Three Things The Three Wise Men Know Not to Feed Their Pets

I know that most pet owners will be aware of what I am about to tell you, but since I've had 3 toxicity cases in the past week and I know that there are more out there, I thought that this is a good time to touch on this topic.

So we've had two cases of a sweat tooth resulting in potentially serious problems for dogs.

Looks good enough to eat, but this smooth, delicious treat has a potentially lethal component.  All chocolate contains methyl Xanthines  (think caffeine and related compounds).  Just the the taste and quality of our favorite treats, the amount of these chemicals varies with the type of chocolate.  Milk chocolate is the least dangerous, darker more bitter chocolates are more dangerous. You also have to be aware of the danger of cocoa mulch in the garden, but that is more of a concern in the summer than this time of year.

These compounds can cause excitablity,abnormal heart beats, and at levels of 60mg/kg, seizures.  As little as 4 oz of milk chocolate can cause moderate to severe signs in a 12 lb dog.  8 ozs of dark semisweet stuff can cause seizures in a 40 lb dog.  The good thing is that most of the chocolate that people have is the less toxic milk variety and usually is not pure chocolate, but rather it is filled with other stuff.  (yummy stuff usually)  As expected there is an app for i phones that will let you calculate the actual dose of methyl xanthines that your dog may have ingested.  It can be downloaded for free from the app store and is called choc tox. Even if your dog didn't eat enough for neurologic signs, you can expect an upset tummy with some vomiting and diarrhea.

Now, while chocolate seems to be mostly a dog problem, this next poison is one that I see in both dogs and cats.  Sometimes owners poison their pets by mistake and sometimes they do it to themselves. 

This was obviously a dog, and he pulled this bottle off the shelf and opened it himself.  Ibuprofen causes renal failure at 120 mg/kg in dogs.  It is extremely toxic to cats.  In addition to potentially fatal kidney shut down, it can cause gastric ulcers which can bleed or perforate.  This dog seems to have responded well to 2 days in the hospital on high doses of IV fluids, stomach emptying (yes we made him puke his little brains out) and gastric lavage with activated charcoal.  Plan is to send him home today and hopefully he will continue to do well.

If he were a cat, just a few of these pills would have been the last little things that he ate, because the dose would have been fatal. 

Speaking of cats and looking at the calendar:

No, I'm not being festive.  If you have cats, then NO TINSEL!  For some reason felines find it irresistible.  It is not digestible and can cause a nasty obstruction requiring surgery to remove the strands from the intestines or stomach.  While when caught in time this only results in an expensive, painful surgery and recovery, I have seen cats so sick that they cannot be saved.  So, while I haven't seen any tinsel trouble in the past year or so, I'm worried that my streak will be over soon if you guys are not careful.

Enjoy your holidays.  Keep the chocolate and hangover meds out of reach of your pets.  Enjoy an eggnogg or two for us, and have a happy and healthy holiday season