Emergency -- Please help!!!

Lucas got in contact with the "Combat Roach Killing Gel" He had a bunch of it over his fur, not sure how much he ingested from licking himself. I had moist pet shampoo towels and have cleaned him with that, his fur is still a bit sticky.

I called the emergency clinic and they gave me the number of the animal poison control center who wants to charge me $50 just for a phone consultation, unfortunately I just stopped using my credit cards (budget reasons) and have none left, and don't have $50 rightly available either.

Anyway, I'm so worried, what do I do?? He's acting normal now, but I'm not sure how these things react. The emergency vet is a looooooong drive from my place and I still wouldn't have the cash to pay for it, specially at this time at night.

Should I be worried? Is he going to be ok???

Pleeeeeaaaase help with any advice you have!!!

I would wash him immediately with dish soap followed by baby shampoo or cat shampoo. I don't trust those pet towels to get it all off. Then call the company, to find out what can be done to counteract the poison.

Also, if you have no credit card, do you have a family member who does, so Lucas can be seen? I really think he still needs to see a vet if at all possible. Maybe you could even get an advance on your paycheck at work if you don't give too many details, and just let them know it is a family health crisis.

Oh gosh I hope he's going to be ok, I don't have an answer for you, but I'm sure someone with some kind of help will answer you..

Is there anything you can find out on the Internet? I feel terrible for Lucas, but I think that it's crazy that they won't help you over the phone.

I'm not a TCS expert, only a cat owner, but I would say that he should be carefully watched, and if he starts salivating, drooling, staggering, shows the third eyelid, he should be rushed to the vet. Can you actually bathe him? I think that would be best. Also, when humans take poison, you're supposed to give them milk, or charcoal, depending on what it is. Is there any way of finding that out?

Ok, found this great site http://www.mnpoison.org that has a 24-hour FREE emergency number. Spoke to this lovely lady named Barbara who checked the info for me and said there is nothing to worry about it if I cleaned him off, that he might vomit as a reaction, but it really isn't a deadly poison, but if he starts vomitting frequently to give her a call back.

She said the companies exagerate on the warning label to prevent lawsuits, but the percentage of the active ingredient in the box is not really deadly, and Lucas should be fine.

She got my name/number and said she's going to call back tomorrow to check back on him if that was ok. Really recommend and the number is stuck to my fridge now! Hopefully this will be the last time this happens though!

I'm so relieved. I read your post before anyone replied and I had no knowledge or advice and was so hoping someone who did would reply.

I am sending good vibes that your kitty will be fine.

Thats excellent - I can't believe the nerve of the place wanting to charge!!! I mean, its an EMERGENCY!!!

I'm so glad Lucas will be alright. But I would definately give him a full bath with small animal shampoo or baby shampoo and comepletely dry him with a towel just to make sure you get it all off - Always better to be safe than sorry.

I am glad he is likely to be fine.

You are not far from several emergency vet clinics:

Alexandria Veterinary Emergency Service, 2660 Duke St., Alexandria; 703-823-3601.

SouthPaws CritiCare, 8500 Arlington Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22031 -703-752-9100.

Animal Emergency Hospital, Suite 101-B, 2 Cardinal Park Dr., Leesburg; 703-777-5755.

Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic, 808 Bestgate Rd., Annapolis; 410-224-0331.

Beltway Emergency Animal Hospital, 11660 Annapolis Rd., Glenn Dale; 301-464-3737.

Emergency Animal Center, 1896 Urbana Pike, Suite 23, Hyattstown; 301-831-1088.

Emergency Veterinary Clinic of Northern Virginia, 416 Maple Ave. W., Vienna; 703-281-5423.

Friendship Hospital for Animals, 4105 Brandywine St., NW; 202-363-7300.

Metropolitan Emergency Animal Clinic, 12106 Nebel St., Rockville; 301-770-5225.

Springfield Emergency Veterinary Hospital, 6651-F Backlick Rd., Springfield; 703-451-8900.

Woodbridge Animal Hospital, 13312 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Woodbridge; 703-494-5191.


I definitely understand cutting up your credit cards for budget purposes, but I would strongly recommend that you re-open one line of credit exclusively for situations like this. As we all know, emergencies can happen any time to anyone and emergency vet care isn't cheap. If you have one credit card just for emergency vet care, then you will not have to avoid critically needed medical care for your cat just because you don't have the cash available. It's worth it a million times over.

Originally Posted by CCSR79

Ok, found this great site http://www.mnpoison.org that has a 24-hour FREE emergency number. Spoke to this lovely lady named Barbara who checked the info for me and said there is nothing to worry about it if I cleaned him off, that he might vomit as a reaction, but it really isn't a deadly poison, but if he starts vomitting frequently to give her a call back.

She said the companies exagerate on the warning label to prevent lawsuits, but the percentage of the active ingredient in the box is not really deadly, and Lucas should be fine.

She got my name/number and said she's going to call back tomorrow to check back on him if that was ok. Really recommend and the number is stuck to my fridge now! Hopefully this will be the last time this happens though!

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I`d watch very carefully....if he just touched the stuff and did`nt ingest it, then washing him maybe fine...but if he ate any of it then I can`t believe that he might not be poisoned....sorry , but I don`t completely trust what this woman told you...I mean , if it`s not poison, then why would people use it to kill roaches???
Linda

Originally Posted by stampit3d

I`d watch very carefully....if he just touched the stuff and did`nt ingest it, then washing him maybe fine...but if he ate any of it then I can`t believe that he might not be poisoned....sorry , but I don`t completely trust what this woman told you...I mean , if it`s not poison, then why would people use it to kill roaches???
Linda

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I agree/forget the hotline number/go to your emergency vet and take the poison with you so they can decide what to do.

It is so scary when our babies get into something and we don't know what to do. Thank you for the web site information, I will keep it handy.

Hope your baby is ok, give him a pat and a hug for me.

I have a vet tech friend who saw a lot of people bring in dogs for poison ingestion. She said most of the time the animal would have been fine without help. She is convinced most household products (even pesticides) don't contain enough poison to harm an animal, other than throwing up a couple times. Her dog is a mountain feist which is a little smaller than a Jack Russel and he ate an ant trap once but evidently was fine.

Of course this is not the same for antifreeze which is the most deadly product found in the home. My father is not a pet person by any means but when he puts antifreeze in the vehicle he always waters down his driveway because of the dangers to neighborhood animals. I'm so glad he does that.

Anyway I'm not necessarily agreeing with what my friend said but I thought I'd pass it on since she does see a lot of this happen. It seems to go along with what the person you called said too.

Just a quick update. Lucas is fine, he hasn't changed behaviors or anything since that happened, eating and drinking fine and jumping around like his usual crazy self. I was so scared, but relieved to know that it was nothing to really worry about it. I got it all off, but he still has a couple of yellow stains on his white fur.

The Alexandria emergency clinic is the one I called and they gave me the aspca number for poison control (the one that wanted to charge me $50 for a phone consultation). Since they didn't seem to worry about it, and never mentioned bringing him in, I thought maybe I didn't need to (of course I was still crying my eyes out!). Don't get me wrong, I'm not cheap about spending money on Lucas (it's costing me almost $300 to bring him with me on my long vacation to Brazil), but I don't like the idea of spending $50 for a phone consultation, when even a vet visit doesn't cost that much! So even if I still had a credit card to use, I would still be thinking twice about it...

Just relieved my baby is ok!

We have an emergency clinic near hear but their charge is $150 just for walking in the door... I had no idea it was so high until I coworker let me know. Then if you don't know if its bad or not and just need advice you kind of would like to just ask someone first... That is to bad they cost so much jsut for the phone call. Luckily in one of my users groups there are so many people on at one time I can usually get immediate feedback which is wonderful! Getting a group of contacts is the best thing sometimes.

Keep us posted how your cat is doing. I would watch him very closely for several days. If he drools, salivates, or anything else unusual, take him to the vet.

I definitely will! He has an appointment next Tuesday already (so he can get his "International Health Certificate") so hopefully he'll be fine until then.

Thanks everyone for your help and concern -- I knew I could count on this board!

Originally Posted by SolarityBengals

I have a vet tech friend who saw a lot of people bring in dogs for poison ingestion. She said most of the time the animal would have been fine without help. She is convinced most household products (even pesticides) don't contain enough poison to harm an animal, other than throwing up a couple times. Her dog is a mountain feist which is a little smaller than a Jack Russel and he ate an ant trap once but evidently was fine.

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This is probably correct regarding insect poison but rat or mouse poison would be a totally different story. If a cat eats rat/mouse poison, it is an emergency and they can bleed to death without treatment. It will kill a cat just like it will kill a mouse.

If you catch your cat in the act of eating rat or mouse poison, you need to drive to the nearest emergency vet immediately. If you get there soon enough, all they have to do is induce vomiting and the cat will throw up the poison and be able to go home right away. Total cost: $100-$250. But if you wait till s/he starts to show symptoms, then you are looking at possibly a few days of hospitalization, plus bloodwork, Vitamin K injections, and maybe even a blood transfusion. Total cost: $750 or more, plus there is a chance the cat could die. So it's much better to get the nasty stuff out of them immediately rather than leaving it to chance.

Originally Posted by stampit3d

I`d watch very carefully....if he just touched the stuff and did`nt ingest it, then washing him maybe fine...but if he ate any of it then I can`t believe that he might not be poisoned....sorry , but I don`t completely trust what this woman told you...I mean , if it`s not poison, then why would people use it to kill roaches???
Linda

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Some poisons are waaaaaay more effective on invertebrates and "lower" organisms than mammals. That's why you'll frequently see warnings such as "cover fish tanks" prior to use but the product doesn't seem very concerned with what happens to you!