Veterinary Poisons Information Service and Animal PoisonLine

We are receiving a lot of calls involving ingestion of mushrooms at the moment.

Fortunately most mushrooms are of low toxicity but some can cause gastrointestinal upset, neurological signs and liver disease if ingested.

Top tips if you think your pet has ingested a mushroom:
☎️ Seek prompt advice
📷 Take several pictures of the mushrooms where they are growing
🍄 If there are other similar mushrooms nearby, pick one close to the base, wrap it in kitchen paper and take it with you to the vet
🔎We work with expert mycologists to provide accurate identification of mushrooms to enable targeted treatment. It is not safe to rely on pictures/apps for identification purposes

Have you seen an interesting poisoning case in your vet practice that you have not contacted us about? We have an online questionnaire you can use to share this information. We will then add the details to our case database. The information will help us with toxicovigilance and may provide information that can aid in future cases.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QKH7KMJ

(Please note: we will not provide veterinary advice on these cases, they are for data/information collection purposes only. However if you do require advice, please call us!)

Alternatively you can also email us a summary of the case: [email protected]

Are you a pet owner wanting to stay in the loop with seasonal poisoning hazards that your pet may face?

Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.animalpoisonline.co.uk/newsletter/

The Veterinary Poisons Information Service is pleased to announce the following CPD course dates aimed at keeping vets and vet nurses up-to-date in small animal toxicology.

2024
Friday 20th September – Edinburgh
Monday 21st October – London

The course will cover:
Case histories for potential poisons cases
Decontamination for poisons cases
Toxicology information resources
Common or tricky poisonings in cats and dogs

To find out more or to book a place please visit https://www.vpisglobal.com/class-based-courses/ or email [email protected]

Help raise awareness with one of our free promotional packs. These include an Animal PoisonLine poster and a selection of leaflets.

For veterinary practices, the pack will also include our triage flow chart .

Please comment below or email your postal address to receive a pack. Our email address is [email protected]

Our monthly E-Newsletter, is written by our team, for veterinary professionals. It is sent via email at the beginning of every month,it includes previous cases, cases from literature and seasonal trends.

You can subscribe and see previous articles at www.vpisglobal.com

FAO: Veterinary Clinical Team

You may have received follow up letters from us in the past, asking for you to provide us with outcome information regarding a case. This information will help us with toxicovigilance and may provide information that can aid in future cases.
We are delighted to announce that we have now made the follow up process electronic via a SurveyMonkey questionnaire.
Please keep an eye on your emails; you may receive an email from us at least 5 days after your call to the VPIS containing a link to the follow up questionnaire.
If you have recently changed your email or want to check we have your correct email, please send a message with your practice code and postcode along with the best email address to [email protected] and we will update our records

Just a reminder that the Veterinary Poisons Information Service is a members only service.

However, if you need us for a poisoning case and you do not have a current membership we can still handle your enquiry as long as you confirm that you will become a member after the call or are happy to pay a one off fee at the time.

We recommend you join membership before you need us to prevent a delay in receiving information when you have a case in practice. Often veterinary surgeons and locum team members are not sure if they can authorise membership so it leaves them in a difficult situation especially if the practice manager is not in the practice at that time.

To check if you have a current and up to date membership please login to the "My account" section of the website using the button below or call 0207 305 5055 (Option 2). You can also email [email protected]

You can purchase membership here https://www.vpisglobal.com/memberships/

Animal PoisonLine is run by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) and is the only 24-hour specialised emergency telephone service in the UK dedicated to helping pet owners who are worried their pet may have been exposed to something harmful or poisonous.

Based on the information you provide our vets and scientists will be able to tell you if you need to go to the vets for immediate treatment or whether we can save you the trip.

We have experience of thousands of toxic substances in all animals and cover everything from human drugs, household and garden products, plants, agricultural chemicals to venomous bites and stings.

We recommend saving our number into your phone so you do not have to search the internet when you need us!

We are aware of reports of dogs becoming unwell after being walked in/near to the Wycombe Rye in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

We are currently investigating these cases to see if they are linked and caused by a toxin.

We would advise all dog owners to be vigilant whilst walking in that area and seek veterinary attention if they are concerned about their pet.

BVA Live

This year our Head of Service, Nicola Robinson , gave a lecture to veterinary professionals at BVA Live. Thank you to everyone who came to the talk and visited our stand.

Squid was a special visitor.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at London Vet Show in November!

Goodwoof 2024!

What an amazing event! Its always lovely to meet so many dogs - and their owners!

We were delighted to give a presentation on common poisonings and how to prevent them.

Were you there? We would love to see pics of your dogs at Goodwoof in the comments .

Next stop - Dogfest in September!

The Veterinary Poisons Information Service is pleased to announce the following CPD course dates aimed at keeping vets and vet nurses up-to-date in small animal toxicology.

2024
Thursday 10th July – York
Friday 20th September – Edinburgh
Monday 21st October – London

The course will cover:
Case histories for potential poisons cases
Decontamination for poisons cases
Toxicology information resources
Common or tricky poisonings in cats and dogs

To find out more or to book a place please visit https://www.vpisglobal.com/class-based-courses/ or email [email protected]

Never give salt water to make an animal sick - it is dangerous.

Last month we attended the International Congress of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists (EAPCCT) and presented a poster summarising our cases where salt (sodium chloride) was given to make a pet sick.

Overall, we had 579 cases involving administration of saltwater or salt emetic. The amount of salt given varied from “a pinch of salt” to a litre of salt water. Of these cases we knew the outcome in 240 cases and there was a fatal outcome in 7 dogs (3%); 6 dogs died and one was euthanised. In two cases the outcome was likely due to toxic effects from the substance ingested (aldicarb and suspected Gyromitra esculenta mushroom). In the other five cases, the outcome appeared to be directly or indirectly due to administration of a saltwater emetic. These dogs either developed hypernatraemia (high blood sodium concentration) which can be lethal or complications from vomiting such as aspiration of detergent into the lungs.

Making an animal vomit after ingestion of a potential poison is not aways appropriate and may be contraindicated. The use of saltwater is never warranted in the management of suspected poisoning due to the risk of adverse effects including hypernatraemia and aspiration, and potentially death.

Read the full abstract and other abstracts here (https://shorturl.at/RgJ2V)

UPCOMING CPD DATES

Some of you have been kind enough to let us know that we made a mistake on our last newsletter and published the 2023 CPD dates in error.

Although all our vet and vet nurse colleagues are multi talented, they might not manage time travel so here is a link to the correct dates!

There is a £50 discount for early bird bookings

Class-based courses » Veterinary Poisons Information Service Class-based courses The Veterinary Poisons Information Service is pleased to announce the following CPD course dates aimed at keeping vets and vet nurses up-to-date in small animal toxicology. 2024 Tuesday 13th February - London (VPIS Office – SE1 4PL) Wednesday 8th May - Plymouth (The Duke of Cor...

BVA Live!

We are very excited to be part of BVA Live at the NEC. Come and say hello at stand G92 and enter our Toxic Hamper competition!

Our Head of Service , Nicola Robinson, will be giving a lecture in Clinical Theatre 2 at 2pm today with lots of useful hints and tips for managing poisoning cases.