Common Allergy Medication Can Be Deadly to Pets

By Pet Poison Helpline

Tiffany Day and her travel buddy Luna, a labrador retriever mix, had just arrived from their long drive from Illinois to New Mexico. Day realized she needed a few items from the store, so she left Luna and her open travel bag in the downstairs bathroom and headed out the door. Little did she know an accessible bottle of allergy medication would lead to a call to Pet Poison Helpline.

“It was a horrible day,” Day explained. “I’m a travel nurse, and Luna and I had just gotten home from an assignment in Illinois, and I was exhausted from the drive. I thought, ‘she’s tired, she won’t get into anything’ and I ran out for a quick trip to the store. When I got home, there was a chewed-open bottle of allergy pills on the floor, and it was clear Luna had ingested some of the mediation. I’d never heard there was a problem with giving your pets allergy pills like Benadryl®, so I wasn’t too worried. As the night progressed, however, she began barking at nothing, swaying, and walking into walls. It was then I knew she needed a veterinarian.”

Antihistamines provide relief to millions of allergy sufferers, but medications that contain diphenhydramine, like Benadryl®, can be dangerous and even deadly to pets if the dose is too high. Whether the ingestion is accidental or intentional, the toxicology experts at Pet Poison Helpline recommend consulting your veterinarian before giving your pet any human medication, or immediately after if your pet accidentally ingests something potentially toxic.

“Many people give their pets human allergy medications that contain diphenhydramine,” said Dr. Renee Schmid, a senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Services at Pet Poison Helpline. “In most cases, a small dose is safe for your pets. If the dose is too high, however, it can result in some very dangerous reactions, including agitation or lethargy, aggression, abnormal heart rate, abnormal blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, and even seizures and respiratory depression with extremely large ingestions. In severe cases, such as with Luna’s situation, the ingestion could be fatal.”

Day took Luna to the Roadrunner Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital in Algodones, New Mexico, about 30 minutes outside Albuquerque. Once there, the hospital team had Day call the toxicology experts at Pet Poison Helpline so they could develop a treatment plan based on Luna’s situation and exposure.

“They are amazing people,” Day said. “Both the hospital and Pet Poison Helpline teams worked together in the middle of the night to save Luna. They took her back right away and treated her with medical grade activated charcoal, but it had been too long since the exposure to fully prevent signs, so they provided her with additional procedures.”

Luna had already started to develop mild signs by the time she reached the veterinary hospital. She was administered an antiemetic to keep her from vomiting, was placed on intravenous fluids and was sedated for her agitation. The hospital was advised to give additional medications for tremors and seizures if they developed. The doctors and nursing staff at Roadrunner monitored Luna closely overnight to ensure she did not develop more severe signs. With their exceptional overnight care, Luna was able to go home the following day as she continued to recuperate.

Luna was successfully treated for her diphenhydramine exposure, but soon after developed a known but likely unrelated condition called immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, or IMTP, which unfortunately ultimately led to her passing.

“IMTP is a condition where the pet’s immune system attacks its own platelets, leading to their premature destruction,” Dr. Schmid explained. “It is the most common hemostatic disorder in dogs, and can be either primary and idiopathic, or a secondary condition resulting from an infectious, parasitic or immune-mediated disease. In Luna’s case, the medical team could not determine the cause.” Common signs for IMPT include weakness, lethargy, and bleeding for unknown causes.

Pet Poison Helpline created Toxin Tails to educate the veterinary community and pet lovers on the many types of poisoning dangers facing pets, both in and out of the home. All the pets highlighted in Toxin Tails have been successfully treated for the poisoning and fully recovered. In Luna’s case, she passed later from a separate disorder, but Day still wanted to tell her story.

“Even though Luna later passed from a different condition, I wanted to share her allergy medication story,” explained Day. “If telling her story can help even one other pet, it will be worth it. You have to be on your game at all times. Keep all medications, even those you think are safe for your pets, away from reach. You don’t think they’ll get into it, but they will.”

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Posted by Liz on Aug 9 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured, Health & Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.