Little known dangers in your handbag...

We humans may be super busy this holiday month, but it is prime time for our pets to get bored; and boredom in pets often leads to mischief. Couple that with the fact that most of us are distracted and multi-tasking, and you get a recipe for disaster: bored pets and unsupervised purses/ handbags. The obvious issue with that is destroyed property, but you may be surprised to discover just how many toxins may be hiding in your innocent little purse! Chocolate, of course, is a well-known biggie- but, really, who keeps chocolate long enough for it to sit in our purse’s?? Read on to learn of other less-known dangers:

- It only takes a cigarette or two, maybe a couple bites of chewing tobacco or pieces of nicotine gum to turn your sweet pet into a sick pet. Symptoms of tobacco ingestion include increased heart and respiration rates, tremors, seizures, and, depending on the strength of tobacco, even death. These signs can occur as quickly as 15-20 minutes after ingestion.

- That small bottle of pills you keep in there? To our pets, that bottle is one extra-fun rattle! Unfortunately, it is easily busted and the contents are NOT fun. With the plethora of meds that might be in there, we can’t give specific symptoms for which to watch, but if your cat or dog gets any human medications, please call your vet immediately!

- Xylitol is getting more attention these days, and rightly so; it is found in sugar-free gums and candies and is highly toxic to our pets. Typically, your pet will vomit after ingesting xylitol. This will likely be followed by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) which manifests as stumbling, lethargy, even collapse or seizure. In some cases, animals skip the hypoglycemia stage and pass right on to liver failure. Xylitol ingestion is not to be taken lightly; please take your pet in to your veterinarian right away!

- Alcohol- of any variety- is also toxic to our pets, and this includes that little bottle of hand sanitizer in your handbag. Swallowing hand sanitizer is akin to chugging some hard liquor to your pet. This event will probably bring on hypoglycemia, incoordination, depression, and coma.

- Last but not least are the asthma inhalers that are so important to keep close at hand. Yes, our veterinarians do sometimes nebulize our pets with albuterol (or related medications) which is perfectly safe. However, when an inhaler is punctured by teeth, your pet is getting a very concentrated dose- up to 200 per vial, in fact. Increased heart rate, abnormal heart beat, agitation and worse can come from ingesting too much albuterol.

For a safe holiday- and all year, too!- please be sure to keep your purses and handbags up out of the reach of your pets. Just in case there is an accidental toxin ingestion, give us a call immediately! We can be reached at 970-330-7283 and are open until 9pm weekdays, Saturday 8am until 5pm, and Sundays 9am to 1pm. Being an American Animal Hospital Association accredited hospital, we are always prepared for just such emergencies.