Spring starts this week and ideas of spring cleaning come to mind. While decluttering, think about pet safety and health. Common items in the home can be poisonous to pets. Many are safe for humans and inadvertently become available for pet consumption or exposure. The ASPCA lists 10 most common pet poisons in a recent blog.
In 2012, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) in Urbana, Illinois, handled more than 180,000 cases about pets possibly exposed to poisonous substances. Here were the top ten poisons that caused pet parents to call APCC for help in 2012:
1. Prescription Human Medications
APCC handled 25,000 cases regarding human prescription medications in 2012. The top three types of medications that animals were exposed to were: heart medications (blood pressure pills), antidepressants and pain medications (opioids and prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
2. Insecticides
While just 11% of all calls to the APCC are about insecticides, more than 50% of the calls to APCC involving cats pertain to felines exposed to insecticides.
3. Over-the-Counter Human Medications
This group contains acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen as well as herbal and nutraceutical products (fish oil, joint supplements).
4. Veterinary Products and Medications
Veterinary products made up nearly 6% of APCC’s case volume for 2012. Both OTC and prescription veterinary products are included in this group.
5. Household Products
APCC fielded more than 10,000 calls about household products in 2012. Household toxins can range from fire logs to cleaning products.
6. People Food
More than 5% of cases in 2012 were related to the ingestion of people food. One particularly common food accidentally ingested by pets is xylitol (the sugar substitute). Xylitol can cause seizures and liver failure in dogs.
7. Chocolate
Chocolate is still the number one people food that pets ingest (over 8,500 calls last year). Too much chocolate can cause vomiting, diarrhea, high heart rate and seizures.
8. Plants
More than 7,000 cases in 2012 were pet parents calling about their animals eating plants. This is one category that cats lead dogs in the number of exposures. Lilies can cause kidney failure and death in cats. Please see this list of toxic/non-toxic plants for more information.
9. Rodenticides
When putting out baits to kill mice and rats, never underestimate the resourcefulness of your pet. Nearly 4% of calls to the APCC in 2012 were related to baits. Depending on the type of rodenticide, ingestion can cause internal bleeding, kidney failure or seizures.
10. Lawn and Garden Products
Fertilizers, which can be made of dried blood, poultry manure and bone meal, are very attractive to pets, so it is not surprising that the hotline gets many calls (almost 3,600 in 2012) on lawn and garden items.
Take the ASPCA's I Can't Believe It's Poisonous Quiz to check your knowledge of pet poisons.
The Animal Poison Control Center’s 24-hour hotline is (888) 426-4435.
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