Prevention of Poisonings

General Information

Our pets are marvelous beings. We provide food, attention, training, medical care and love. In exchange, they offer companionship, protection, enjoyment and their own love for us. For all that they have to offer, though, they must rely on us for protection from harm. We need to look at our homes through the eyes of our pets, seeking out "toys" and "entertainment" that may be harmful for them.

Dogs and cats of all ages, and especially kittens and puppies, explore with their mouths. Dogs like to mouth and chew things. Cats may start to taste something and be unable to spit it out because of their rough tongues. Both may simply "dive in" when they see us doing something new or unfamiliar. These behaviors often land them in trouble. But we can do a lot to improve the odds.

Always be prepared. Your animal may become poisoned in spite of your best efforts to prevent it. You should keep telephone numbers for your veterinarian, a local emergency veterinary service, and the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center (1-888-4 ANI-HELP) in a convenient location. If you suspect that your pet has ingested something poisonous, seek medical attention immediately.

Household

· Alcoholic beverages

· AntiFreeze

· Avocados (toxic to birds, mice, rabbits, horses, cattle, and dairy goats)

· Batteries

· Bleach

· Book matches

· Boric Acid

· Brake Fluid

· Carbon Monoxide

· Carbuerator Cleaner

· Chocolate (baker's, semi-sweet, milk, dark)

· Christmas Tinsel

· Cigarettes

· Cleaning Fluid

· Coffee (grounds, beans, chocolate covered espresso beans)

· Deoderants/Deoderizers

· Detergents

· Disinfectants

· Drain cleaner

· Drain Cleaner

· Dye

· Fungicides

· Furniture Polish

· Gasoline

· Hair Colorings

· Herbicides

· Hops (used in home beer brewing)

· Insecticides

· Kerosene

· Kitchen matches

· Laundry detergents

· Laxatives

· Lead

· Lye

· Matches

· Metal Polish

· Mineral Spirits

· Moldy foods

· Mothballs

· Nail Polish and Remover

· Nuts (especially Macadamia and Walnut)

· Onions, onion powder

· Paint

· Paint thinner

· Perm Solutions

· Phenol

· Photo Developer

· Plaster

· Potato leaves and stems (green parts)

· Potpourri

· Putty

· Rat Poison

· Rhubarb leaves

· Rubbing Alcohol

· Salt

· Shampoo

· Shoe Polish

· Sleeping Pills

· Soaps

· Suntan Lotions

· Tar

· Tea (caffeine)

· Tomato leaves and stems (green parts)

· Turpentine

· Windshield Fluid

· Woodstains

· Yeast dough

Many household chemicals can be harmful if consumed by a companion animal. Most cleansing materials can cause stomach upset and vomiting if they are eaten. Dishwasher detergent can produce burns in the mouth. When using household chemicals, special care should be taken to make sure your pets can not get into them. This may mean keeping your pet out of the room where you are using such materials. Common household items that can be lethal to an animal are mothballs, potpourri oils, coffee grounds, homemade play dough, fabric softener sheets, dishwashing detergent, batteries, cigarettes, and alcoholic drinks.

Medications

Because they are so much smaller than we are, our companion animals need to be kept away from all medications. Cats, in particular, have body chemistry quite different from ours in several important ways. Do not give any of your medications to a pet. That includes over-the-counter medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, cough or cold medicines and decongestants. Do not give your dog's medicine to your cat or ferret.

Be careful where you take your own medications. Make sure a pill does not drop within reach of a playful paw or quick, slurping tongue. Do not put your medications out on a table or counter to take later. They may not be there when later arrives.

Store medications for all family members and pets in high cabinets, out of reach. With their curiosity and strong teeth, dogs can crack open a pill bottle and swallow the entire contents in a very short time. Even if a medicine prescribed for your pet, too large a dose could cause problems.

Medications that come in tubes may also pose a large risk. Most pets have sharp teeth and can chew into a tube within seconds. Creams and ointments that may be quite safe when applied to the skin can cause serious problems when eaten.

Pain killers, cold medicines, anti-cancer drugs, anti-depressants, vitamins and diet pills are all examples of human medications that can be lethal to animals, even in small doses.

Flea Control Products and Other Insecticides

For many pets, fleas are a problem that makes life miserable. When you treat a house to kill fleas or other insects, read the product label and follow all directions carefully. This is particularly important if a flea control product is to be applied directly to the pet. Before buying a flea product, consult your veterinarian, especially when treating sick, debilitated or pregnant pets. If you put out ant or roach baits, make sure they are in a spot inaccessible to your pet. Keep track of the baits and remove and dispose of them properly when they are no longer needed. Record on a calendar the date the bait was put out and the name of the bait used. This will be needed if your dog eats an entire bait container or if there was no label on the container and you need to tell the Center veterinarian what your pet ingested.

Mouse and Rat Poisons

If you put out mouse or rat baits, make sure they are in a spot that your pet cannot reach. Keep track of the baits and remove and dispose of them when they are no longer needed. Record on a calendar the date the bait was put out and the name of the bait used. This will be needed if your dog eats an entire bait container or if there was no label on the container and you need to tell the Center veterinarian what your pet ingested.

Plants

· Acorn

· Almond

· Amaryllis

· Angel's Trumpet

· Appleseeds

· Apricot pits

· Arrowheadvine

· Asparagus ferns

· Avocado leaves

· Azalea

· Balsam Pear

· Bird of paradise

· Bittersweet

· Black locust

· Boston Ivy

· Buttercup leaves

· Buckeye

· Castor bean

· Cherry pits & leaves

· Chinaberry

· Caladium

· Chrysanthemum

· Coriaria

· Crabapple seeds

· Creeping Charlie

· Creeping fig

· Crown of thorns

· Daffodil bulbs

· Delphinium

· Dieftenbachia (Dumb cane)

· Dologeton

· Dutchmans breeches

· Elephant ears

· English ivy berries

· Flax seeds

· Foxglove

· Ground cherry

· Holly

· Horse chestnut

· Hyacinth bulbs

· Hydrangea leaves

· Indian tabacco

· Indian turnip

· Iris leaves

· Ivy (most varieties)

· Jasmine

· Jerusalem cherry

· Jimson weed

· Jonquil bulbs

· Larkspur

· Lily of the valley blooms

· Locoweed

· Lupin

· Marijuana

· Matrimony vine

· May apple

· Mescal bean

· Mistletoe berries

· Mock orange

· Moonweed

· Morning glory

· Mushrooms

· Narcissus seeds

· Nightshade (Tomato & patato leaves and patato berries)

· Nutmeg nuts

· Nux vomica

· Peach pits

· Periwinkle

· Peyote

· Philodendron (all varieties)

· Pigweed

· Plum pits

· Poinsettia

· Poison hemlock

· Pokeweed

· Patato green tubers, leaves and berries

· Privet

· Rain tree (Monkey pod)

· Rhododendron leaves

· Rhubarb

· Skunk cabbage

· Soap berry

· Spinach

· Sweet pee seeds

· Tomato leaves, vines

· Tulip bulbs

· Virginia creeper berries

· Water hemlock

· Weeping fig

· Wisteria

· Yews

Some houseplants can be quite harmful if ingested by an animal. The ingestion of azalea, oleander, castor bean, sago palm, Easter lily or yew plant material by an animal can be fatal. Chewing on some plants may result in severe irritation to the mouth and throat. Others, while not quite so deadly, may cause a severe intestinal upset. You should know the names of all your plants, and keep any potentially toxic plants out of areas accessible to your animal companions.

Sago palm or false sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is a popular indoor plant that also thrives outdoors in warm, tropical areas such as Florida. As few as two seeds have caused poisoning in small dogs. Clinical signs include severe vomiting and diarrhea, bleeding disorders, bloody stools and liver failure. Death occurs a few days after ingestion unless prompt decontamination and treatment are administered. Other cycads, including Zamia species, can also cause poisoning.

Floral bouquets can also be a hazard, though not all species react in the same way. For example, most human poison control centers list lilies as nontoxic because no reports of poisonings are included in the medical literature. Rabbits and rats also appear to be unaffected after ingesting lilies, whereas dogs often exhibit a mild gastrointestinal upset with no evidence of systemic organ damage. However, Easter lilies, tiger lilies, stargazer lilies, day lilies and other members of the genus Lilium and Hemerocallis cause kidney failure in cats. After ingesting just a nibble or two, they may start vomiting within minutes to hours. Because the vomiting subsides after a few hours, owners often think that the cat is better. But in about 12 hours, evidence of kidney damage begins. Without prompt and aggressive decontamination and treatment, death usually occurs three to six days after ingestion.

Many popular houseplants contain insoluble calcium oxalate crystals. These plants can cause intense burning and itching of the tongue, oral cavity and lips. An owner may observe drooling, vomiting and difficulty swallowing. If a large ingestion has occurred, severe vomiting and diarrhea may occur. Dieffenbachia, or dumb cane, reportedly has caused death in humans when the tongue and oral cavity have swollen enough to block air passages. Some, but not all, species of plants that contain calcium oxalate crystals, include Dieffenbachia species (dumb cane, mother-in-law's tongue plant, leopard lily), Philodendron species (panda plant, heart-leaf, fiddle-leaf, red-leaf philodendron), SpathiphylIum species (peace lily, snowflower, mauna loa) and Caladium species (mother-in-law plant, elephant's ear, pink cloud).

Outdoor plants can also be quite hazardous to your pets. Many plants, such as oleander, azalea, rhododendrons and Japanese yew, can affect the heart rhythm, possibly even causing it to stop. Some plants can cause considerable stomach upset with vomiting or diarrhea. Others can produce mental disturbances or confusion.

It is important to know exactly what plant an animal has eaten, ideally by the Latin genus and species name. Common names vary by region, and more than one plant may have the same common name. Unfortunately, a verbal description of the plant is not always helpful. English ivy (Hedera helix) may cause vomiting and diarrhea, hyperactivity, labored breathing, drooling, muscle weakness, staggering and coma. Swedish ivy (Plectranthus australis) may cause a mild upset stomach.

Brunplsia australis most commonly known as yesterday-today-and-tomorrow but also called morning-noon-and-night, Paraguay jasmine, eternity plant and forever plant - can cause depression, vomiting, fever, muscle tremors, staggering and seizures after ingestion.

Because of species differences, no single book or list covers all toxic plants. Besides, even nontoxic plants may cause stomach irritation and vomiting. So play it safe before buying a plant and placing it in your pet's environment, learn the genus, species and whether or not the plant is toxic. After buying, save the plant marker in case of an emergency. And, don't totally rely on greenhouse and nursery employees who may not have accurate information. Contact your veterinarian or the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center.

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