Poisoning'

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POISONINGS
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• There are a huge number of possible poisons
• Dogs are most susceptible

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Poisons Hotline
0800 76 47 66
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What to do if you know your animal has been
poisoned

• Call the vets straight away
• Bring in the packaging of the suspected poison
• If the animal is bright and alert, feed a small
  meal

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Common poisonings

• BAITS
• INSECTICIDES
• ETHYELENE GLYCOL
• HUMAN PAIN MEDICATIONS
• CHOCOLATE
• GRAPES/RAISONS

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Ratbait

• Designed to be attractive
• Often poisoning goes unnoticed
• Active ingredient is an anticoagulant eg Warfarin
• Takes 2-3 days for clinical signs to develop
• Causes bleeding anywhere and everywhere
• abdomen
• thorax
• joints
• nose
• sclera

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Snail/slug Bait

• Active Ingredient metaldehyde (most common)
• Should not be used where animals are
• Rapid clinical signs within minutes
• Twitching, drooling, panting, fever, diarrhoea,
  vomiting, increased heart rate, resp failure,
  seizures, and death
• Treatment induce vomiting, sedatives,
  anaesthetics, intravenous fluids, enemas,
  activated charcoal

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• Safer alternative
• Attractive to slugs and snails but not dogs
• Iron phosphate
• Working well on Anitas garden

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Insecticides

• Most common are the organophosphates
• Bayer has Spotton flea treatment sold in
  supermarkets
• Recent case of Pomeranian death with overdose
• Similar signs to slug bait toxicity
• Shivering, drooling, vomiting, trembling,
  seizures

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Ethylene glycol

• Most common source antifreeze
• Tastes sweet
• Causes irreversible kidney damage
• Have been cases of malicious poisonings
• Often cats are affected

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Human pain medications

• NEVER!!!!!!! Use any human pain medications in
  your pets
• Panadol not tolerating well in dogs and even less
  in cats
• Toxic dose can be 10mg/kg in cats, in dogs more
  likely 100mg/kg
• Causes liver damage and hemoglobin damage

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Chocolate

• Active ingredients are theobromine and caffeine
• Act to stimulate the CNS
• Clinical signs include increase thirst, bloating,
  vomiting, restlessness

• Can progress to hyperthermia, coma and death
• Unsweetened baking chocolate 7x more toxic then
  milk chocolate
• ½ a 250gram bar of cooking chocolate could affect
  a10kg dog

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Grapes/raisons

• Toxic substance is currently unknown
• Few reports of dogs developing acute renal
  failure
• Not all individual animals are susceptible
• Best avoided

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Other possible toxins

• Onions/ garlic hemolytic anemia
• Macadamia nuts locomotors difficulties
• Mouldy food CNS signs
• Ant bait salivating self limiting
• Birth control pills bone marrow suppression