Hidden Health Hazards: Common medications can poison dogs

Описание: CINCINNATI (WKRC) - It's a big season for adoptions for the SPCA Cincinnati.

A lot of people get new pets for Christmas and many of those are lucky to find a good home. But there’s a new warning if people do have a new pet about a hidden danger in people’s homes that’s on the rise. It has the potential to poison a puppy.

It's hard not to notice how much Rusty, a 2-year-old terrier mix up for adoption, wants to explore every inch of a home he hasn't been inside before. Some of the leftover holiday foods, plants, and especially dark chocolate needed to be placed on top of a table out of Rusty's reach.

In addition to many common foods that either sit out in the kitchen or maybe people use when baking, there's something else of new concern that could harm pets. It is cold and flu season and about a third of problems with pets and what they ingest can actually come from what people need to take for colds and flus.

Mike Retzlaff of the SPCA said, “That’s prescription medications to over the counter medications.”

Retzlaff said the common medications people simply set by when they’re sick are often very accessible to new puppy's and pets.

“Ibuprofen, any kind of sinus medication can speed up the heart rate of the dog and could put them in peril if they consume large amounts of it. It's everywhere, you can put medication on the table next to the couch, and of course the larger the dog, the more likely it is to get to the medication. People drop medications on the floor,” said Retzlaff.

The Centers for Disease Control said seven out of ten Americans now take at least one medication and some of the most common were likely to poison a puppy.

Retzlaff warned, “Anything related to the heart, blood thinners, something like that, especially dangerous for dogs.”