Dr. Lucas Kandefer discusses poisons and toxins your pet may be exposed to. He says two really common things they come cross with cats right now. One of which are lilies. They are extremely toxic to our cats. He says making sure they are not in the house is the only way we can avoid that exposure. Cats don’t have to chew on the leaves or get access to the flowers, just the pollens themselves rubbing against that can destroy their kidneys. Not having any lilies is really important if you have cats. Another thing he says, they do see with cats is actually a medication used for dogs. Flea and tick medications thar are designed for dogs has an agent in them that cats can’t handle so making sure you don’t use a flea and tick collar designed for a dog on a cat is really important. There are a lot of labels on there. Reading those labels is important to see but if you miss that, bathe your cat in Dawn dish soap really quickly. A number of times it can help strip those oils off if they do get exposed. Again, call your veterinarian is important to know what the next step is if by chance that happens. Dr. Kandefer says common signs are a cat will tremor or seizure and it can be really debilitating or fatal when they get a high dose so be sure to avoid that.
Common toxins for dogs are grapes and raisons. Just a small box that your child might eat, and your dog gets access to it can be enough to be fatal for a dog up to 50 pounds so making sure they don’t get exposed to it is important. If they do call your veterinarian right away. He or she can help make sure we don’t end up having the toxic nature that affects the kidneys. Dr. Kandefer says another common toxin is Xylitol which is a sugar substitute. It is in gums and it is also now in a lot of sugar-free peanut butter. If you use either of those products making sure Xylitol is not included in this product is really important. Basically, it makes your dog’s blood sugar drop really, really low. If they are having a low blood sugar episode it can be anything from weakness, tremors, seizures, even death so call your veterinarian if you think your pet has been exposed, it is really important.
Dr. Kandefer says a common thing we see with our pets unfortunately is that they get into our prescription medications. We drop one on the floor; they are just looking to chew on something, and they find the bottle that has medication in it. Some medications that we take are not really a major problem and some can be very debilitating or fatal for our pets. Dr. Kandefer says the SPCA has a pet poison hotline. If you go to that you can call 24 hours a day and they can help determine if it was a toxic dose, what you need to do to treat it; do you need to see the veterinarian? It can save you from a trip to the pet emergency clinic and help settle your mind if it’s late at night and your veterinary clinic is not open. You can get a lot of information there and he really recommends using that resource.
Click here to go to the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society.
