|
Potpourri Pet Warning
The ASPCA has had warnings on their website about liquid potpourri and the danger it poses for pets that have ingested it (especially cats) since about 2006 I think but this is about the dried kind that many folks put out in a dish at holiday time for the same reason, to enhance the holiday atmosphere inside their homes so that they smell more appealing or celebratory. ..smell is a very strong emotion and memory-producer.
Although the following sad tale supposedly happened to 2 dogs, it is just as relevant for cats, or ANY pet for that matter, as well as parents of small children. I was unable to verify the veracity of this piece, still, I don't think it ever hurts to play it safe where those who look to us for care and protection are concerned.
I just finished reading a very sad tale posted to one of my pet care lists of a dog breeder in Indiana who just lost 2 of her Cavalier spaniels to strychnine poisoning after they had ingested potpourri that she'd put out in a bowl on her living room coffee table The story states that the potpourri was purchased from her local WalMart store where the product had been imported from India. I did find verification for this bit...one commercial source of strychnine is from the seeds of a tree, 'Strychnos nux-vomica, which is native to southeast Asia. Parts of the potpourri the dogs' owner had bought apparently contained some element of this tree and was the source of the strychnine which, after her dogs ingested the potpourri, was followed by a terrible death from strychnine poisoning.
Even if any potpourri which some of you might have in your home right now doesn't come from India nor contain any strychnine, dried pot pourri poses a real potential for intestinal obstruction if ingested, and the liquid kind is also lethal if ingested so please, if anyone feels they MUST have potpourri in their house this Christmas, do keep both kinds well out of reach of pets and small children
|
Linear Mode
