This month we saw a cat case that brought to light several important
points with animal care and things we see owners sometimes do without
seeking medical advice. This was an 11-year-old cat that the o
wner felt was in pain, so they gave over-the-counter Ibuprofen to the
cat. At the same time, the owner saw fleas on the cat and applied
over-the-counter flea control. The cat immediately became ill,
vomiting, not eating well and listless. When he did not improve after
one week, the owner sought medical attention for the cat. When the
history came out in the preliminary exam, the doctor was immediately
alarmed by the use of Ibuprofen in a cat. Many owners do not realize
how TOXIC TO CATS over-the-counter pain relief medications are. In this
case, the drug caused the cat to go into severe RENAL FAILURE that was
caught on labwork and suspected with the history. Renal failure ni pets
leads to clinical signs of the animal drinking more than usual and
urinating a lot more (for cats, the litter box is often much wetter than
normal).
This case reiterates the VITAL IMPORTANCE of a PHONE
CALL to your veterinarian before giving naything to pets, and overall
the importance of letting us help the pet when you have a concern (i.e.,
in this case the cat was in pain).
The second and equally
important lesson with this patient was with FLEA CONTROL. Not all
topicals are safe for pets and many over-the-counter preparations are in
fact TOXIC. There are many high quality veterinary flea control
products available that are SAFE, EFFECTIVE AND PROVEN IN SAFETY
STUDIES.
Luckily, with good diagnostics and hospital medical
care, this cat is still alive and making some headway with the kidney
failure. Without our help, the scenario for this cat would have been
much different.
Remember, we are just a phone call away and our staff is very well-trained to help you in helping your pet.
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