Poison Calls to ASPCA Poison Control Center in 2006

The ASPCA released a report on the calls received at the Poison Control Center for 2006. They note that there was over a 90% increase in calls that involved pet medications. Most of these involved pet medications. The number of pets poisoned from human medications also increased sharply--up 65% compared with 2005.
The top 10 poison categories were:

• human medications
• insecticides
• pet medications
• plants
• mice and rat poisons
• household cleaners
• chocolate
• chemicals
• choking and physical hazards
• home improvement products

Dogs continue to be poisoned more frequently than other pets. Over 80,000 reports of dog poisonings occurred in 2006. Almost 12,000 cat poisonings were reported in 2006. The ASPCA Poison Control Center also received hundreds of calls for poisonings in birds, horses, ferrets, rabbits, rodents, and fish.

There were over 12,000 calls just on vet meds, especially nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) commonly used for arthritis and pain. In addition, wormers, and nutritional supplements caused poisonings.

The important message from this is:

take care with human and veterinary medications.

Pets are poisoned by applying the wrong flea & tick products, by giving them too many pills, by giving a medication that isn't safe for that species--especially using dog products on cats.

Keep the number of your vet clinic on the fridge, because a poisoning emergency makes it hard to find even the most obvious information in the phone book.

Take care to secure meds away from your pets because they have the dexterity of Houdini and can open cupboards, boxes, and bottles. You'll be one of the families that never needs to made an emergency call. What a good feeling that will be.