Colleen M. Almgren,     Bloomington, Minnesota

Sharon L. Welch,     Bloomington, Minnesota

Call Source

During the 12-month period beginning July 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2011, PPH received over 30,000 animal toxicology calls. About 60% of calls originated from pet owners and 30% from veterinarians, veterinary hospitals, or clinics. The remaining calls came from myriad sources including zoological gardens, farms, ranches, pesticide control offices, restaurants, and pet stores.

Species Affected

Dog exposures accounted for 90% of the calls, with cat exposures accounting for 9%. The remaining 1% involved primarily caged birds, ferrets, rabbits, small rodents, sugar gliders, other pocket pets, potbellied pigs, goats, chickens, horses, fish, turtles, and a rare primate.

The majority of canine exposures were attributed to the following breeds: 7014 calls pertaining to mixed breeds, followed in decreasing order by the Labrador retriever (2673), golden retriever (1065), Chihuahua (793), Yorkshire terrier (771), cocker spaniel (629), beagle (625), and boxer (614). Cats were split between domestic shorthair, domestic longhair, and mixed breed or unknown.

Thirty-one deaths were reported during the 12-month period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 (Table 21-1). This number may be falsely low because some cases had unknown or undocumented outcomes. Twenty-four dogs, three cats, two guinea pigs, and one sugar glider died or were humanely euthanized. The most common cause of death in all species was from ingestion of human medications, followed by rodenticides; pesticides or other products used around the house and garden to eliminate insects, rodents, or weeds; and unknown toxins. Ten of the recorded deaths were due to unrelated causes (e.g., underlying disease conditions and neoplasia including hemangiosarcoma).

Age

Most of the calls involved younger animals. Of canine-related calls, 76% concerned dogs 5 years old and younger, with 21.9% concerning dogs 6 to 12 years old. Very few calls (2.1%) involved dogs in the 13- to 19-year age range. Of cat-related calls, 67.8% involved cats in the 0- to 5-year age range and 24.6% in the 6- to 12-year age range; 7.6% of the calls involved cats 13 years and older. No age-related data were retrieved for the other species.

Call Types

For the purpose of investigating the specific toxin/foreign body responsible for the call, calls were divided into nine general categories (Table 21-2) Subdivisions were used in each category as needed to further classify information.