Toxic pet products
As pet owners, we have to be well aware of certain chemicals around our homes that could be toxic or fatal to our pets. I bet you assume that most cleaning products are dangerous to them and you would be right. For example, did you know that PineSol that pine scented cleaner will knock fleas out cold, but will not kill them? But cats often have ill effects after walking on a floor just cleaned with the stuff.
Speaking of cats, they are very sensitive to products used on dogs. Many flea products used on dogs will send a cat to the vet in a big hurry. The spot-on products such as frontline plus for dogs is highly toxic to cats. This makes it harder for households that have both dogs and cats to use spot-on products. Of course if the cat and dog never go near each other then it makes it easier.
What makes products such as frontline plus for dogs toxic to cats is the fact that cats groom themselves and ingest chemicals from their fur and off of their paws. So if a toxic product is on their skin or picked up by their paws, they are likely to ingest it. Dogs are less likely to do that but a word of caution here – dogs do lick their paws too and may ingest toxic chemicals into their systems.
For further reading on chemicals toxic to pets visit the ASPCA Poison Control page. There you can find many answers to general poison questions.
As a long term pet owner, I have experienced first hand what a pet that has been poisoned will act like. I had a dog that got into toxic chemicals and then run like crazy until her paws bled. She died just after we got her to the vets emergency office. There the vet confirmed that she had been poisoned by the chemicals.
