Veterinary Medicine - January 2008 - (Page 15)

female dog remained hypothermic and developed profuse, watery diarrhea; its neurologic status declined to a borderline comatose state, and its breathing became progressively labored. The male dog also developed increased respiratory effort, and it remained severely ataxic, though its temperature did improve to 97 F (36.1 C). A marked decrease in urine production was noted in the male, and a urinary catheter was placed. The development of oliguria despite aggressive ﬂuid therapy was concerning for acute renal failure. Both animals were euthanized less than 12 hours after admission. The owner declined a request to perform necropsies on the dogs. tion in animals. Although no speciﬁc reports were found, most veterinary toxicology books associate bleach ingestion with varying degrees of caustic injury to the gastrointestinal tract and possibly secondary respiratory or ocular lesions due to irritation from chemical fumes. 2 Death from ingestion of bleach or other hypochlorite-containing products also has not been reported in animals. A case involving calcium hypochlorite ingestion in a dog was recently reported, but severe systemic involvement was not observed and the dog survived.4 Toxic dose The clinical outcome of sodium hypochlorite bleach toxicosis in people is often determined by the concentration of sodium hypochlorite in the product and the volume ingested.1,2 DISCUSSION To our knowledge, this is the ﬁrst report of sodium hypochlorite bleach inges- Sodium hypochlorite concentrations vary considerably depending on the type of product. For example, some household products may contain < 3%, while industrial products may contain up to 15%. Other related compounds containing hypochlorite salts, such as swimming pool products, may contain up to 50% hypochlorite.2 Clorox Regular-Bleach contains 6.15% (weight/volume) sodium hypochlorite and < 1% sodium hydroxide. The sodium hypochlorite concentration in this product is approximately 61.5 mg/ml. Sodium hypochlorite contains 31% sodium and 48% chloride by weight, equivalent to approximately 19.1 mg/ml of sodium and 30 mg/ml of chloride. While fatalities in people are rare, they have occurred in adults who ingested as little as 250 to 500 ml of bleach at higher concentrations (e.g. 12.5% http://www.recalledpetfoodsettlement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Veterinary Medicine - January 2008

Veterinary Medicine - January 2008 Contents Digital Extra Letters Toxicology Brief Idea Exchange A Challenging Case: Phimosis in a Young Adult Dog The Indications and Technique for Continuous Ambulatory Electrocardiographic Recording in Dogs A Review of Selected Systemic Antifungal Drugs for Use in Dogs and Cats CE Form Advertiser Index Marketplace/Classifieds Mind Over Miller

Veterinary Medicine - January 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.