Pet Vitamins: Lead Found In Pet Tabs

Mistakes are made by companies producing pet food, vitamins, and medications. Some of these mistakes are inconsequential, but other mistakes cause death or chronic poor health. Among the mistakes that lead to chronic poor health is the contamination of pet vitamins with low levels of lead. This is a serious problem because lead is stored permanently in the body and affects every organ. Problems pets (and people) experience when poisoned by lead include:

• anemia,
• loss of appetite
• vomiting,
• abdominal pain,
• hysteria,
• seizures, and
• blindness.

Health problems become more severe if the pet is pregnant or nursing. If lead is consumed by a pregnant pet, the babies in the uterus are affected. If the lead is consumed by a lactating pet, the nursing young are affected. Unborn or nursing puppies and kittens are highly sensitive to lead because their nervous systems are still developing. Even small amounts are dangerous and can lead to long-term debility or death. Because lead prevents the brain and nerves from working as they should, the young behave differently and learn more slowly than normal young.

It is tragic when pets are exposed to lead, and it is particularly troubling when they are exposed because their daily vitamin is contaminated. If symptoms caused by lead were temporary and pets naturally recovered once the lead-contaminated vitamin was stopped, the problems would be bad enough, but these symptoms don’t go away unless the pet is treated. Treatment for lead poisoning is expensive and time-consuming and may include IV fluids, chelation therapy, and medications to control seizures, vomiting, and anemia.

We buy vitamins to keep our dogs and cats maximally healthy, but if the vitamin is lead-contaminated—even in small amounts—we are slowly poisoning our pets. This is one of the reasons that I advise against the use of Pet Tabs and Pet Tabs Plus in pets. ConsumerLab.com found Pet Tabs were contaminated with 1.4 micrograms of lead per tablet. Even though this amount of contamination is below the concentration that causes instant poisoning, this lead level is unhealthy because all amounts of lead, even tiny amounts, accumulate in the body.