Safety

Each year on August 15, we join the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) in observing National Check the Chip Day—a day set aside to remind owners of microchipped pets to confirm the accuracy of the information on file at the chip registry.

Given that only about 6 of every 10 microchips are registered, it’s also a great day to register your pet’s chip number if you haven’t yet done so. The chip is worthless unless you register it and then keep the information current.

And if you haven’t yet had your pet microchipped, Check the Chip day is ideal for scheduling an appointment with us to implant your pet’s microchip.

Why Have Your Pet Microchipped?

One of every three family pets will get lost at some point during their lifetime. 

Dogs with microchips are more than twice as likely to be returned home to their owners.

Cats with microchips are more than 20 times as likely to be returned home to their owners.

American Veterinary Medical Association

Because of microchips, pets and owners have been reunited from hundreds of miles away, sometimes years after the pets were lost.

While one study found owners’ efforts were successful in recovering a lost dog only 13% of the time, the detection of a microchip by an animal shelter resulted in a 74.1% return rate to owners.

Researchers have also found that the owners of nearly three-fourths of lost, microchipped cats and dogs were located because of the microchip.

When lost or stolen microchipped pets don’t make it back home, it’s usually because of incorrect or missing owner information in the microchip registry.

One former shelter manager estimates as many as half of pets with microchips entering shelters have chips that haven’t been registered at all, have disconnected phone numbers and outdated contact information in the registry or are registered to former owners who don’t have contact information for the current owner.

That’s why it’s so important to check the chip!

How Microchips Work

Microchips are cylindrical devices about the size of a grain of rice implanted under your pet’s skin using a hypodermic needle. The microchip device has a capacitor, an antenna, connecting wire and a covering. When activated by a low-power radio frequency signal from the scanner, the microchip transmits its unique identification number to the scanner display. 

Microchips are not tracking devices and contain no information about you or your pet. All they can transmit is the identification number.

The AVMA classifies the implantation of microchips as “a veterinary procedure that should be performed by a licensed veterinarian or under supervision of a licensed veterinarian.” Veterinarians and trained veterinary technicians know precisely where and how microchips should be placed. Improperly inserted microchips have been known to malfunction and can cause serious disabilities or even death. 

Unlike external identification tags on pets’ collars, which can easily be lost, removed, altered or replaced, microchips provide permanent, unalterable identification for an animal. Your pet should have both.

Once the microchip is implanted, you must register the chip number and keep the registration updated for the life of your pet. 

More About Microchips

In less than 15 minutes, you can learn even more about microchips by watching “How do pet microchips work?”—a YouTube video by Brigid Wasson of First Street Pets. 

Wasson’s companion article to the video is on the First Street Pets website.

Here’s Wasson’s article, “Which pet microchip registry is the best?” listing the top five microchip registries. See the accompanying video, “Top 5 pet microchip registries for 2023” on YouTube.

Finally, see Wasson’s video, “Register Your Pet’s microchip in 5 minutes” for a quick overview of the registration process.

How to Check the Chip

If your pet has already been microchipped, step one is to find your pet’s microchip number. 

Look for the paperwork you received when you had the chip implanted or log in to the account you set up when you registered the chip with the manufacturer. 

The microchip number may also be displayed on a tag on your pet’s collar, if the chip manufacturer supplied one. (Since anyone can register any chip number using any contact information, you may choose not to display your pet’s microchip number on a collar tag.)

If you can’t find the microchip number, ask us to scan your pet the next time you’re at the clinic for an appointment. Assuming your pet’s microchip transponder is still working, the scanner will reveal the microchip number. We suggest you write it down for future reference. 

After this initial scan for the chip number, ask to have your pet’s microchip scanned each year as part of the annual exam to confirm it’s still working and can be detected.

Next, to confirm where your pet’s microchip is registered, visit the AAHA Microchip Registry Lookup website. This is the database veterinarians and shelter personnel consult when trying to find the owner of a found microchipped pet. 

Type in your pet’s microchip number and, if the number is registered with any of nearly 40 registries, the manufacturer and any registries associated with that chip number will be displayed, showing the date the registration was last updated and contact information for the registry. 

The AAHA Microchip Registry does not provide owner information. To register, review and update your registration information, you must call the registry or visit the registry website and log in to your account. 

The Downsides of Microchipping

Problems with properly implanted microchips are very rare. 

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association has tracked adverse reactions to microchips since 1996. Of more than 4 million animals microchipped, only 391 adverse reactions have been reported.

Of these, the most common problem reported is the migration of the microchip from its original implantation site. Other, much less common problems reported included failure of the microchip, hair loss, infection, swelling and tumor formation.

Odds Are, Your Pet Isn’t Yet Microchipped

While many dogs and cats wear external identification tags on their collars—as they all should—on average, only 3-4% of dogs and fewer than 1% of cats arriving at shelters are microchipped.

If you are like most pet owners and haven’t yet had a microchip implanted in your pet, we strongly encourage you to do so. 

To minimize your pet’s possible discomfort from the injection, we suggest having us implant a microchip when your pet is under anesthesia for surgery or a dental procedure. 

If you don’t anticipate the need for anesthesia anytime soon, ask us to implant a microchip at your next visit to the clinic or schedule an appointment expressly for us to insert the microchip. And register the microchip right away.

Should your pet be lost or stolen, you’ll be glad you did!

The National Fire Protection Association reports at least 40,000 pets die each year in house fires, often because of smoke inhalation. 

In observance of National Pet Fire Safety Day on July 15, with help from Brownsburg Fire Territory Public Education Manager Nina Powell, we’ve compiled a number of precautions you can take to help keep your pet safe from fire.

Fire Prevention

According to American Humane, more than 500,000 pets are affected each year by house fires, including more than 1,000 fires started by pets. 

One of the most common ways pets start fires results from their access to open flames from candles or fireplaces. One cat knocked burning candles off a bedroom shelf onto a mattress, starting a fire that destroyed most of the house. Other cats and dogs have suffered serious burns by brushing too close to a candle or fireplace flame and setting their fur on fire. 

To avoid such mishaps, we advise you never to leave a pet unattended around an open flame. Protect burning candles with hurricane glass holders with heavy bases and use a fire screen to shield pets from fireplace fires. Better yet, use battery-powered flameless candles and enclose your fireplace in glass to eliminate this risk.

Pets sometimes start fires by pawing stove burner knobs. A dog jumped up on a stove to get a slice of pizza from a box left on the stovetop and in the process, turned on a burner. The pizza box caught fire, quickly spreading flames through the rest of the kitchen. If your pet is able to reach the stove or climb onto the control panel from a countertop, cover or remove the knobs and activate child safety lock features, if available.

Electrical fires can start after a pet chews the insulation off a loose power cord. Use cord covers to protect exposed cords from chewing. Search online for “dog and cat power cord covers” to see the many options available. 

“Although we haven’t had any incidents here in Brownsburg, nationwide one of the concerns is with heating lamps for pet reptiles,” said Powell. “If those lamps aren’t properly managed according to the manufacturers’ instructions, they can start fires.”

One dog started a fire by pulling his bed up against a portable space heater. The bed ignited, and the fire spread, damaging the house and sending both the dog and owner to the hospital. If you use a portable heater, make sure yours stays relatively cool to the touch and automatically shuts off if knocked over. 

“All the modern space heaters have the tip-over feature with automatic shut-off,” said Powell. “I would definitely tell someone who is using an older model space heater to replace it with a newer one with that tip-over feature.”

Don’t leave your pet unattended in a room with a portable heater.

Install smoke detectors monitored by an emergency response service. Whether or not you are home to report the fire, fire fighters can be dispatched quickly after the alarm is activated to help save your home and family—including your pet.

“I’m 100% in favor of interconnected smoke alarms so when one goes off, all go off,” said Powell. “Even better are interconnected smoke alarms that are monitored.”

Sadly, two pets—a dog and a cat—died in Brownsburg house fires this year. “It’s very devastating for us personally and hard to tell the owners,” said Powell.

“Fortunately, we’ve had several occasions this year where we’ve saved pets from fires,” said Powell. “Every one of our fire trucks has O₂ masks for pets so we can resuscitate them.”

Fire Emergency Preparation

Make and rehearse an emergency home evacuation plan that includes your pet. 

See our blog post “Preparing Your Pets for Disaster” for general information about planning for emergencies.

“Practice your fire escape plan with your family and your pet,” advised Powell. “With your smoke alarm in test mode, let your pet hear the sound the alarm makes and show them where they’re supposed to go when they hear that sound.” 

Powell emphasized that step one in any emergency is to call 911. 

“The sooner you call 911, the sooner the fire fighters can get to your house and rescue you and your pet.”

Family members should not endanger their own lives attempting to rescue a pet. If the pet can’t be found and brought to safety immediately, leave the door open and call to the pet from a safe distance outside. 

“Of course, if the pet is right there and can safely exit the house along with the people, that’s great,” Powell said. “But some pets are programmed to hide in an emergency like a house fire, and we don’t encourage people to delay their exit while they search inside a burning house for a pet.

“Please exit the home and call us immediately.”

Once fire fighters arrive, let them know a pet is still inside. “It helps if you describe the pet to the crew and tell them its name and any words it might respond to,” said Powell.

In case your pet gets lost in the confusion of a house fire, make sure he or she is microchipped and wearing a collar with identification tags attached. For details, see our post, “Steps You Can Take Now to Get a Lost Pet Back Home.”

For Owners of Service Animals

Owners of service dogs may call the Brownsburg Fire Territory’s non-emergency number at (317) 852-1190 to have notes about the presence of a service animal added to the records for their address. 

As defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, a “service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.”

“It helps us to know about the service animal at that address ahead of time and anticipate any possible delay in the owner’s exiting due to a disability,” Powell said.

Typically, Brownsburg’s hottest weather is not until July, but National Heat Awareness Day on May 26 serves as an early reminder of the dangers of heat-induced health threats and suggests precautions to minimize them. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Weather Service originally designated the last Friday in May as National Heat Awareness Day to draw attention to the risks of heat exhaustion, dehydration, heatstroke and even death faced by outdoor laborers when temperatures climb.

As veterinarians, we observe National Heat Awareness Day by drawing attention to the dangers to pets posed by high temperatures and offering our advice on keeping pets safe in hot weather.

The #1 Hot-Weather No-No

No matter how much your dog loves going for a ride and how much you enjoy his or her company while you’re running errands, leaving a dog alone in a parked car—even if you park in the shade—even with all the windows open and the air conditioner running—even if you’re going to be gone for only a minute—even if it’s not that hot—is always a dangerously bad idea. Don’t do it. 

Even if the outdoor temperature is only 70 degrees, the inside of your car may be as much as 20 degrees hotter. When the temperature is 85 degrees outside, it takes only 10 minutes for the temperature to rise to 102 degrees inside a car with all the windows opened slightly. After a half-hour, the temperature will reach 120 degrees, and a pet left in those conditions may well suffer irreversible organ damage or die.  

Don’t risk endangering your pet’s life by leaving him or her in a parked car. Leave your pet comfortably, safely at home.

Comforts of Home

If your pet is outside in hot weather, make sure you provide plenty of open shade and fresh water, adding ice to the water on the hottest days.

Indoors, provide access to water and ideally, air-conditioned spaces.

Skip the Shave

While trimming longer hair on your dog is fine in hot weather, never shave your dog down to the bare skin. The coat’s layers protect dogs from overheating and sunburn.

Easy on the Exercise

Even pets conditioned to fairly rigorous exercise routines in more temperate weather need shorter duration and lowered intensity of activities on hot days. Schedule exercise with your pet in the cooler early morning or evening hours. Carry water with you to prevent dehydration.

Avoid Hot Pavement

Hot asphalt can expose your pet’s body to extreme heat rising off the surface. Contact with hot pavement can burn paws. Check the pavement temperature with the back of your hand before leading your pet onto hot pavement and walk on the grass as much as possible. 

Heatstroke

Dogs exposed to high temperatures can suffer heatstroke. The signs include—

• Heavy panting
• Glazed eyes
• Rapid heartbeat
• Difficulty breathing
• Excessive thirst
• Lethargy
• Fever
• Dizziness
• Lack of coordination
• Profuse salivation
• Vomiting
• Brick red gum color
• A deep red or purple tongue
• Seizure
• Unconsciousness

Animals most susceptible to heatstroke are the very young and the very old, overweight and out-of-shape pets, and those suffering from heart or respiratory disease. Dogs with flat faces, like bulldogs, pugs and shih tzus, and flat-faced cats, like Persians and exotic shorthairs, have a much harder time breathing in extreme heat and are much more prone to heatstroke. Keep them in air-conditioned spaces.

If your pet is showing signs of heatstroke, move him or her to the shade or into an air-conditioned space. Apply ice packs or cold towels to their head, neck and chest and run cool water over them from a water hose. Offer small amounts of cool water to drink and ice cubes to lick. Get them to a veterinarian immediately, as heatstroke can lead to severe organ dysfunction and damage.

Heed the Humidity, Too

Animals pant to cool themselves by evaporating moisture from their lungs, but high humidity interferes with cooling and body temperature rises. 

When the humidity is high, pay close attention to your pet and be prepared to take the same emergency measures you would in the event of a heatstroke.

May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, so we’re offering some basics about the disease—particularly as it impacts Hendricks County. This post also includes symptoms of Lyme disease in people and pets, prevention advice and links to authoritative sources of more detailed information. 

About Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is a potentially severe infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted to people and pets through bites from an infected blacklegged deer tick. It’s named for Lyme, Connecticut, the town where the disease was first identified in 1975.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, “Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne disease in Indiana and in the United States.”

While you can’t catch Lyme disease directly from an infected pet, both you and your pet can catch it if you’re bitten by infected blacklegged deer ticks found in the environment you share—on walks you take together in grassy or wooded areas, for example—or from infected ticks brought home and transferred to you from the pet.

Dogs infected with Lyme disease are considered an indicator of the likely exposure of humans to the disease. As a rule, the more dogs testing positive for Lyme disease in a given county, the higher the frequency of Lyme disease in humans living in that county.

Lyme Disease Symptoms

In humans, the early symptoms of Lyme disease infection are an expanding red skin rash, facial nerve and muscle weakness or paralysis, severe headaches and neck stiffness, lightheadedness, flu-like symptoms, fainting, shortness of breath, heart palpitations or chest pains, and pain and swelling in large joints. 

As the disease progresses in humans, additional symptoms include fatigue, joint pain, twitching, cognitive impairment, heart problems, neuropathy, headache, muscle aches, memory loss, sleep impairment, gastrointestinal problems, and depression or mood changes.

In dogs, the symptoms of infection—shown by only 5 to 10% of infected dogs—are lameness, fever, joint swelling, lethargy, swollen lymph nodes and loss of appetite. Left untreated, potentially deadly kidney, nervous system and heart problems may develop. 

Fortunately, if caught early, most dogs can be successfully treated for Lyme disease with antibiotics. A vaccine is also available.

Lyme Disease in Indiana

The incidence of Lyme disease among humans in Indiana has generally trended upward over the past decade, from 75 reported cases in 2012 to 314 cases in 2021—a rate of 4.6 cases per 100,000 population. 

Statewide, Lyme disease is most common in May, June and July, when ticks are most active, but cases have been documented year-round.

Cases of the disease are most prevalent in the northwestern part of the state. The number of reported cases among residents of Hendricks County, while not zero, is relatively low. 

To see charts and graphs illustrating Indiana’s Lyme disease data, visit the Indiana Department of Health’s website’s “Lyme Disease: Data and Statistics” page.

The Indiana State Department of Health collected ticks statewide between 2017 and 2021 and had them tested at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Of the 45 adult ticks collected in Hendricks County and the single adult tick collected in Boone County, none tested positive. However, 20 to 39.9% of ticks collected in Putnam, Morgan and Marion counties tested positive and 40% or more of the 66 adult ticks collected in Montgomery County tested positive for the Lyme disease-causing bacterium. 

Visit the “Lyme Disease Tick Infection Maps” page to see the maps showing percentages of infected adult ticks and nymphs collected in each county.

Preventing Lyme Disease

Tick control—primarily by keeping your pet on year-round flea and tick preventive—is the most effective way to prevent Lyme disease infections in pets and people. 

Other measures we recommend:

• Avoid areas likely to be infested by ticks when they are most active. In Indiana, that’s late April through May, June and July.
• Ask us which tick repellants are safe to use on your dog.
• Check yourself and your pet thoroughly for ticks immediately after outings to grassy or wooded areas, and remove any you find right away. 

We suggest you review “How to Remove a Tick From Your Dog” on the American Kennel Club website before removing ticks. 

Ask Us About the Lyme Disease Vaccine

Vaccinated animals are less likely to contract Lyme disease than unvaccinated ones, but it is still possible for a vaccinated animal to be infected. 

We recommend the vaccine only for healthy dogs most likely to be exposed to ticks. 

After asking you about your pet’s environment and activities and evaluating your pet’s overall health, our veterinarians will help you decide if your pet’s potential exposure to deer ticks warrants a vaccine. 

The typical vaccine protocol is an initial injection followed by a booster 2 to 4 weeks later. After that, we recommend annual Lyme disease vaccine boosters. 

More Lyme Disease Resources

For comprehensive general information about Lyme disease, visit lymedisease.org. This site is primarily focused on the impact of Lyme disease on humans, but it dedicates a page, “Pets and Lyme disease,” to information of particular interest to pet owners. 

On PetMD’s website, see “Lyme Disease in Dogs: Symptoms and Treatment.” The page presents a brief video overview, followed by a more detailed article. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association’s “Lyme disease: A pet owner’s guide” offers advice for people as well as pets who may be infected.

For more information about the risk of Lyme disease in cats, see “Lyme Disease: A Potential, But Unlikely, Problem for Cats,” published by Cornell’s Feline Health Center. 

April is National Pet First Aid Awareness Month. In observance, we’re sharing our suggestions for steps you can take to prepare for, respond to and, best of all, avoid a medical emergency. 

We’ve put together a collection of links you can use as a self-study course on pet first-aid basics. If you read—even just skim—the resources we recommend, you’ll know some preventive measures to take as well as what to do—and what not to do—in common emergency situations. 

First Steps to First Aid Preparedness

Our first recommendation is for all in your household with mobile phones to add Brownsburg Animal Clinic, the Pet Poison Helpline and your choice of area emergency clinics to your stored contacts lists. You can find the contact information you need in the right sidebar on every page of our website, ready for you to transfer to your phones.

Next, we suggest you put together a first aid kit for your pet(s). We like the ASPCA’s recommended list of kit contents.

The Red Cross offers a more comprehensive list as a downloadable PDF, ready to print and use as a shopping list.

We suggest you keep the first aid supplies you assemble in a portable container you can take with you when traveling with your pet. 

If you prefer, you can shop online for a pre-assembled pet first aid kit. 

Preventive Strategies

The best advance first aid preparation of all is to take steps immediately to avoid needing to administer it! You can take precautions now to prevent illnesses and accidents by making your pet’s environment safe and cultivating good safety habits to keep your pet out of danger.

For ideas on how to protect your pet’s health and safety, we recommend reading and heeding these articles:

• “10 Safety Tips for Dog Owners” from the Spruce Pets
• “Cat Safety” from Best Friends Animal Society
• “7 Safety Tips For The Home When You Have A Cat” from Cattime.com

See our recent blog post, “Keeping Your Pet Safe from Poisons” to find out which foods, plants, household products and drugs are potentially toxic to pets and make sure they’re all out of your pet’s reach. 

Pet First Aid 101

Ideally, as a loving and responsible pet owner, you’re willing to learn the basics of pet first aid so, in case of an emergency, you will have some idea of how best to respond.

To help you get started learning about pet first aid, we recommend two pages from the American Veterinary Medical Association website:

• “First aid tips for pet owners”
• “Pet first aid —Basic procedures”

The tips page offers a pet first aid overview, with links to more detailed articles, including the page on basic first aid procedures. 

The basic procedures article offers succinct advice on handling various emergency situations, including poisoning, seizures, fractures, bleeding, burns, choking, heatstroke and shock as well as what to do if your pet is not breathing or has no heartbeat. We suggest you read the entire page to get an overview of the advice. Use the quick links to take you directly to the sections of most interest.

Another pet first aid resource we like is from VeterinaryPartner, “Introduction: First Aid.” This comprehensive guide was written by four veterinarians and originally published in 1994, but all 35 of the linked-to pages have been reviewed and revised as needed between 2017 and 2022. 

By systematically reading each of the articles on the AVMA website and the full VeterinaryPartners guide, you’ll have effectively completed a comprehensive home-study course in pet first aid. We hope you’ll plan the occasional refresher course as needed.

Get Professional Help

Your improved ability to recognize an emerging medical crisis, coupled with your basic knowledge of pet first aid techniques, can make the difference between life and death for your pet. 

But keep in mind, it’s called first aid for a reason. Professional veterinary care beyond what you can provide may be needed. 

In the event of a medical emergency, your pet will have the best chances of survival if you seek professional help as soon as possible. 

Even if your efforts at rendering first aid appear to have worked and your pet seems to feel better, it’s still a good idea to consult with a veterinary professional to determine what additional steps, if any, you need to take.

In the event of a medical emergency for your pet, as soon as you are able, we suggest you use those clinic and helpline numbers stored in your phone to call for any professional help you may need.

March is National Pet Poison Prevention Month. 

To research and provide you with information to help you keep your pet safe from poisons, we’ve turned primarily to the Pet Poison Helpline and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center—both offering emergency telephone consultations to pet owners and veterinarians around the clock, 365 days a year. 

We’ve selected lists from both call centers of the most commonly-reported toxins—including human medicines, foods, plants and household products—and the most deadly ones, with links to the source materials to guide you directly to much more detailed information.

We conclude with a “More Resources” section below, in which we recommend specific sections from both organizations’ websites for even more detailed information about all sorts of foods, drugs, plants, household supplies and other toxins known to harm pets. 

We’ve also highlighted some articles from the American Veterinary Medical Association. 

Has Your Pet Been Poisoned?

If you are reading this post because you believe your dog or cat has just eaten or been exposed to something poisonous, before you do anything else, call our clinic during office hours at (317) 852-3323 or call the Pet Poison helpline at (855) 764-7661 or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 right now and follow a veterinarian’s instructions for administering first aid and seeking further treatment.

If you know or suspect your cat or dog has eaten something toxic, call immediately! Your pet’s best chances for survival could very well depend on how quickly you get help.

If possible, have on hand a sample of the poisonous substance and the packaging it came in. The ingredients listed on the label may well determine the next best treatment steps.

To learn what to do in case of a possible poisoning, visit the Pet Poison Helpline’s Emergency Instructions page where you’ll find advice on what to do and, just as important, what not to do.

Despite what you may have heard about home remedies—giving your pet milk, salt, oil or hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting—don’t do anything before you speak with a veterinarian. Depending on the toxin, you could make matters much worse.

Most Commonly-Reported Toxins

In its 2022 Annual Report Card infographic, the Pet Poison Helpline named these “Toxins Topping the Charts:”

• Foods—Chocolate, Grapes and Raisins and Xylitol
• Plants—Lilies (Lilium species), Pothos or Devil’s Ivy and Sago Palm
• Household Products—Rodenticides, Fertilizers and Insecticides
• Prescription Drugs—Amphetamine Combos, Gabapentin and Levothyroxine
• Over-the-Counter Drugs—Ibuprofen, Vitamin D3 and Acetaminophen

Chocolate was the Pet Poison Helpline’s most common toxin of 2022. The “most surprising” was magnesium, and the “emerging toxin of the year” was marijuana. The Helpline named 5-fluorouracil as the most dangerous toxin of the year, also named recently by the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center as the most deadly toxin (see below).

The ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center reported these most-commonly reported toxins during  2021:

• Over-the-Counter Medications
• Prescription Drugs for Humans
• Foods 
• Chocolate
• Bouquets and Plants
• Household Toxicants
• Rodenticide
• Veterinary Products
• Insecticide
• Garden Products

To see an annotated list of the above toxins, along with an infographic, visit the ASPCA website.  

In years past, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center has released updated lists in March, so look for the 2022 list to appear on the website in the coming weeks.

Based on a list from the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center, the American Veterinary Medical Association posted “10 poison pills for pets” on its website—an annotated list of over-the-counter and prescription drugs for humans most commonly generating calls to the Center. The drugs are, in order of report frequency:

• Ibuprofen (Advil®, Motrin®)
• Tramadol (Ultram®)
• Alprazolam (Xanax®)
• Adderall®
• Zolpidem (Ambien®)
• Clonazepam (Klonopin®)
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol®)
• Naproxen (Aleve®, Naprosyn®)
• Duloxetine (Cymbalta®)
• Venlafaxine (Effexor®)

If you keep any of these drugs in your household, we encourage you to read the entire article, including details on each drug and a list of safety tips to protect your pet from being poisoned by over-the-counter and prescription medicines.

The AVMA lists these “7 Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Dog or Cat:

• Xylitol-Containing Products (like sugar-free candy and gum)
• Chocolate
• Onions
• Grapes and Raisins
• Fatty and Fried Foods
• Macadamia Nuts
• Avocados

Here’s an alphabetized list from the ASPCA of “People Foods To Avoid Feeding Your Pets:”

• Alcohol
• Avocado
• Chocolate, Coffee and Caffeine
• Citrus
• Coconut and Coconut Oil
• Grapes and Raisins
• Macadamia Nuts
• Milk and Dairy Products
• Nuts
• Onions, Garlic and Chives
• Raw or Undercooked Meat, Eggs and Bones
• Salt and Salty Snack Foods
• Xylitol
• Yeast Dough

See the article for details about the potential dangers of each food and beverage category to your pet.

The Pet Poison Helpline lists these as the 10 most commonly-reported toxic plants from 2017 through 2022:

• Asiatic Lily, Easter Lily, Tiger Lily, etc.
• Pothos/Devil’s Ivy
• Sago/Cycad Palm
• Tulips
• Peace Lily
• Azaleas
• Aloe
• Day Lily
• Hydrangea
• Philodendron

The Deadliest Pet Toxins

In October 2022, the ASPCA listed these as the 10 deadliest pet toxins:

1. 5-Fluorouracil, a prescription ointment or lotion used to treat skin cancer in humans
2. Amphetamines, most often prescribed for weight loss or ADHD treatment
3. Baclofen, a prescription muscle relaxer for humans
4. Calcium Channel Blockers, prescribed to treat high blood pressure
5. Lamotrigine, a drug prescribed to prevent or reduce the severity of seizures
6. 5-Hydroxytryptophan, or 5-HTP, an over-the-counter supplement often used for sleep or mood moderation.
7. Hops, used by home beer brewers
8. Metaldehyde, the active ingredient in some slug and snail baits
9. Blue-Green Algae, found in some lakes, ponds and rivers
10. Methomyl, found in some fly baits

Visit the posted list for more details.

More Resources

Overall, for the most authoritative, detailed, pet-owner-friendly information on pet poisons, we recommend the Pet Poison Helpline and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center websites.

The Helpline’s comprehensive “Poisons” section can be filtered by the type of poison, with links to detailed information of each toxin and its impact on pets.

In its “Owners” section, the Helpline website offers brief videos and safety tips for pet owners. 

The “Vets” section has continuing education information for veterinary professionals as well as links to conference handouts and a collection of infographics you can see and download for free.

In the “Toxin Tails” section, Pet Poison Helpline features a case each month of a pet successfully treated for poisoning. 

See the “Toxin Trends” section for a color-coded interactive map of the United States showing the origin of calls for the 30 most commonly reported plants, along with charts showing the most frequently reported clinical signs and call frequency by month. 

The Helpline’s blog has numerous posts focused on specific types of hazards, with category filters to help pet owners and veterinarians find the most relevant content.

You can sign up for the Pet Poison Helpline’s free emailed newsletter just above the footer on most pages of their website.

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control website offers a lengthy, searchable directory of toxic plants, by both common and scientific names, that can be filtered for dogs, cats or horses. Click on any plant name to see a photograph and details about the plant and its toxic properties.

In its “Poisonous Household Products” article, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center evaluates multiple potentially harmful household products, medicines and cosmetics, indicating the potential risks of toxicity associated with each.

“Household Hazards,” from the American Veterinary Medical Association website offers a detailed round-up of potential toxins organized by the area of the house and yard where they might be found. There’s also a section on holiday hazards.

Finally, see our blog post, “Protect Your Dog From Xylitol Poisoning.”

January 2 is National Pet Travel Safety Day, created to promote safe travels for your pet today and throughout the year.  

We researched the topic and found so much good advice that we decided to link to seven web pages we recommend. See our notes to determine which sites are most relevant to your travel plans with your pet.

The Humane Society of the United States provides a page of pointers for safe travel for cats and dogs by car, airplane, ship or train. The section on air travel is especially detailed.

While The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^® (ASPCA^®) discourages air travel with pets too large to fit under your seat in the cabin, their website does offer safety tips if you must fly your pet in the cargo area. There is also a section on traveling with your pet by car. 

As the title suggests, “The Complete Guide to Traveling With Your Dog” on the American Kennel Club website covers multiple aspects of travel with your dog, including tips for staying in a motel with your pet.

The American Red Cross website offers advice for traveling with your pet by car and by air, with a link to a page on how to prepare an emergency kit for your pet.

The Centers for Disease Control website has a page dedicated to keeping your pet safe during travel by car and by plane. There is also good advice on keeping your pet safe and healthy once you arrive at your destination. 

WebMD’s Fetch site offers “Car Travel With Pets: 10 Tips for Safety and Security,” with additional notes on travel by plane, train and boat. 

On the Center for Pet Safety website, you’ll find a page summarizing general travel tips as well as specifics for traveling by auto and plane and for staying with your pet in a hotel.

Our Advice

Travel safely every time. Many of the recommended safety precautions are useful for in-town errands and day trips as well as more extended vacation travel. 

Keep your pet inside the car or the cab of your truck. We noticed among the illustrations for these web pages a couple of photographs of dogs with their heads sticking out of car windows—a practice we advise against.

Consider leaving your pet at home. As much as you’d enjoy your pet’s company during your trip, your pet may be happier and less stressed at home with a pet sitter. Our veterinarians can help you determine if your pet’s temperament and general health are suited to travel.

I came across a good article on the American Veterinary Medical Association web site about caring for pets in cold weather. I encourage all my clients to read and heed!