Toothpaste TOXIC?!? HELP

[PupTheRabbit]

I absentmindedly left my tube of toothpaste on my desk in my bed room and when I came up I saw that Pup jumped onto my desk and was eating some. It really didn't look like he ate a lot but he was chewing it and his breath smelled a little minty.

I am TERRIFIED that he will be sick/die and now I am not going to be able to fall asleep.

I need some answers fast

I know this is my OWN FAULT but I really need some advice.

 

[JBun]

Is there xylitol in it?

 

[PupTheRabbit]

Is there xylitol in it?

No it just says Sodium Flouride.243%

 

[JBun]

You have to look at the other ingredients, not just the active ingredients. There should be a listing that says something like other or inactive ingredients.

 

[Watermelons]

Did this toothpaste have flouride in it? This is why humans shouldnt swallow toothpaste, flouride is bad to injest.

Can you please phone an emergency vet and have the toothpaste ingredients handy. They will be your fastest answer. In the meantime please push fluids in hopes to flush the system. Offer water spiked with apple juice, his favourite veggies soaked, etc.

Edit" saw your post, Phone the vet please.

 

[Watermelons]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3653065

"The present report demonstrates that sodium fluoride inhibits antibody formation in rabbits. There is a threshold level of fluoride (0.78 ppm) in circulation which is responsible for the inhibitory effect on antibody formation. Inhibition of DNA and protein synthesis by NaF is also demonstrated. It is concluded that fluoride inhibits the antibody formation by decreasing the proliferation of lymphocytes and by inhibiting the protein synthetic ability of immunocytes."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_fluoride

"The lethal dose for a 70 kg (154 lb) human is estimated at 5–10 g.[7] Sodium fluoride is classed as toxic by both inhalation (of dusts or aerosols) and ingestion.[13] In high enough doses, it has been shown to affect the heart and circulatory system."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_poisoning

 

[PupTheRabbit]

Did this toothpaste have flouride in it? This is why humans shouldnt swallow toothpaste, flouride is bad to injest.

Can you please phone an emergency vet and have the toothpaste ingredients handy. They will be your fastest answer. In the meantime please push fluids in hopes to flush the system. Offer water spiked with apple juice, his favourite veggies soaked, etc.

Edit" saw your post, Phone the vet please.

Right now he is in his cage eating hay and drinking some...But IDK how long that will last.

And since it is 12:30 in the morning here there are no vets open SO I called the first Open Late animal hospital I could find and asked them. They didn't specialize in rabbits but they told me he should be fine just maybe some GI upset. BUT they mentioned he may vomit and rabbits do not vomit so then again, I don't know how accurate their prediciton was. oh god im scared

 

[Watermelons]

I dont know exactly where in NJ you are located, but in a place as large as NJ I'm sure there are plenty of Emerge vets.

Quite a few have popped up here on google.
http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&sclient...26,d.cGE&fp=59a85e2fcf9397ec&biw=1366&bih=627


I would like for you to at least speak to 1 or 2, and not just take the answer from whoever answers the phone. They need to get off their butt and actually go ask the vet not come up with their own answer.

You will want to bribe him to drink more and eat more then just... 'NORMAL'

ANother issue is you wont necessarily see symptoms of toxicity from the flouride, since the issues it MAY cause are more hidden. Just maybe an upset tummy from eating something like that.

 

[JBun]

Did you check the ingredients list for xylitol? It would really help to know if there is xylitol in it. There has to be some sort of sweetener added, so you just need to check to see if it is xylitol, or something else like sorbitol.

How long has it been since he ate it and do you know how much? How is he acting now?

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Dont be scared. Take a deep breath and relax and offer him lots of water or his veggies soaked it water. I hope he will be okay!!! Xoxoxo to Pup from Buster and Phoebe and me!!!

 

[Watermelons]

Why are we focusing on Xylitol? We know its toxic but most toothpastes dont use it, I have 8 different ones in my bathroom cabinet and none use Xylitol, 7 dont use any sweetner because well its toothpaste....
We have all ready established the toothpaste has something toxic, like most toothpastes do, so lets focuse on helping the rabbit rather then picking apart whats in the toothpaste. Rabbit needs help, end point.
Solutions anyone else?

 

[JBun]

Because, if it by chance does have xylitol, the vet will need to know this as it can cause dangerous hypoglycemia, and it would be helpful to the vet to know if the rabbit was also exposed to this ingredient as well.

 

[Watermelons]

Pup - Even if you phone vets out of state or out of your area and find one that knows rabbits that will actually help you.
We want to push fluids more then usual in hopes to flush the system. You may have to deal with diarrhea after but lets worry about the 1st issue and deal with others later.
If rabbits could vomit that definatly would make life much easier.
Im not familiar with how rabbits react to charcoal, occasionally administered orally to dogs/cats/other animals who have eaten something bad, helps to absorb the toxin. Can you ask the vets if this might be an option?

-----

The fact that Xylitol is rarely used in toothpastes in 1 thing, the other being the toothpaste it is used in, doesn't usually have flouride.
Hypoglycemia has many signs.
Flouride poisioning doesnt always. Especially if were takling about it causing issues with the blood we wont potentially see for days or months, but lots of quicker symptoms as well.
Flouride will kill.
Xylitol - used in edible items and causes quick release of a hormone called insulin in animals.
Flouride - used in non edible items including rat poison. Can kill humans and animals, ie, dont swallow your toothpaste?


Toothpaste is toxic, end of story.
Please include solutions.

 

[PupTheRabbit]

Update: After many calls and many "I'm not sures" I finally called Animal Poison Control. Although it cost $$ it was worth it. I'd do anything for him. She asked me questions about Pup and about what/how much he ate etc. She told me that I should feed him spinach since it has calcium and something about it "binding" up with the flouride (I totally could have misconstrued that right now but my mind is going a mile a minute). So he is eating his spinache right now. She asked me how he was acting, I told her he was eating hay/drinking water and that I gave him some motility medicine (1mL) from when he was sick in October to help flush it out of his system.

She told me that if he is acting normal now (which he seems to be...the usual growling/charging for food/grooming/chinning/wondering around my room) then he shold be fine. THe worst it could be is GI issues such as constpiation or diarea.

I even asked her if he could die while I'm asleep and she said NO that would not happen. But then again nobody can be totally sure because in the end, I am not sure of how much he ate.

I need to go to sleep soon to be up at 6am for work but I dont know how good I will sleep, even after speaking to a professional.

I will never leave him unattended again.

 

[JBun]

Watermelons, I'm sorry that I'm not as knowledgable as you about these things. I read that xylitol was extremely dangerous if consumed by certain animals, and that some toothpastes had this as an ingredient. It seemed important to find out if it was in there to know what action might be needed. I hadn't found any info on flouride toxicity for rabbits at that point, so I was asking based on the info I had found so far. I was just trying to help based on the knowledge that I had. Since you obviously want to be the one to handle this, then I will leave it to you.



Puptherabbit, that sounds like encouraging news. I really hope that all is well with him and that he continues to do well. I know how panicking it can be to suddenly discover what might be a sick rabbit. I'm sorry this happened to you, but really glad that thus far, all seems to be ok with him.

 

[PupTheRabbit]

Nowhere, even on websites, does crest list their ingredients. I did see a list of ingretients for tooth pastes as a whole but there are a lot of different ones out there so I have no idea of what to thinik :/

 

[Azerane]

The ingredient list is likely on the little box the tube comes in, not the toothpaste tube itself, wouldn't surprise. Hope Pup recovers well

 

[Watermelons]

I still want you to push fluids for the next few days.
This means offer a water bowl with some apple juice for flavour.
Offer lots of veggies that are still soggy, heck even put them in another bowl with an inch of water.
Lots of hay and hay toys (tp tube or egg carton stuffed with hay) this is to encourage extra hay eating to balance water intake.

Do you have a petco or petsmart near you? Get some benebac ... Probiotics so we dont have poop issues.
But the main thing right now is water water water.

Maybe next time you go to your regular vet have them do bloodwork to check organ function. Do a cbc (complete blood count) . We need to know how his antibodys are as well. This can wait a bit of coarse but maybe in the next month?

Honestly it probably wasnt that much but best be on the safe side.

 

[minmelethuireb]

If it was just a little bit, yeah she'll probably be okay. I know ingestion of fluoride can cause upset stomach, so the big thing is probably to make sure she keeps eating.

With humans, a 60-lb kid would have to eat an entire tube of toothpaste for it to be potentially lethal, so it's not THAT poisonous.

 

[tonyshuman]

I am glad you talked to the poison control. The calcium treatment is something I have heard of with regards to fluoride poisoning before. I hope your bun is doing better.