Pet Poison Hotline Australia
If your pet has come in contact with a poison, there are a few simple first aid measures that can be carried out easily and relatively risk free at home. If performed correctly and in a timely fashion, they can have a significant impact on the risk and severity of poisoning.
Skin exposure – If your pet has had skin exposure to a chemical, it is important to wash the skin and hair thoroughly with soap and water. Some chemicals will wash off easily, others such as corrosive alkalis require prolonged decontamination.
Some chemicals may burn the skin and some can absorb through the skin into the bloodstream, resulting in systemic poisoning. Call the Animal Poisons Centre for more advice if your pet has skin contact with a poison.
Eye exposure – Many chemicals can cause irritation to the eye, some can be corrosive and cause permanent injury. If your pet has a chemical eye exposure, it is best to try and irrigate the eye with normal saline or tap water for at least 15 minutes or for as long as possible up until that time.
After you have completed the irrigation, call the Animal Poisons Centre for further advice. If you are having trouble irrigating the eye, this is by no means unusual and you should take your pet to a veterinarian for assistance.
Ingestion – If your pet has ingested something, it’s important to firstly rinse out the mouth gently. Do not give your pet anything to eat or drink until you have called the Animal Poisons Centre for further advice.
It may or may not be appropriate to make your pet vomit the poison to reduce the amount they absorb from the stomach. There are many factors taken into account when deciding to make your pet vomit, including rat poison in dogs, the amount ingested, the time since ingestion and the symptoms your pet is experiencing.
If your suspect that your pet has been poisoned, please FREE call the Animal Poisons Centre for advice on 1300 TOX PET (1300 869 738).
Another one
What’s better than providing great medical treatment for a poisoned animal? Preventing that animal getting poisoned in the first instance! It is for this reason that since the inception of the Animal Poisons Centre, we have had a core focus on and been very active in the poisoning prevention space.
Our poisoning prevention activities include:
Providing advice to pet owners regarding the appropriate storage of chemicals and appropriate use of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical compounds around a home with pets.
Keeping our followers in the loop regarding current recalls of pet food, veterinary drugs and other animal products
Providing a pharmacovigilance role, detecting concerning poisoning trends. When appropriate, we inform regulatory bodies (such as the APVMA) of these trends so that they can release timely warnings or take appropriate action to prevent harm
Participating in various events and collaborating with well recognised organizations such as the RSPCA to raise the awareness of animal poisoning
If you would like more information on our poisoning prevention activities, please see our website at www.animalpoisons.com.au.
Venomous Snakes and Pets
Australia is full of venomous creatures that can bite or sting your pet. Many bites or stings will result in local symptoms only such as bite/sting-site pain, itching and redness. Some bites and stings however can potentially be life-threatening.
Snakes – Australia has the most venomous snakes in the world, all bites or suspected snake bites should be treated as potentially life-threatening. Try to keep your pet calm and limit movement as much as possible.
If you are some distance from your nearest vet and the bite was witnessed to occur on a limb, apply a pressure immobilization bandage from the paw up to the base of the limb.
Your pet should be kept still as venom travels through the lymphatic system and movement can encourage more venom to enter the bloodstream. Your pet should then be carried to a car and immediately transported to a veterinarian practice.
Spiders – All spider bites can be associated with local pain, redness and swelling. Spider bites can also become infected if they are not adequately cleaned.
Where possible, try to wash the bite site with soap and water and apply a pet friendly antiseptic to reduce the risks of this occurring. If there are signs of infection over the coming days, you will need to have your pet assessed by a veterinarian.
There are two spiders in Australia that can result in systemic envenoming, these are the Redback and the Funnelweb spider.
Redback spiders can cause severe regional and generalized pain, vomiting and elevations to the heart rate. Whilst they are not typically life-threatening, they can make your pet very sick for up to a few days.
Funnelweb spider bites are potentially rapidly lethal. Initial first-aid is similar to a snake bite and involves the application of a pressure bandage if the bite occurs on a limb, and rapid transport to a vet.
Bees & Wasps – These flying insects can cause a painful sting, which is associated with local redness and swelling. As most of our pets are covered in a thick layer of hair, the mouth is actually the most common sting site.
This often occurs when our pets are trying to eat them. Bees only sting once, and typically leave a sting behind in the skin. Wasps may sting multiple times and do not leave a sting behind.
Where possible, the sting site should be inspected closely and any sting left in the skin should be carefully removed without squeezing the ‘sac’ at the end.
Tweezers are an effective way to do this otherwise across the sting-site with a rigid flat item such as a credit card or similar will work.
Troublesome local symptoms can be managed with an antihistamine.
If your pet has been stung in or around the mouth or neck, they should be monitored closely as local swelling could result in difficulty breathing.
In some cases, bee and wasp stings can cause a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.
Any animal stung by a bee or wasp should be closely monitored over the first hour to detect any signs of severe allergy which may include difficulty breathing, becoming unsteady on their feet or collapse.
If your pet has had an unfortunate encounter with a dangerous Australian animal, please FREE call the Animal Poisons Centre for advice on 1300 TOX PET (1300 869 738).
Skin exposure – If your pet has had skin exposure to a chemical, it is important to wash the skin and hair thoroughly with soap and water. Some chemicals will wash off easily, others such as corrosive alkalis require prolonged decontamination.
Some chemicals may burn the skin and some can absorb through the skin into the bloodstream, resulting in systemic poisoning. Call the Animal Poisons Centre for more advice if your pet has skin contact with a poison.
Eye exposure – Many chemicals can cause irritation to the eye, some can be corrosive and cause permanent injury. If your pet has a chemical eye exposure, it is best to try and irrigate the eye with normal saline or tap water for at least 15 minutes or for as long as possible up until that time.
After you have completed the irrigation, call the Animal Poisons Centre for further advice. If you are having trouble irrigating the eye, this is by no means unusual and you should take your pet to a veterinarian for assistance.
Ingestion – If your pet has ingested something, it’s important to firstly rinse out the mouth gently. Do not give your pet anything to eat or drink until you have called the Animal Poisons Centre for further advice.
It may or may not be appropriate to make your pet vomit the poison to reduce the amount they absorb from the stomach. There are many factors taken into account when deciding to make your pet vomit, including rat poison in dogs, the amount ingested, the time since ingestion and the symptoms your pet is experiencing.
If your suspect that your pet has been poisoned, please FREE call the Animal Poisons Centre for advice on 1300 TOX PET (1300 869 738).
Another one
What’s better than providing great medical treatment for a poisoned animal? Preventing that animal getting poisoned in the first instance! It is for this reason that since the inception of the Animal Poisons Centre, we have had a core focus on and been very active in the poisoning prevention space.
Our poisoning prevention activities include:
Providing advice to pet owners regarding the appropriate storage of chemicals and appropriate use of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical compounds around a home with pets.
Keeping our followers in the loop regarding current recalls of pet food, veterinary drugs and other animal products
Providing a pharmacovigilance role, detecting concerning poisoning trends. When appropriate, we inform regulatory bodies (such as the APVMA) of these trends so that they can release timely warnings or take appropriate action to prevent harm
Participating in various events and collaborating with well recognised organizations such as the RSPCA to raise the awareness of animal poisoning
If you would like more information on our poisoning prevention activities, please see our website at www.animalpoisons.com.au.
Venomous Snakes and Pets
Australia is full of venomous creatures that can bite or sting your pet. Many bites or stings will result in local symptoms only such as bite/sting-site pain, itching and redness. Some bites and stings however can potentially be life-threatening.
Snakes – Australia has the most venomous snakes in the world, all bites or suspected snake bites should be treated as potentially life-threatening. Try to keep your pet calm and limit movement as much as possible.
If you are some distance from your nearest vet and the bite was witnessed to occur on a limb, apply a pressure immobilization bandage from the paw up to the base of the limb.
Your pet should be kept still as venom travels through the lymphatic system and movement can encourage more venom to enter the bloodstream. Your pet should then be carried to a car and immediately transported to a veterinarian practice.
Spiders – All spider bites can be associated with local pain, redness and swelling. Spider bites can also become infected if they are not adequately cleaned.
Where possible, try to wash the bite site with soap and water and apply a pet friendly antiseptic to reduce the risks of this occurring. If there are signs of infection over the coming days, you will need to have your pet assessed by a veterinarian.
There are two spiders in Australia that can result in systemic envenoming, these are the Redback and the Funnelweb spider.
Redback spiders can cause severe regional and generalized pain, vomiting and elevations to the heart rate. Whilst they are not typically life-threatening, they can make your pet very sick for up to a few days.
Funnelweb spider bites are potentially rapidly lethal. Initial first-aid is similar to a snake bite and involves the application of a pressure bandage if the bite occurs on a limb, and rapid transport to a vet.
Bees & Wasps – These flying insects can cause a painful sting, which is associated with local redness and swelling. As most of our pets are covered in a thick layer of hair, the mouth is actually the most common sting site.
This often occurs when our pets are trying to eat them. Bees only sting once, and typically leave a sting behind in the skin. Wasps may sting multiple times and do not leave a sting behind.
Where possible, the sting site should be inspected closely and any sting left in the skin should be carefully removed without squeezing the ‘sac’ at the end.
Tweezers are an effective way to do this otherwise across the sting-site with a rigid flat item such as a credit card or similar will work.
Troublesome local symptoms can be managed with an antihistamine.
If your pet has been stung in or around the mouth or neck, they should be monitored closely as local swelling could result in difficulty breathing.
In some cases, bee and wasp stings can cause a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.
Any animal stung by a bee or wasp should be closely monitored over the first hour to detect any signs of severe allergy which may include difficulty breathing, becoming unsteady on their feet or collapse.
If your pet has had an unfortunate encounter with a dangerous Australian animal, please FREE call the Animal Poisons Centre for advice on 1300 TOX PET (1300 869 738).
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