CALL POISON CONTROL?

WHICH PHONE NUMBER?

Your pet or person poisoned? Call poison control - we checked them out and provide the best number for free, fast help for poisoning!

January 2018 update | TheDogPress.com

Nel Liquorman, Investigative Reporter

Unscrambling internet returns wastes valuable time if you need fast help for a perceived poisoning. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is not your local SPCA. Although the names appear very similar, they are completely separate entities. The same confusion exists if you search for help on animal poisoning.

The National Poison Control Center 1-800-222-1222 will automatically connect to their free service in your state. They pick up quickly and provide quick, basic information for animal poisoning, 24-7. Their website is also well organized. See other sites below that may help with pet poisonings.

The Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) is not the animal equivalent of the National Poison Control Center (NPCC), the Am. Assoc. Of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), or the CDC for the human population. (see links below) The APCC (Animal Poison Control) 888) 426-4435 is an association of centers and provides very little help or poison information.

The CDC, a government agency with facilities around the country, has doctors, scientists, researchers and laboratory personnel. Experts can prove their findings, locate the poisons, and help to prevent disease from spreading but it is for people not pets.

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control ($65 fee as of 2017) appears to be little more than a phone line with a veterinarian on call. The message when you call is "we are the only poison control center that is staffed with veterinarians and toxicologists" but we didn't pay the $65 to see if that was true. We did find that on weekends it can be a frustrating waste of time, listening to music...

ASPCA boasts that their lobbyists are stationed around the country helping to get animal laws passed. If they are using a war chest of donated dollars to pass laws on people in other states, how do we define them? As a political machine perhaps? You might be surprised to learn that the ASPCA sells products, pet insurance, offers credit cards, and appears to endorse some commercial products. Yet they do not seem to be spending money on research for animal poisonings or disease. According to one of their websites, the ASPCA operates Bergh Animal Hospital and a shelter in New York City. Their hospital is highly rated and the work of the ASPCA has gotten a lot of good press on Animal Planet Animal Cops.

The poison control associations all keep records of reported and diagnosed poisonings that occurred in animals. That is good but how can such organizations operate in both the profit and the non-profit arena at the same time?

Unless you are a vegan and want all animals set free, should you worry? Regarding meat, the ASPCA carefully states "...the ASPCA firmly believes that animals who are bred, raised and killed or harvested for human consumption, like all animals, are entitled to protection from distress and suffering during their lives and at the time of their deaths.” Certainly we agree but not with this statement regarding breeders - “Because there are homeless pets awaiting adoption in every community in the nation, the ASPCA strongly advocates that persons wishing to acquire a dog consider adopting one from a shelter or other source of homeless animals. Those who are committed to acquiring a specific breed of dog should contact their local chapter of the breed’s rescue group or locate a responsible breeder.”

If your vet or poison control center says it's okay to induce vomiting, "give your dog 3% hydrogen peroxide, which is available at your local pharmacy. It is the preferred vomit-inducing product for dogs. Give your dog one teaspoon hydrogen peroxide per 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of body weight."~ ref www.wikihow.com

Reference and additional Information:

Am. Assoc. Of Poison Control Centers - CDC Centers for Disease Control - ASPCA Poison Control

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