A Few Poisonous Pointers
We occasionally see a few animals poisoned accidentally, usually by ingesting something they shouldn’t, but also occasionally from being exposed to ‘recreational’ toxins by a few jokers (I’m being charitable here).
Dogs, particularly, seem attracted to the oils in drugs like hashish and marijuana. They generally eat the ‘stash’ and within a short time become disorientated, unsteady, distressed, sleepy and occasionally manic or aggressive. Large amounts can be dangerous, especially in small dogs. The symptoms may resemble tick, organo-phosphate poisoning or snake envenomation. This means that unless the owner confesses they may spend a lot of money and time on diagnostics, let alone treating the poor patient. Strangely a lot of people don’t ‘fess-up’, and if they do it’s always the neighbors drugs or ‘they found it in a bin after a party’. Folks, your vet doesn’t care where the offending material came from! The occasional clown feeds it to their pet for a bit of a laugh. This of course, is cruel and punishable by law.
Another party drug pets get hold of is alcohol, especially beer. Deliberate feeding of alcohol to pets is a bit like spiking a toddler’s ribena i.e., not funny, and potentially fatal since animals are much less able to detoxify alcohol and can suffer such consequences as pancreatitis, hepatitis or death.
Some foods to avoid include rich, fatty meats that can cause severe gastroenteritis and pancreatitis. Avoid scraping the bar-b-que plate into the pets bowl and don’t feed all the fatty chop off-cuts. By the way, cooked bones fed to your pet Christmas day usually mean an emergency afterhours enema on Boxing day….joy to the world!
Similarly, onions can be fatal to pets if ingested. Dogs suffer a rapid onset of haemolytic anaemia from onion ingestion. Grapes, raisins, sultanas and macadamia nuts can also be fatal, even in small amounts. Chocolate is also potentially dangerous, especially good quality high cocoa chockies or cooking chocolate.
Cigarette smoke can cause severe irritation of airways and eyes, especially in birds and cats. Nicotine ingested in ciggie-butts can be fatal. Birds exposed to nicotine on fingers of their owners may occasionally develop severe ulceration of the skin on their feet. And while I’m on it, recent studies have demonstrated higher levels of lung cancer, nasal and oral cancers, and lymphoma in pets exposed to their owners cigarette smoke. Cats also get increased carcinomas of the tongue from licking tobacco toxins off their fur!
Evan
Lennox Head Veterinary Clinic