It’s Almost Howl-o-Weenie
How to trick-or-treat with your dog
1. Candy and Chocolate – Historically there is a noticeable increase in chocolate toxicity claims beginning now, through the end of the year. Given that spooky fact, it is important for pet owners to keep any candy or treats they may have around for Halloween in a safe place that is not accessible by their pet.
Chocolate contains a naturally occurring stimulant called theobromine, which is similar to caffeine, however, unlike people, dogs and cats can’t metabolize this compound, so its stimulant effects are amplified. Candy and baked goods containing the sugar substitute xylitol can also be extremely toxic and should be kept away from your pets.
2. Pumpkin candles and decorations – Candles may bring an extra glow to that jack-o-lantern, but make sure they are not in reach of your dogs and cats. Flames can easily find wagging tails and curious noses.
3. Costumes – We’ve all seen those adorable pets dressed in their Halloween costume – they’re irresistible! Just make sure they are comfortable wearing a costume and the getup you choose is not annoying or unsafe for your fury friend. Take time to get your pet accustomed to the costume before Halloween, and don’t leave your pet unattended in its costume.
Too Cute Doggie Costumes
4. Trick-or-Treat Visitors – One of the best things about Halloween is all of the costumed kids that grace your front doorstep, but all of the added commotion and noise can be stressful to family pets. It’s best to keep your pet in a separate room away from the front door during the trick-or-treat activities. If your pet is particularly anxious with noises and new people, get some Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy for your pet. Or play some dog calming music for them.
5. Visible and Identifiable – Never leave your pet unsupervised, but in case your dog or cat does manage to dart outside make sure they have on a reflective collar for visibility and proper identification attached to that collar to help get you reunited with your pet if needed. Getting your pet microchipped can help ensure your pet’s safe return if it does get out, any time of year.
Don’t Leave Dogs Alone
Thankfully, my Cici girl never got into medications when she was a puppy primarily because I didn’t take them, even Ibruprophen when she was with me. She would eat everything in the car though, cardboard boxes, an entire chicken (bones and all), items of clothing, even my eyeglasses rims not the glass.
Dogs hate being left alone especially puppies. Even for a few minutes. I would go to the library or a store and leave her in the car and come back and find that she had gotten into chewing whatever was near to her.
Eventually, I started bringing her into the store, church, and other places rather than leave her alone in the car. We were traveling and you cannot leave a dog in a motel or hotel room and so I had to bring her inside with me especially in hot weather.
Dogs can die quickly from the heat in a vehicle even if it does not seem that hot. Their body temperature is higher than ours and in some cities and states it is legal for strangers to break into a car if they see a dog sweltering and suffering alone in a car, even if a window is left slightly open.
Love your pet and don’t leave drugs or other dangerous objects around that they can get into when they are alone. Boredom, separation anxiety, teething and fear of being abandoned can make them explore with their mouths whatever is tempting and available.
from Dr. Becker:
Abby Swallows the Contents of a Giant Bottle of Ibuprofen
Abby, who lives in Wausau, WI with her mom, Diane Spray, is the incredibly lucky survivor of what almost certainly should have been a fatal poisoning event.
Spray, who works nights, arrived home at 3:00 a.m. one recent morning to find Abby “acting sheepish, like she’s done something naughty.” Spray started investigating and found a chewed ibuprofen bottlecap in Abby’s mouth.
“I usually keep a big bottle of ibuprofen in my work bag, but I remembered that I had left a new bottle on the kitchen table,” Spray explained. “After I found Abby with the bottlecap in her mouth, I realized she had gotten into the medication, but I couldn’t find the bottle.
Once I did, it was clear she had destroyed the packaging and ingested nearly 500 caplets. At first, I didn’t know what to think, but 500 of anything is bad. The question was, how bad? I Googled ‘dogs and ibuprofen’ and realized it was really, really bad.
My first call was to our local emergency veterinary clinic, PAW Health Networks, and they recommended we call the experts at Pet Poison Helpline next. That way I could explain what had happened, and the clinic staff could liaise with the toxicology specialists from the Helpline.
When calculating the dose she ingested, the Helpline said this massive amount could readily cause death in a dog. While I was on the phone with them, Abby vomited, and they recommended I take her in immediately.”
Standard Poisoning Treatments Weren’t Working
When Spray arrived at the veterinary clinic, the staff went to work on Abby immediately.
“On initial presentation the patient was alert and oriented, and her physical examination was overall unremarkable with blood work revealing a mildly elevated phosphorus and normal kidney values,” said Dr. Lauren Fenton, the first veterinarian to treat Abby.
The vet staff induced vomiting as a first step, then administered oral charcoal (a common treatment for poisoning) and started her on intravenous (IV) fluids to help protect her kidneys. Unfortunately, over the next few hours, Abby grew increasingly unresponsive, which is not a good sign when dealing with an ibuprofen overdose.
“Within a few hours after presentation,” explained Fenton, “the patient went from appearing completely normal to being uncoordinated, ataxic and then became comatose. Blood work was redone, and creatinine was now elevated along with a severely elevated lactate level and decreased blood pH. Her decline in status was presumed to be from the ibuprofen toxicity.”
The veterinary staff next administered two doses of naloxone. Naloxone is a drug typically used to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose; however, it can sometimes help in cases of severe sedation resulting from ibuprofen poisoning. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for Abby, and she continued to deteriorate.
A Rare and Controversial Treatment Saves Abby’s Life
Blood tests showed that Abby’s organs were starting to fail, which is when toxicology experts at the Pet Poison Helpline recommended the vet staff take an unusual step and deliver an intravenous intralipid emulsion (ILE) treatment.
According to veterinarian Ahna Brutlag, a board-certified veterinary toxicologist with the Pet Poison Helpline:
“The use of lipids with NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) poisoning is relatively new and somewhat controversial, but we may recommend it in life-threatening cases when patients have severe neurological signs if dialysis-type treatments are not available.
Basically, the fats in the intralipid treatment act like a magnet and the poisons get stuck to it and are removed from the body. We also recommended methocarbamol as needed for tremors and anti-convulsants as needed for seizures.”
ILE treatments are rare in veterinary medicine, so the emergency animal hospital didn’t have any available. Knowing time was not on Abby’s side, Spray drove to a nearby human hospital herself and picked up the medication from their pharmacy.
“After several hours of patient receiving intralipid therapy, patient was almost back to normal again,” Fenton said. “By the following morning, the patient’s neurologic behavior had completely resolved. On behalf of the patient, I am grateful for the intralipid therapy recommendation from Pet Poison Helpline and am happy to report that the patient continues to do well.”
Abby is now back to being “100% herself,” according to Spray, and off all medications.
Top 10 Human Medications That Can Poison Your Pet
The Pet Poison Helpline lists the following 10 human medications as most often involved in pet poisonings.4 if you have any of these drugs in your home, be sure they are kept safely out of your pet’s reach at all times.
1. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) — Topping the list of human medications that can get into the mouths of pets are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs. Brand names include Advil, Motrin, and Aleve.
Your pet is extremely sensitive to compounds in these medications and can become very ill from even a very small dose. Cats can suffer kidney and liver damage, and any pet that ingests NSAIDs can develop ulcers of the digestive tract.
Symptoms of poisoning include digestive upset, vomiting, bloody stool, increased thirst, increased frequency of urination, staggering, and seizures.
2. Acetaminophen — Next on the list is another anti-inflammatory called acetaminophen, the most well-known of which is Tylenol. Other drugs, including certain types of Excedrin and several sinus and cold preparations, also contain acetaminophen.
Cats are at particular risk from acetaminophen, as just two extra-strength tablets can be fatal. If your dog ingests acetaminophen, permanent liver damage can be the result. And the higher the dose, the more likely that red blood cell damage will occur.
Symptoms of acetaminophen poisoning are lethargy, trouble breathing, dark-colored urine, diarrhea, and vomiting.
3. Antidepressants — If your dog or cat ingests an antidepressant, symptoms can include listlessness, vomiting, and in some cases, a condition known as serotonin syndrome. This condition can cause agitation, disorientation, and an elevated heart rate, along with elevated blood pressure and body temperature, tremors, and seizures.
The drugs Cymbalta and Effexor topped a recent list of antidepressant pet poisonings. For some reason, kitties are drawn to these medications, which can cause severe neurologic and cardiac side effects. Other common brand names of antidepressants include Lexapro, Celexa, and Pristiq.
4. ADD and ADHD drugs — Prescription attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs are amphetamines and are very dangerous for pets. Ingesting even minimal amounts of these medications can cause life-threatening tremors, seizures, elevated body temperature, and heart problems. Common brand names include Concerta, Adderall, Focalin, Strattera, and Vyvanse.
5. Thyroid hormones — Pets — especially dogs — get underactive thyroids too. However, the dose of thyroid hormone (e.g., Armour, Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid, Synthroid) needed to treat dogs is much higher than the human dose. Therefore, if dogs accidentally get into thyroid hormones at home, it rarely results in problems.
However, acute overdoses, especially in cats can cause significant symptoms, including muscle tremors, nervousness, panting, a rapid heart rate and aggression.
6. Beta-blockers — Even taken in very small quantities, beta-blockers (e.g., Coreg, Sectral, Tenormin, Toprol, Zebeta) used to treat high blood pressure can cause serious problems for pets. Overdoses can trigger life-threatening decreases in blood pressure and a very slow heart rate.
7. Benzodiazepines — Benzodiazepines with brand names like Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, and Valium are designed to reduce anxiety and help people sleep better. However, in pets, they sometimes have the opposite effect.
About half the dogs who ingest benzodiazepines become agitated instead of sedated. In addition, these drugs may cause severe lethargy, incoordination, and a slowed breathing rate. In cats, some forms of benzodiazepines can cause liver failure.
8. Albuterol — Albuterol is one of the medications used in asthma inhalers and poisoning typically occurs when a dog punctures an inhaler with his teeth, which results in a massive dose of the drug delivered all at once.
Albuterol poisoning can cause vomiting, a dangerously elevated heart rate, and severe weakness.
9. Ace inhibitors — Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors such as Zestril and Altace, Lotensin, Prinivil, and Vasotec are commonly used to treat high blood pressure in people and, occasionally, pets. Though overdoses can cause low blood pressure, dizziness, and weakness, this category of medication is typically safe.
Pets ingesting small amounts of this medication can potentially be monitored at home, unless they have kidney failure or heart disease.
10. Birth control medications — Birth control pills (e.g., estrogen, estradiol, progesterone) often come in packages that dogs find very tempting. Fortunately, small amounts of these medications typically aren’t problematic. However, large ingestions of estrogen and estradiol can cause bone marrow suppression, especially in birds.
In addition, intact female pets are at an increased risk of side effects from estrogen poisoning.
How to Keep Your Pet Safe From Medication Poisoning
To prevent your dog or cat from getting into your medications, always keep them safely out of reach and never administer a medication to your pet without first consulting with your veterinarian.
Never leave loose pills in a plastic sandwich bag – the bags are too easy to chew into. Make sure all family members and guests do the same, keeping their medications out of reach.
If you keep your medication in a pillbox or weekly pill container, make sure to store the container in a cabinet, as your dog might think it’s a plastic chew toy.
Never store your medications near your pet’s medications. Pet poison hotlines receive hundreds of calls every year from concerned pet owners who have inadvertently given their own medication to their pet.
Hang up your purse or backpack. Curious pets will explore the contents of your bag and simply placing it up out of reach solves the problem.
It’s important to realize that even seemingly benign over-the-counter herbal medications, and human vitamin and mineral supplements may cause serious poisoning in pets.
If your pet has ingested a human over-the-counter or prescription medication, please call your veterinarian, your local emergency animal hospital, or Pet Poison Helpline’s 24-hour animal poison control center at 855-764-7661 immediately.