With over 4,500 calls handled this year, 2020 has been the busiest year for Animal PoisonLine. The challenges faced by vet practices throughout the pandemic have led to more referrals to APL, allowing our triage service to be put to full use. In 80% of cases handled by APL a [...]
With more people staying at home, and less holidays in the sunshine this year, vitamin D deficiency is an issue that many are facing. As a result, demand for vitamin D supplements and prescribed treatments are increasing. These products - especially prescribed preparations - pose great risk to dogs, who [...]
New scientific information on use of cannabidiol (CBD) in cats and dogs has been published by the BSAVA. The “Use of cannabidiol (CBD) in dogs and cats” document outlines the legal position about CBD oil use in the UK, and pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of CBD in humans and dogs. It [...]
Happy New Year to all our members and a huge thank you for your ongoing support. Without your memberships we could not continue our vital research into animal toxicology or have a team available to take your calls 24 hours a day. All of us will be pleased to see [...]
A paper published in September discusses the clinical course of permethrin toxicosis in cats, and examines whether methocarbamol treatment relates to improved morbidity and outcome. Permethrin toxicosis is a particular issue in cats, as they show increased sensitivity to pyrethroids. The study found that in most cases (89%) toxicosis was caused [...]
Another potential Christmas food hazard are grapes and their dried fruits (sultanas, raisins and currants). This includes Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies. Ingestion of grapes or their dried fruits can cause renal failure in dogs but this only happens in a minority of cases. Not all dogs are [...]
Theobromine is toxic to most animals, but dogs appear to be particularly sensitive. The increased prevalence of theobromine toxicity in dogs is due to their reduced elimination rate, as well as the fact they have easier access to chocolate due to them co-habiting with us. This is supported by the [...]
Christmas is associated with an excess of food and top of the list is chocolate. This of course means an increase in cases of accidental ingestion in pets, particularly dogs. We see a huge increase in call numbers relating to chocolate at this time of year – around 20% of [...]
These novelty items are readily available and often chewed/ingested by animals around Halloween and Guy Fawkes’ night. They consist of polyethylene tubing filled with a liquid mixture that gives off a light of various colours. There are normally two components to the mixture, a luminescer (mostly dibutyl phthalate), and an [...]
Throughout Autumn and Winter, animals (mostly dogs) are partial to the ingestion of red berries, whilst on a walk or in the garden. It is often difficult to identify the species of plant, and therefore recognise whether ingestion is a toxicological risk. Here, we will discuss the two red berries [...]
