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Caregiver Information -
Toxins & Other Hazards

Learn more about toxins and other threats to your pet's health by reading Ask the Vet’s Pets letters below. For help with other pet care topics, click on Preventive Care and Diseases & Disorders.

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Toxins and Other Hazards

Pickup truck dangers
Ear cropping
Parasites pets and people share
Toxoplasmosis
Bread dough
Spider plants
Mouse poison
Pennies

Ear Cropping

Dear Daisy Dog: I am having trouble finding a veterinarian to crop my Doberman puppy’s ears. How can I find one?

Daisy Responds: Most veterinarians agree that ear cropping, the surgical removal of much of the ear flap for purely cosmetic reasons, is inhumane, so they refuse to do it.
      Dogs communicate with other dogs and with humans through body language. Ear position is one of the most important ways we dogs show whether we’re happy, frightened, or feeling aggressive.
      Without fully functioning ear flaps, your Dobie’s "statements" may be misinterpreted.
      The American Veterinary Medical Association says, "Ear cropping and tail docking in dogs for cosmetic reasons are not medically indicated nor of benefit to the patient. These procedures cause pain and distress, and, as with all surgical procedures, are accompanied by inherent risks of anesthesia, blood loss, and infection."
      Don’t give your dog a permanent disability by cropping his ears. I have natural ears, and everyone says I’m beautiful!

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Pickup Truck Dangers

Dear Daisy Dog: Recently I’ve seen dogs riding loose in the beds of pickup trucks. Do the dogs ever jump or fall out?

Daisy Responds: Yes, and that’s why six states have made it illegal to let a dog ride loose in the back of an open pickup truck. It’s dangerous for the dog and for nearby drivers.
      If the pickup hits a bump or the driver has to swerve, the dog can be thrown from the truck. If he isn’t killed or badly injured by the fall, he will be if he’s hit by oncoming cars.
      And drivers can have accidents when they swerve to avoid hitting the dog in the road.
      The best place for a dog is inside the cab in a dog crate or buckled into a dog seat belt. If the dog must be in the back of the truck, he should be confined safely inside a kennel that is firmly anchored to the truck.
      A good choice is a ventilated dog crate with solid sides and top to prevent injury from stones thrown from the road surface, branches of nearby trees, cold winds and glaring sun. These dog crates are available at pet supply stores and through catalogs.

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Parasites Pets and People Share

Dear Christopher Cat: We are hand-raising a litter of kittens whose mother was killed by a car. My vet insists on giving each kitten several doses of worm medicine because she says the kittens could give worms to my children. This sounds outlandish to me.

Christopher Responds: Your veterinarian is protecting your children's health by following the recommendations of veterinary parasitologists and other authorities.
      Any kitten, especially feral (wild) kittens, may harbor roundworms and/or hookworms. In kittens, their presence may not be apparent, or the kitten may have a potbelly, diarrhea, or even anemia. Puppies are similarly affected.
      Since the worm's life cycle is repeated every few weeks, the best way to kill the worms is to de-worm each kitten every two weeks until three months of age, then monthly until six months of age.
      Roundworms and hookworms can indeed infect humans. Young children are especially vulnerable, perhaps because they put things into their mouths without washing their hands. The microscopic eggs of these worms may be ingested without the child knowing it. Also, hookworm larvae may penetrate intact skin.
      The worms' immature larval stages migrate through the human body, leaving organ damage, itchy skin, seizures, and blindness in their wake.
      Since eggs of these worms survive for years in the soil, every pet's annual physical exam should include a fecal check for parasites.
      I had intestinal worms once. If it can happen to someone as cute as I am, it can happen to anyone.

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Toxoplasmosis

Dear Christopher Cat: I just learned that I’m pregnant. I know I don’t have to give my cats away, but I’m uncertain about what precautions to take when cleaning the litter box. Can you help?

Christopher Responds: Congratulations on your newest family member!
      Pregnant women should avoid exposure to the one-celled protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. Infection during pregnancy can cause many problems, including blindness, seizures and mental retardation in the child.
      Cats may become infected when we eat raw meat (like mice and birds), though we usually show no clinical signs. We only excrete the organism the first time we are infected, and then only for 10 to 15 days.
      "Toxo" is transmitted to people by ingestion, most commonly through eating raw or undercooked meat infected with the organism. It can also be transmitted by drinking infected raw goat’s milk or by inadvertent ingestion while gardening or cleaning the litter box.
      Some people have antibodies protecting them from new infections, so you might ask your physician about a blood test.
      Pregnant women, especially those without antibodies, should take these precautions:
            • Do not eat or taste raw or undercooked meat. Wash hands, utensils and surfaces that come into contact with raw meat or produce.
            • Wash hands after gardening, and wash vegetables before eating them.
            • Prevent your cats from eating rodents, birds and other raw meat.
            • Wear gloves when you empty the litter box – or better yet, have someone else in the family do it.
            • Toxo organisms don’t become infectious until at least a few days after they are excreted, so scoop litter daily. Wash hands afterwards.
            • Cover children’s sandboxes so cats can’t use them as outdoor litter boxes.

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Bread Dough

Dear Daisy Dog: Is it safe for dogs to eat bread dough? I just starting to make bread, and my mother is concerned that my dog Beau will steal dough from the counter and get sick from it. If bread is the staff of life, how could it harm him?

Daisy Responds: My brother, Jack, also steals food from the counter. I, on the other hand, have impeccable manners and would never dream of doing such an undignified thing.
      Bread dough causes us canines two problems when we eat it, so you’ll have to do what my mom does: keep food off the counter unless you are in the kitchen supervising the pilfering pup.
      Bread dough rises once it’s in a dog’s warm, moist stomach. It expands to many times its original size, causing abdominal pain, retching and bloat.
      And that isn’t all. The enlarged stomach also can impair breathing and blood circulation.
      Surgery may be needed if the expanded dough is too large to come up when the dog vomits.
      Worse yet, as the yeast in the raw dough ferments in the dog’s stomach, alcohol is produced. Alcohol toxicity causes poor coordination, disorientation and profound weakness, which may progress to coma and death.
      If, despite your precautions, Beau does manage to eat some bread dough, call your veterinarian immediately.

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Spider Plants

Dear Christopher Cat: My cats love my spider plant. They bat at the shoots and sometimes manage to pull the small ones off the plant. Are spider plants poisonous?

Christopher Responds: Relax. While spider plants are among the most entertaining plants to us cats, they are not poisonous. Still, you’re wise to ask, because some plants can harm us.
      For listings of poisonous and non-poisonous plants, go to the website of the Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, www.aspca.org/apcc . Click on "List of Toxic Plants" and "List of Non-Toxic Plants," and bookmark the site for future reference.
      Then click on "Poison-proof your home" and tour the animated home to identify potential poisons. Consider making a donation while you’re on the ASPCA site.

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Mouse Poison

Dear Christopher Cat: Our mouse problem is particularly bad this winter, despite the fact that our cats are good mousers. Is it safe to put out mouse poison?

Christopher Responds: I, too, am an excellent mouser, but just this morning, Mom dug into a bag of bird seed and scooped out a dead mouse. Oops, I guess I missed one.

What you are pondering, whether a cat can be poisoned by eating a mouse that ingested poison, is called relay toxicosis. It occurs when a mouse eats a large enough dose of poison, and the cat eats the entire mouse.
      The toxic dose depends on the poison. The three most common poison types are:
            1) vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which increases calcium to deadly levels and is found in products like Quintox and Rampage;
            2) an anticoagulant, which causes internal bleeding; common names are warfarin, brodifacoum and bromadoline; and
            3) bromethalin, which damages the brain and is found in products like Vengeance and Assault.
      The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center recommends emergency treatment if a 10-pound cat eats a mouse that consumed as little as 0.02 ounce of a vitamin D3 bait, 0.06 ounce of an anticoagulant bait or 0.12 ounce of a bromethalin bait.
      So here’s my advice: plug the holes in the house, put the bird seed in a metal tin and keep the mouse poison out of the house.

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Pennies

Dear Daisy Dog: My husband leaves his pocket change on the chairs and floor, and I’m afraid one of our dogs will eat it. Is it a problem if a dog swallows coins?

Daisy Responds: It depends on the denomination of the coin. Really.
      Pennies minted since 1983 are 99.2 percent zinc and only 0.8 percent copper. The zinc is the problem.
      Zinc is also found in some hardware, such as the nuts and bolts that hold pet carriers together.
      Stomach acid leaches zinc from pennies, allowing it to be absorbed into the blood. There, the zinc destroys red blood cells, causing hemolytic anemia (hemo = blood, lytic = break).
      Anemia, decreased numbers of red blood cells, is dangerous because red blood cells are needed to carry oxygen throughout the body.
      Clinical signs of hemolytic anemia may include profound lethargy and weakness, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, dark urine, and a yellow tinge to the skin or whites of the eyes.
      If you suspect that one of your dogs has ingested a penny, ask your veterinarian to x-ray your dog’s abdomen. Pennies and metal hardware show up clearly.
      So tell your husband: A penny swallowed is anemia earned.

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