Safeguarding against toxins during summer months

It’s summertime, and you know what that means. Children are out of school and at home, they have more energy than ever and they spend as much time outside as they do indoors.

It is also time for parents to be more alert and watch out for their loved ones and that includes the kids and the pets.

One of the biggest risks that pose a threat to both children and pets health are the ingestion of toxins in the home and in some cases in the backyard.

According to the ASPCA there were more than 140,000 cases related to pets exposed to toxic substances. According to Safe Kids USA there are roughly 91,000 children under age 14 who are treated in emergency rooms for accidental poisoning each year.

Of the 91,000 children who are poisoned 90 percent of the toxic exposures occur at home and roughly 100 of those children die every year.

"Regarding toxic poisoning, it’s always a danger along with household products, sampling medication and other household products. It’s very important, especially now that children are around more often," said Dr. Michael Babhman, medical director in the pediatrics emergency department at Sunrise Children’s Hospital.

A lot of poisoning occurs in the warmer months between the hours of 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. The madness of a full house during those periods can cause parents to get distracted when watching their children and pets.

When a new pet or a new baby comes home, parents take extra caution to baby-proof or pet-proof the home. Parents will plug up the outlets, secure the cabinets and relocate the household cleaning products, but outlet plugs fall out, cabinet locks break and families continue to accumulate household cleaning products. Those are reasons why Dr. Babhman urges parents to do home-proofing every couple of months.

"Children have an incredible ability to get into places they don’t belong and parents need to be aware of that," said Dr. Babhman.

Because both pets and children are smaller in stature Safe Kids.org recommends parents get on their knees and look for openings low on the ground and look small spaces between couches, kitchen appliances and other furniture.

Medications are most common sources of unintentional poisoning. Check cabinets, drawers, nightstands and purses. Make sure all medications are out of reach and sealed tight. Children will often mistake medications for candy.

Just last year the ASPCA poison control received more than 89,000 calls related to pets ingesting over the counter and prescription drugs. It is important to be familiar with symptoms related to ingestion of medication — pets and small children who ingest these cannot always communicate their pain effectively.

Severe vomiting, seizures and cardiac arrest can be symptoms of medication ingestion for pets. For children, trouble breathing, seizures and peculiar behavior can be strong indicators.

Do not induce vomiting or self-prescribe any medication to treat medication ingestion. Take your pet to the vet or your child to the hospital immediately.

Dr. Babhman recommends calling 9-1-1 if a kid has ingested some kind of medication and if possible have someone call poison control consecutively to get step-to-step guidance on what to do while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Whatever your child ingested, take the bottle or container with you to help doctors take the proper measures.

Store cleaning products higher on shelves if possible and never pour cleaning products in other containers such as milk jugs. Go through the garage and check for toxic products such as tire and window cleaner. Always wipe up spills of anti-freeze, gasoline, oil, fertilizers and other products normally found in the garage.

It is also good to always have the number for the National poison control (1-800-222-1222) within reach and near all phones in the house. Put the number in your cell phone. When grandparents visit or when children stay at someone else’s home it is vital to go over the child-proofing tips with whoever is near your children. Statistics reported on Preventinjury.com show that 23 percent of all oral medications ingested belong to someone who does not live in the house and 17 percent belong to grandparents.

All parents should learn CPR.

Common foods such as grapes and raisins can be toxic for dogs and almost all lilies in the garden are toxic to both cats and dogs, according to Dr. Gerald L. Pribyl, a veterinarian at Gentle Doctor Animal Hospital. Perhaps one of the most dangerous and most unknown dangers to pets is the ingestion of xylitol, an artificial sweetener used in sugar-free gums and candies. Swallowing xylitol can cause dogs to have a rapid increase in insulin and cause them to develop vomiting, weakness, hypoglycemia and seizures only minutes after consuming xylitol. Other common household items toxic to animals are ant-and-roach baits, jewelry, toilet bowl drop-ins and pennies minted after 1982 with mostly zinc. Bread dough can also be toxic to dogs.

Oddly enough many household plants which are perfectly safe for children can be toxic to animals such as lilies, azaleas, morning glories, daffodils and tulips among others. Fertilizer sprayed in the lawn can also pose a health threat while it is fresh, which is why Dr. Pribyl recommends keeping animals away from a freshly fertilized lawn for at least 24 hours.

Both children and pets have less immunity to toxins than adults so it is important to take all precautions when ingestion is suspected. A child’s faster metabolism causes anything they ingest to be absorbed into the bloodstream quickly so it is never right to make assumptions without expert consultation.

"It only takes a small amount of a toxin to cause severe effects, which is why parents need to be active about this and go through their homes and check for anything that can be harmful," Babhman said.