In the past week or so, one little dog and two cats on Bowen have died apparently from poisoning. So I decided I would devote this column to the dangers to our companion animals of two products that we use especially at this time of the year, as we see winter looming: antifreeze and rat poison.
Every year thousands of cats and dogs are poisoned by consuming antifreeze. This is the coloured fluid, usually green or red, that we put in our cars’ cooling system. The active ingredient is called ethylene glycol. It is also found in brake fluid and hydraulic fluids.
It has a sweet taste that attracts animals. They might find a puddle of antifreeze on the ground that has leaked from a break in the cooling system or they might find a container that has been used to drain a car radiator. Only last week there was a puddle of antifreeze left by a vehicle in Village Square. It’s most likely the owner has no idea of the leak.
Ethylene glycol is dangerous even in small quantities. Three tablespoons can kill a dog weighing 20 pounds. The poisoning is insidious: there are short term symptoms which an animal can seem to recover from, and there are long term effects to the kidneys which are irreparable.
The first symptoms are similar to alcohol intoxication. The animal may at first have a staggering drunken appearance (this is the most common symptom) along with excessive thirst and urination, panting and vomiting, loss of coordination and seizures. If you see these symptoms, there is no time at all to be lost: get your animal to a vet as soon as possible.
Over the next couple of days, the ethylene glycol produces crystals in the kidneys. There is no cure for this kidney damage. The symptoms of kidney damage include lethargy, inability to urinate, loss of appetite, dehydration and excessive salivation. The animal will have painfully swollen kidneys and will suffer terribly until it dies.
Quick action does save some animals. But it goes without saying that it is better if we all use this toxic product as responsibly as possible, or, best of all, switch to something less toxic, such as a propylene glycol based product.
This is also the time of year when we all become more aware of the rodents who live alongside us and who would dearly like to share our homes on a more intimate basis than we want. So some of us put down rat poison. Unfortunately, this is another killer of thousands of companion animals, as well as unintended wildlife victims.
My researches reveal that there are four different active ingredients in the rat and mouse poisons we buy. Each administers its poison differently so it’s really important to try to identify the active ingredient if you suspect your cat or dog has been munching on the bait, which often resembles kibble and is as attractive to our companion animals as it is to the ‘pests’ we are trying to control.
The four common active ingredients in mouse and rat poisons are (1) long-acting anticoagulants, (2) cholecalciferol, (3) bromethalin, and (4) phosphide rodenticides.
(1) Anticoagulants work by inhibiting the enzymes responsible for recycling vitamin K and ultimately reduce production of clotting factors in the blood, causing the animal to bleed to death. The signs of this kind of poisoning include difficulty in breathing, lethargy, lack of appetite, blood in the stool, vomit, or urine, bleeding nose or gums, bruising of skin and ears, pallor, and weakness. The most common cause of death is bleeding into the chest cavity.
(2) Cholecalciferol produces hypercalcemia, that is, excessive calcium levels in the blood, which leads to kidney failure and cardiac abnormalities. Initial symptoms include depression, loss of appetite, excessive urination and excessive thirst. Later, there may be vomiting, constipation, and/or bloody diarrhea, with loss of kidney function.
(3) When an animal consumes baits that use bromethalin, this can result in increased pressure of cerebrospinal fluid (the liquid inside the skull that the brain basically floats in) and cerebral edema (the accumulation of excess water in the brain). Common symptoms include loss of appetite, impaired movement, paralysis of the animal’s hind limbs, muscle tremors and seizures.
(4) Zinc phosphide, the active ingredient in many rat poisons, works by producing a highly toxic gas called phosphine. This occurs when the bait interacts with the acid in the animal’s stomach. One sign that your cat or dog has eaten this kind of rodenticide is that its breath will smell of garlic or rotten fish. As with antifreeze, the side effects of zinc phosphide poisoning can linger for several days even after treatment.
There is more information about these poisons on websites including the PetMD website (and I also discovered a resource called www.toxipedia.org). But the basic message is clear: if you think your animal has consumed a poison, you need to act really fast. Get your animal to a vet as soon as you can and if you are able to identify the likely source, take the packaging with you. If you are lucky, you may be able to avoid your pet suffering a horrible, agonising death. Of the horrible, agonising deaths inflicted on mice and rats, and on wildlife such as owls and eagles that eat mice and rats, I will say only that the world would be a better place if we didn’t use poisons.
