(no subject)
I thought I killed my cat today.
My lovable but aging cat Sassy has been itching herself something fierce, so badly that she now has a naked belly and hind quarters. I had read that an antihistamine could help her out, and she was the perfect size and weight to have a normal dosage we humans get. With best intentions in mind, I put the little pill in a bite of tuna (a treat she hardly gets) and she happily gobbled it up.
What I hadn't realized, in my own stupidity, was that I had not actually taken the box of antihistamine. I'd grabbed a box of nasal decongestant. Phenylephrine. Honestly, I had no idea what that would do to a cat, so I went and checked online. There was a great deal about the drug, but very little pertaining to pets. But I finally found a single webpage.
It sent me in a panic. It stated that phenylephrine could be seriously harmful to dogs and cats, even in small dosages. It would speed the heart up, throw them into seizures, and then lock up their neurological functions. In short, they would die.
What started as a little worry in my stomach exploded into panic and pain. I immediately started trying to make her throw up, but in my panic, I couldn't think of an ipecac. I put my finger down her throat, which just caused her to be irritated at me. I twirled her around, but that just made me feel even more ill than I already had, and she stumbled away from me.
Anyone who really knows me knows that the one thing I absolutely hate is hurting those I love. For the first time in quite a while, months if not years, I burst into uncontrollable tears. I had poisoned a member of our family, I might have killed her! I tried thinking of ways to save her, I called a pet poison control number which ended up being defunct, and I couldn't stop crying. So of course, I did what anyone in this neonatal state would do; I called my mom.
She was still at work and couldn't do much, but my father was home returning just then. By that time I had put the rest of the tuna first used to feed her the pill on the floor, hoping that if she had a full stomach, she'd throw up easier. Sassy was happy as anything, able to eat to bursting of such a treat while I was living in my own personal hell. My father helped me out and said he would keep an eye on her and that I should simply go to work. At the first sign of something going wrong, he'd take her to the vet, he assured me.
I calmed down sufficiently and took his advice, but of course I called every half an hour. Finally, I asked them to call the NSPCA Poison Control itself. After speaking with them for quite some time, a vet said simply that the dosage was very small, and that if anything, she'd be a little hyper. It cost $55, but I didn't mind paying one bit. Having a heart-attack before the work day was through would be more costly, after all.
And of course, as soon as I returned from work, the first thing I did after walking through the door was petting and snuggling my cat.
My lovable but aging cat Sassy has been itching herself something fierce, so badly that she now has a naked belly and hind quarters. I had read that an antihistamine could help her out, and she was the perfect size and weight to have a normal dosage we humans get. With best intentions in mind, I put the little pill in a bite of tuna (a treat she hardly gets) and she happily gobbled it up.
What I hadn't realized, in my own stupidity, was that I had not actually taken the box of antihistamine. I'd grabbed a box of nasal decongestant. Phenylephrine. Honestly, I had no idea what that would do to a cat, so I went and checked online. There was a great deal about the drug, but very little pertaining to pets. But I finally found a single webpage.
It sent me in a panic. It stated that phenylephrine could be seriously harmful to dogs and cats, even in small dosages. It would speed the heart up, throw them into seizures, and then lock up their neurological functions. In short, they would die.
What started as a little worry in my stomach exploded into panic and pain. I immediately started trying to make her throw up, but in my panic, I couldn't think of an ipecac. I put my finger down her throat, which just caused her to be irritated at me. I twirled her around, but that just made me feel even more ill than I already had, and she stumbled away from me.
Anyone who really knows me knows that the one thing I absolutely hate is hurting those I love. For the first time in quite a while, months if not years, I burst into uncontrollable tears. I had poisoned a member of our family, I might have killed her! I tried thinking of ways to save her, I called a pet poison control number which ended up being defunct, and I couldn't stop crying. So of course, I did what anyone in this neonatal state would do; I called my mom.
She was still at work and couldn't do much, but my father was home returning just then. By that time I had put the rest of the tuna first used to feed her the pill on the floor, hoping that if she had a full stomach, she'd throw up easier. Sassy was happy as anything, able to eat to bursting of such a treat while I was living in my own personal hell. My father helped me out and said he would keep an eye on her and that I should simply go to work. At the first sign of something going wrong, he'd take her to the vet, he assured me.
I calmed down sufficiently and took his advice, but of course I called every half an hour. Finally, I asked them to call the NSPCA Poison Control itself. After speaking with them for quite some time, a vet said simply that the dosage was very small, and that if anything, she'd be a little hyper. It cost $55, but I didn't mind paying one bit. Having a heart-attack before the work day was through would be more costly, after all.
And of course, as soon as I returned from work, the first thing I did after walking through the door was petting and snuggling my cat.