Top Causes of Pet Poisonings

[Tomcat]

In the past, we have posted information about the Top Human Medications that harm pets, top poisonous plants and lots of other information to keep your pets safe. SO...I thought that this multi-year study might interest some of you!

Veterinary Pet Insurance reviewed close to 20,000 claims of pet poisonings between the years 2005 and 2009. This is the breakdown of what caused those poisonings:

1. Accidental Ingestion of Medications (pet or human drugs) - 5,131
2. Rodenticide (mouse & rat poison) - 4,028
3. Methylxanthine Toxicity (chocolate, caffeine) - 3,661
4. Plant Poisoning - 2,808
5. Household Chemicals - 1,669
6. Metaldehyde (snail, slug poison) - 396
7. Insecticide - 323
8. Heavy Metal Toxicity (lead, zinc) - 288
9. Toad Poisoning - 270
10. Antifreeze Poisoning - 213
11. Walnut Poisoning - 100
12. Alcohol Toxicity - 75
13. Strychnine - 28

In addition, pet owners (well, the policy holders of VPI, spent more than $6.6 million over those 5 years on treating their pets!!

So...as always, mind your pets, keep dangerous substances out of reach or behind locked doors and take some time to view your home at "pet eye level" to look for these types of dangers.

Is anyone else surprised by the relatively few cases of antifreeze poisoning?