021. Poisons (incl. plants, food & household chemicals)
Description
This article is from the Basic Health Care FAQ, posted to rec.pets.cats newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
021. Poisons (incl. plants, food & household chemicals)
The information in this section is mostly condensed from Carlson & Giffins. The list of poisons is not intended to be conclusive. Nor are the treatments intended to be sufficient: call your vet in the event of any internal poisoning.
In particular, notice that the list of problematic plants cannot be all inclusive. There are many plants with multiple names and even a botanist can't come up with a conclusive list. This is why you will almost never see identical lists put out by different organizations. When in doubt, try to go by the most regional information you can find, which is the most likely to use names current in your regions.
Treatment after ingestion
To induce vomiting in cats:
* Hydrogen peroxide 3% (most effective): One teaspoon every ten minutes; repeat three times.
* One-fourth teaspoonful of salt, placed at the back of the tongue.
* Syrup of Ipecac (one teaspoonful per ten pounds of body weight).
Do NOT induce vomiting when the cat
* has swallowed an acid, alkali, solvent, heavy duty cleaner, petroleum product, tranquilizers, or a sharp object (i.e., something that will cause as much or more damage coming back up)
* is severely depressed or comatose
* swallowed the substance more than two hours ago
You will also want to coat the digestive tract and speed up elimination to help rid the cat of the substances: To delay or prevent absorption
* Mix activated charcoal with water (5 grams to 20 cc.). Give one teaspoonful per two pounds body weight.
* Thirty minutes later, give sodium sulphate (glauber's salt), one teaspoon per ten pounds body weight, or Milk of Magnesia, one teaspoon per five pounds body weight.
* In the absence of any of these agents, coat the bowel with milk, egg whites, vegetable oil and give a warm water enema.
If your cat has a poisonous substance on its skin or coat, wash it off before your cat licks the substance off and poisons itself. Use soap and water or give it a complete bath in lukewarm (not cold) water.
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