Profile of a Person Who Poisons Pets

by Malcolm Riordan

Statistics overwhelmingly reveal that the person who poisons pets is most often a person in the pet's home—the owner or another household member!  Despite the best of intentions, it comes down to a lack of awareness. The pets' suffering, owner expense, and the cruel guilt of poisoning one's own pet is common yet avoidable.

Veterinary Pet Insurance analyzed case claims submitted in 2008 by pet owners and ranked frequency of the toxic substances involved. VPI received more clams for toxic drug reactions than all other poisonings combined!

Worse, most poisonings were human medications intentionally given to their pets by concerned owners. Well intentioned actions, to be sure, but potentially deadly. The top toxins: our everyday over-the-counter pain relievers.

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is toxic to cats at any dose and should never be used. Dogs do not metabolize this drug as well as humans; additionally the effective dose for dogs can vary from dog to dog, and, most significantly, the effective dose for a dog is frightfully close to the toxic dose. Because of this narrow margin of safety and the resulting propensity to cause liver failure, acetaminophen is not routinely used in dogs, and again, never in cats.
Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) is never recommended in dogs and cats as it too readily causes gastric ulcers or acute kidney failure.
Naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox) even in the smallest doses can result in gastric ulcers and perforation, or acute kidney failure in our pets and should never be used.
Aspirin does have a place—though with significant cautions—in veterinary medicine. It must be appreciated that cats metabolize aspirin very slowly: a typical dose prescribed by veterinarians for a full-sized cat would be on the order of one-fourth of a tablet only once every 48-72 hours!  (vs. the dosing frequency of every 4-6 hours in humans)  Even knowing this, it's best to check your DVM first. Dogs can tolerate aspirin and veterinarians will occasionally recommend it as a pain reliever. Still, chronic use of the drug can produce side effects.
Cold/Flu Relief medications frequently contain the ingredients above. Don't push them on your pet.

No doubt countless dogs and cats have survived willy-nilly dosing with various medications, their owners never considering that they were conducting animal experimentation on their own pet.

Pet owners should realize that there are much safer and much more effective anti-inflammatory/pain relief drugs available for use in their pets. There is no substitute for having an established relationship with a veterinary clinic. Information and awareness vaccinates against some sorry events that may not only ‘cost a fortune', but risk a pet's life.

Beyond the Toxic Roulette of Playing Pet Pharmacist

When pets have been poisoned by a toxin in their environment, typically it is still their humans who have placed that poison.

Whether within the house, garage, or yard, people use some wicked toxins, unaware that pets may encounter or even seek them out.

Think most of rodent bait/poison, snail bait/poison, and automotive antifreeze containing ethylene glycol. These all taste good to your pet.

Also, consider improper use of, or exposure to, insecticides. Special notes for cat owners (you just think you own them): cats will fastidiously groom off—thereby ingesting—anything that happens to get on their coat or feet, including noxious substances they would never otherwise consume or ingest.

You should know that certain veterinary products that are safe to topically apply to dogs for flea/parasite control can be directly or indirectly poisonous when mistakenly applied to cats. Best not to assume a product is safe. Check labels.

Note carefully that dog-safe, cat-toxic topical products can be absorbed through the skin by a cat, but also can be ingested when a cat fastidiously grooms off anything that gets on their fur. 

With our pets, intentional or malicious poisonings are very rare—move this suspicion to the bottom of your list.

Woods Rafter Cat image on banner by Malcolm Riordan.
All pet pictures are owner submitted photos from the HSUS Spay Day 2011 Photo Contest.