HEALTH

Below:  One Fancier's experience with a new Flea & Tick Preventative

WARNING! RE: New flea & tick medicine

  May cross post


  Forwarding this from another group:

  This is Jo and this is a very important message to my family &
  friends who have dogs-cats--and to alert you to the hazard of using a
  new Flea & Tick Preventative called ProMeris http://www.promeris.com/consumer/ .

  This is a new product designed to be a more effective product than
  other flea/tick treatments that was just released this year. It is
  available thru a vet and not currently on-line. I got ProMeris this
  week for my 7 dogs (6 Huskies & 1 Golden-Airedale) , and the
  results were debilitating for nearly all of them-including me. Since my
  incident this week, my vet has pulled it from distribution and alerted
  the manufacturer, Fort Dodge.

  Here are my results: Within less than 2 hours after applying, 4 of my
  dogs had vomited from 2-4 times, 3 were disoriented and stumbling, 1
  was dragging his back leg, 1 was salivating. I had very similar
  symptoms like an allergic reaction-my lips were swollen, eyes very red,
  mucous membranes such as eyes, nose, and mouth were stinging. I was
  very disoriented- dizzy equilibrium and not able to drive. To make this
  a short story-all 7 of my dogs were admitted to the hospital for
  veterinarian care, and 3 of them remained for care, IV fluids and
  observation for 24 hours. I was in the emergency room. I'm home now and
  so are the dogs. We're all feeling much better. Vet bills were over
  $2,500 and Fort Dodge is paying for these. Not only can the product
  cause this reaction, it has a highly noxious odor that permeated the
  house and is just starting to dissipate after 3 days.

  Your dogs/cats might not have the same reaction, but given my
  experience-I wanted to help you all become well-educated about the
  product.

2/03/09:  RAISIN TOXICITY

Written by:
Laurinda Morris, DVM
Danville Veterinary Clinic
Danville , OH

This week I had the first case in history of raisin toxicity ever seen at MedVet.  My
patient was a 56-pound, 5-yr. old male neutered Lab mix that ate half a canister of
raisins sometime between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday.  He started with vomiting,
diarrhea and shaking about 1AM on Wednesday but the owner didn't call my emergency
service until 7AM. 

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND grapes causing acute Renal  failure but hadn't seen any formal paper on the subject. We had her bring the dog in immediately. In the meantime, I called the ER service at MedVet, and the doctor there was like me - had heard something about it, but ... Anyway, we contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center and they said to give IV fluids at 1-1/2 times maintenance and watch the kidney values for the next 48-72 hours.  The dog's BUN (blood urea nitrogen level) was already at 32 (normal is less than 27) and creatinine was over 5 (1.9 is the high end of normal). Both are monitors of kidney function in the bloodstream.  We placed an IV catheter and started the fluids. Rechecked the renal values at 5 PM and the BUN was over 40 and creatinine over 7 with no urine production after a liter of fluids.  

At that point I felt the dog was in acute renal failure and sent him on to MedVet for a urinary catheter to monitor urine output overnight as well as overnight care. He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet and his renal values continued to increase daily.  He produced urine when given lasix as a diuretic. He was on three different anti-vomiting medications and they still couldn't control his vomiting. Today his urine output decreased again, his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was at 10, his phosphorus was very elevated and his blood pressure, which had been staying around 150, skyrocketed to 220.  He continued to vomit and the owners elected to Euthanize.

This is a very sad case - great dog, great owners who had no idea raisins could be a toxin.  Please alert everyone you know who has a dog of this very serious risk. Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or grapes could be toxic.  Many people I know give their dogs grapes or raisins as treats including our ex-handler.  Any exposure should give rise to immediate concern.

Onions, chocolate, cocoa and macadamia nuts can be fatal, too. 

Even if you don't have a dog, you might have friends who do. This is worth passing on to them.