Where might a cat or dog encounter arsenic around the house?
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Ant baits may contain inorganic arsenic and are sometimes eaten by pets; cats are particularly susceptible. Expect a GI presentation – vomiting, diarrhea, hematochezia, followed by recumbency, shock, and death weakness.
Tx: IV fluids and supportive care, gastric decontamination with emesis and activate charcoal or gastric lavage. Use a chelator such as succimer (dimercaptosuccinic acid, DMSA) administered orally (or per rectum in vomiting animals) for ten days; or D-penicillamine.
Also see arsenic in wood preservatives (e.g., pressure-treated lumber) and in thiacetarsemide, a heartworm adulticide, now superseded by the safer and more effective melarsomine dihydrochloride.
