SOURCES

This chapter discusses small animal toxicoses, defined here as adverse effects in companion animals that have been exposed to chemical agents. In many communities, a veterinarian may be a pet owner’s primary source for poison information. For example, pet owners may contact their veterinarian to inquire about the potential for poisoning from household products, plants, or yard and garden chemicals. In addition, it should be recognized that most exposures to chemical agents by companion animals represent potential poisonings, but do not result in the animal experiencing an actual adverse effect (i.e., toxicosis). Consequently, this chapter is intended to give some perspective on the breadth of questions asked by companion animal owners, the nature of the most common poison exposures that do occur, and the toxicoses that may occur because of these exposures. Telephone calls reported by regional and national human poison control centers and a survey of diplomates of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology are the two major sources of information being summarized. For answers to questions that go beyond the scope of this text, a list of board certified veterinary toxicologists is available on the Internet at www.abvt.org.

QUESTIONS ASKED BY COMPANION ANIMAL OWNERS

About 75% to 80% of animal-related telephone calls to human poison centers involve dogs, about 15% involve cats, and the remainder involve cage birds, pocket pets, pot-bellied pigs, rats, rabbits, and the like. Almost 75% of the dog calls involve Labrador retrievers, a frequency of calls not surprising for a breed that instinctively retrieves things by mouth. The oral retrieving instinct is a point to seriously consider emphasizing in all “new puppy” orientations, particularly those for retriever breeds. Presumably, very few canine veterinarians have not seen a toxicosis in a typical 6-month-old Labrador dog. Data for inquiries by dog and cat owners is summarized in Table 13-1.

Table 13-1 Animal-Related Telephone Calls Reported by AAPCC Centers^1–4

Table 13-1 represents a compilation of animal related telephone calls reported by American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) certified centers during the past decade and a half. The data are presented in decreasing percentage of the total number of calls sorted by major chemical category. The subcategory column lists the percentage of the total, not the percentage of the category. The third column lists examples of the products involved in the inquiries. Table 13-1 is intended to convey the breadth of inquiry by owners of companion animals and provide some indication of the prevalence of those inquiries; however, it does not reflect the actual incidence of exposures or toxicoses.