Poison Proof Your House

Poison Proof Your House ! Protect your pet by taking the following room-by-room precautions to remove poisons you may over-look.

Living room Poison

• Check out your plants—both inside and outside your home. Lilies (Lilium and Hemerocallis sp.) are especially poisonous to cats, so eliminate them from any bouquets. For a more complete listing of plants that are toxic to pets visit www.petpoisonhelpline.com
• Keep home fragrance products out of reach, this includes open dishes of liquid potpourri and simmer pots.
• Don’t spray aerosols or any heavily fragranced products around caged birds or other caged pets.
• Keep ashtrays, nicotine replacement products, and all illicit substances out of reach.
• Keep glass decorations out of range of your pet so they cannot be broken.
• Hand warmers, as well as the oxygen absorber packets found in many packages are toxic to your pets.

Kitchen Poison

• Know what foods are pet poisons. Watch out for sugar-free chewing gum with xylitol, raisins, grapes, currants, macadamia nuts, onions and garlic (pay close attention to the ingredients in gravies, chip dips, and mixes), unbaked yeast bread dough, fatty foods, caffeine, and chocolate. Keep pets away from excessively salty products as well. A common source of excess salt is homemade play dough.
• Keep garbage cans, cleaning supplies, and detergents behind closed doors. Trash and compost bins can contain many pet toxins, such as cigarette butts, coffee grounds, moldy dairy products, chicken bones and pork rib bones.
• Keep alcoholic beverages and substances high in alcohol content, such as hand sanitizers, out of reach.

Bathroom Poison

• Keep medications safely locked up in secure cupboards—don’t leave them on countertops or tables or store them in plastic zippered baggies, which are easily chewed through. This includes inhalers, dietary aides, vitamins and other nutraceuticals.
• Never medicate your pets with human products without first contacting your veterinarian.
• Always check the container before giving medication to your pet to make sure it’s the correct medication, and store your own medications separately from your pet’s.
• Pet Poison Helpline (800-213-6680) receives many calls from people who accidentally gave their own medication to a pet.
• Keep pets away from cleaning products. Shut them out of the room while spraying bathroom cleansers or other products.
• Close toilet lids to keep pets from drinking the water, especially if you use automatic chemical tank or bowl treatments.

Utility room Poison

• Keep rodenticides far away from pets. Keep in mind that rodents can transfer the toxins to accessible locations. Certain rodenticide products do not have treatment antidotes. Check products to learn their ingredients and possible toxicity to pets. Dog and cats may ingest the poison directly, or can get a fatal dose by ingesting an animal that died from rodenticides.
• Do not use insecticides around your pet without knowing their toxicological profile. Read labels and use products only as recommended. Never use dog flea and tick products on cats.
• Don’t leave batteries lying around. Dogs enjoy chewing on them, and they can be fatal if ingested.
• Keep glues out of reach—they can be tasty but some may cause serious harm. In fact, certain glues expand greatly in the stomach leading to bowel obstructions.
• Keep pets out of the room when using glue on a home improvement project.
• Mothballs are toxic and should be kept in a pet proof container or area.

Garage Poison

• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze) products are extremely toxic to pets. Choose propylene glycol products as a safer alternative (these products are still toxic, they just don’t cause the kidney failure that ethylene glycol does), or keep pets far away from any ethylene glycol product. If you spill any on a driveway, clean it up immediately or dilute it with several gallons of water. Other propylene glycol products include ice packs and hydraulic oils.
• Keep paintballs out of reach of your pets.
• Lead is toxic to pets and is found in drapery weights, car batteries, lead shot, solder, older toys and paint.
• Zinc is also toxic and is commonly found in nuts and bolts, topical ointments (such as diaper rash cream), and coins (especially certain pennies and nickels)
• Keep all automotive products—like windshield cleaner fluid—away from pets, and immediately clean up any spills.

Outside Poison

• Dogs like to eat certain fertilizers such as bone meal or blood meal. Keep bags tightly sealed and use products according to label instructions.
• Grub or snail killers—especially those that include metaldehyde—can be harmful to pets. Avoid them if possible.
• Yard insecticides that contain organophosphates or carbamates can be very dangerous if ingested in high concentrations.
• Keep pets off lawns until commercially sprayed herbicides are dry.

Even if you have taken all possible steps to poison proof your house, pets have a way of finding things they shouldn’t!  If you suspect that your pet has come in contact with or ingested something that is toxic please contact us immediately!
Our number is (306)933-2677

Common Household Toxins

Here are some common household items that you may not consider to be dangerous, but they can cause serious harm to your pet

• Human Prescription Medications. Symptoms depend on the medication consumed. Most cases of ingestion occur when a pill is accidently dropped on the floor and the pet gets to it before you do.
• Over the counter medications such as Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Advil (Ibuprofen) can cause a wide range of symptoms ranging from weakness and lethargy to liver damage.
• Veterinary Use Medications.
• Grapes and raisins can cause severe, acute kidney failure.
• Garlic, Chives, and Onion, both cooked and raw (This includes items that have these in the ingredient list). These can cause gastrointestinal irritation and could lead to red blood cell damage.
• Chocolate, coffee, caffeine. These products contain methylxanthines, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death.
• Xylitol. This is an artificial sweetener found in products such as gum, candy, baking. When consumed by pets it can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and liver failure in pets.
• Alcohol consumption in pets can cause vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death.
• Macadamia nuts can cause weakness, depression, vomiting, tremors and hyperthermia in dogs
• Avocado can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
• Mothballs. Ingestion of mothballs can cause red blood cell damage, liver damage, and affects the central nervous system.
• Moldy food can cause tremors and seizures.
• Mushrooms. Mushrooms growing in your yard may harm your pet. Symptoms range from hallucinations to kidney and liver failure.
• Antifreeze. The sweet taste of antifreeze is attractive to many animals. As little as 1 tablespoon can cause severe acute kidney failure in dogs, and 1 teaspoon can be fatal to cats.
• Rodenticides. Can cause internal bleeding, seizures, and kidney failure
• Insecticides
• Lawn Fertilizers

For a more complete list of toxins and the symptoms associated with each visit: www.petpoisonhelpline.com