has gotten into antifreeze, even a little bit, get him to a vet immediately! With quick treatment the prognosis is guarded. When treatment is delayed only a few hours the prognosis becomes grim.

Trash
Dogs love to explore smelly things, they rip open trash bags, and eat rancid raw meats and moldy food. Then, they come in and throw up on your carpet (if you’re lucky), or they get bloated (where their stomach gets big and round like they swallowed a large balloon) or lay around refusing to eat for a couple of days until they break with bloody diarrhea and coffee-ground vomit. If your pet has been outside unsupervised, and develops any of these symptoms, call your vet immediately. Gastroenteritis, Bloat, Pancreatitis, Ileitis, and a variety of toxicities are some of the many consequences of such dietary indiscretions. All are serious, and untreated can be fatal.

Plants
Even those pretty plants on your windowsill or in your garden can poison your pets. Dogs and cats alike love to eat grass and chew on plants. This practice is not unlike our eating salad. But we wouldn’t eat salad made from poisonous plants or ones that had been sprayed with insecticide or weed n’ feed. Make sure that the plants that your pet as access to are safe for him to eat. I have included a partial list of the most common toxic house and garden plants below. If a plant is toxic but you just can’t bear to part with it, hang it high!

Some Common Toxic Plants
Aloe Horsechestnut Pothos Azalea Hydrangea Primrose Buttercup Iris Privet Hedge Plants Caladium Lupine Rhododendron Crocus Mistletoe Wisteria Daisy Oleander Yew (Hemlock) Elephant Ear Onion Garlic Philodendron Holly Poinsettia

Also, the pits from Apricots, Cherries, Choke Cherries, Peaches, Plums and Sloe. These contain a natural form of cyanide.