cat ate dog's vetprofen

[Twi_prime]

Guys, we're having yet another pet emergency. My 8 pound kitty ate my 55 pound dog's 50 mg vetprofen/carprofen tablet. We've paid 65$ for animal poison control to tell us she's probably fine but could suffer ulcer or kidney failure because of it. Vet's gonna do activated charcoal, I'm sure. One site I found said do 4 to 8 teaspoons of a mix of 1 part charcoal to 6 parts water and then follow 1/2 hour later with 1/2 teaspoon Milk of Magnesia per 5 lbs. body weight. Guys, our money is *gone* from our pet emergencies the last couple of weeks. Can anyone tell me if just giving her the charcoal will do wonders for her? Please please help.

[JLM27]

Can you stick your finger down her throat? In gloves of course, maybe she'll throw it up before it is dissolved.

[equine623]

If you discovered she had eaten the meds and had gotten her to a vet within the first 30 minutes or so, they would probably have had her vomit them up. Now, they may do charcoal but will also run fluids to flush them from her system as quickly as possible. Plus monitor and provide other supportive care.

If you try the charcoal at home please be very careful, cats are not fond of being force fed usually and aspirating that will be a definite death sentence. I would do sub q fluids if you have the fluids and the know how. If not, then understand you are taking a risk by not taking her in. I understand money is tight, and I don't mean to sound harsh.

Good luck, I hope it turns out ok. And watch her over the next few weeks for any other signs that could indicate lingering damage (changes in urination or drinking, vomiting, refusal to eat, nausea, etc)

Jill, CVT

[Twi_prime]

Hi you two. Thanks for replying. Danny has taken her to the vet and I'm here with Cici. At 4 I'll Cici her afternoon meds and then drive to Gainesville to get Molly from her spay appointment.

When the local vets finally got back from lunch, they recommended giving her 1/2 t of hydrogen peroxide to encourage vomiting. Nothing after 20 minutes, so their instructions in that case were to give another 1/2 t, which we did. Still no vomiting after that 20 minutes, so next instructions were to bring her in. :(

I really appreciate the advice on the charcoal, too. It makes perfect sense that aspirating it would be especially bad.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

I think you are suppossed to give 1 tbsp. per 20 pounds, so your little guy could have at least 1 full tsp. of hydrogen peroxide to encourage vomitting.

There is some stuff the vet can put in her eye to make her vomit which works really well.

Good luck, I hope everything is alright with the little guy.

[equine623]

Cats are really hard to get to vomit at home. Dogs usually will throw up willingly from a mix of peroxide and salt, but cats often need a drug to induce them. :grouphug Hang in there, she will probably be good as new after some supportive care.

[Twi_prime]

Thanks SRB2, JLM and Equine623--

Sounds like they are indeed going to monitor her and provide fluids for a coupld of days. Can't recall if they're actually going to do charcoal as well and I don't have the papers in front of me.

Thanks so much for the encouragement and info. I really hope there won't be any damage to her little system. She's only about 3 years old. :(

[Twi_prime]

Update: My kitty Nelda's readings from last night were good. They checked, I think, creatinine (sp?) and something else. I know at least creatinine has to do with the kidneys. Maybe the other thing did too? They let me see her and she was obviously stressed by being there. She did warm up and enjoy some petting and sweet talk for me though. So nice that she could come out of her state of upset for a few minutes. <3<3<3 I love my Neldypants.

The plan is, if her readings still look good tomorrow, we can consider her out of the woods. Thanks All.

[UDoWhat]

I am so happy Nelda is doing better. What a scary thing to happen. Praying she will be home soon. Let us know!:Love_Icon

[equine623]

Probably the other test was BUN, usually a a creatinine/BUN ratio is a good way to check kidney function.
Glad she is doing well :thumbsup

Jill, CVT

[Twi_prime]

Probably the other test was BUN, usually a a creatinine/BUN ratio is a good way to check kidney function.
Glad she is doing well :thumbsup

Jill, CVT

It definitely was BUN. Thanks. :D

[Twi_prime]

Update: She did come home today, her readings still looking fine. We brought home Famotodine (like Pepsid, y'all know) and Sucralfate (the purpose of which I did not know--the vet wasn't there when I picked her up late today--but now find out it's an ulcer treatment, so maybe they prescribed that to prevent ulcers and to get on top of any ulceration that may try to form from this accident?). She goes back for a re-check in a week.

Here's a question: the prescription labels say to disolve the tablet portions in water and feed with a syringe, but is there any reason we can't hide these in a treat and give them to her? If this crisis has taught us anything, it's that Nelda will eat a pill hidden in a yummy liver flavored nugget. :/

Thanks again, All. I'm so glad she's home and coming out of her shook-up-ness.

[equine623]

Yes, the sucralfate is to coat any developing ulcers and protect the mucosal lining of the GI tract.

I would double check with your vet, call and tell them she is hard to get the liquid into and can you use the pill pocket...I honestly don't see why not. Maybe they give those instructions because cats are harder to pill than dogs and some people find liquid easier to give. But assuming the vet doesn't have any reason to think the pills won't digest in her stomach, I can't imagine it wouldn't be ok to just hide the pill.

Did the instructions say to give them at the same time or spread out the dosing?
Just curious....

Jill, CVT

[Twi_prime]

Yes, the sucralfate is to coat any developing ulcers and protect the mucosal lining of the GI tract.

I would double check with your vet, call and tell them she is hard to get the liquid into and can you use the pill pocket...I honestly don't see why not. Maybe they give those instructions because cats are harder to pill than dogs and some people find liquid easier to give. But assuming the vet doesn't have any reason to think the pills won't digest in her stomach, I can't imagine it wouldn't be ok to just hide the pill.

Did the instructions say to give them at the same time or spread out the dosing?
Just curious....

Jill, CVT

I don't think the labels said to spread out the dose. Should we? In fact, I think the vet staff said she had gotten dosed with both around 8:30 the morning of the day we picked her up. I will double-check the label.

So far, syringe feeding has not gone well. She's a tough little cat and very wiggly even when held by the scruff. However, my bf did get her to take her evening doses crushed up in some salmon flavored Fancy Feast tonight. Maybe that was fragrant enough to hide the meds, or maybe it was because Danny had stopped free-feeding them for the day. I went to Walmart today and the little liver treats were out of stock! Might find 'em someplace else tomorrow.

So far, she seems fine, except for the small psychotic break during the syringe attempt. :)

[equine623]

IMHO, its not worth the stress of trying to force the meds into her. Crush the pills and mix into a small amount of yummy canned food - a teaspoon or so and make sure she eats the entire amount before giving her another couple spoons of plain food as a reward. It may help to pick a food you don't mind if she stops eating, as some cats will develop a food aversion if given meds that way. Not all though, and if she is a good eater normally then no worries there probably. And probably a good idea to limit the free feeding so she is a bit more hungry :thumbsup

As far as ease of administration, they probably are fine with giving both at the same time. I remember reading that sucralfate sometimes binds with certain drugs and can be less effective, but perhaps pepcid isn't one of them. Sorry if I confused you, I should have looked it up before asking. Although, if it were a dog and easier to give meds to, I still might give pepcid about a half hour before the sucralfate, but that's just me and I'm not a vet. And who wants to spend all day giving meds to a cat :rotfl

Jill, CVT

[Twi_prime]

Update: Sorry I didn't update this sooner, but my kitty was pronounced to be out of the woods after being on meds for--um--five days maybe? We finally got some of those Greenies pill pockets and they were a big help. There was also Fancy Feast Appetizers Salmon flavor, which helped at times. What a relief. Thanks for the support. :)

[equine623]

:thumbsup

Glad to hear that!

Jill, CVT