Search Here

New research has warned parents about flea medications, heartworm pills and other animal medications as it may pose a poisoning risk to children at home. The report was published online on Feb. 6 in the journal Pediatrics.

The study revealed a poison center in Ohio had received 1,431 calls for poisoning from pet medication over the 15 years. Out of those calls, 88 percent were involving children under the age of 5. One in four of the poisonings happened while giving medicine to pets.

According to Fox News 93 percent of the cases, children ate or drank the pet medicines and 2.3 percent of calls involved children getting vet drugs in their eyes. Only 1.1 percent of cases were for skin exposure and children who went to a health facility for treatment was about 6 percent of the cases.

Kristi Roberts, study co-author from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio said pets are common and are important part of families with children. Animal medication can be dangerous when exposed to children.

WebMD reported that the drugs associated with poisoning 17 percent were veterinary products that have no human equivalent, 15 percent were antimicrobials to kill germs, another 15 percent were antiparasitics to kill parasites and 11 percent were analgesics to relieve pain.

Roberts recommends to keep medication up, away and out of sight. Preferably in a locked cabinet. Store them away from human medicine.

Keep all medicines in their original containers with labels attached. Give pet medication away from children. Always check for a clean food bowl and make sure pets finish medication and not spit them out.

Roberts said that 96 percent of the exposure occurred at home and were not expected to result in long-term health effects. Some prescription both human and pets could he highly dangerous for small children even at low dosages.