chewed thru power cord--Lead poisoning

[Guest guest]

hello,

one of my two cats chewed completely thru the thick power cord to the

hand-control on my hospital bed, and chewed several inches of the outer

cover of the second power cord to the outlet, but not into the wires. she

chewed thru the thick pvc coating and the several color-covered copper wires

inside. she swallowed bits of all this (lead pvc & copper wires), and

vomited some.

as you may know, almost all power cords in usa use lead to stabilize the pvc

coating:

http://www.uos.harvard.edu/ehs/pr/pr18052004.shtml

http://www.dld123.com/q & a/index.php?cid=88

http://nontoxickids.blogspot.com/2007/11/lead-lead-everywhere.html

so i'm planning to have blood lab test done on monday to determine lead

level. vet thought that the amount of copper was not a problem.

for an acute situation like this, is a blood test going to be accurate

indicator of whether the cat should be chelated?

i asked vet what is protocol for lead chelating cat. vet has never done this

before, but she looked it up in her book. she said injections of edta

27.5mg/kg four times a day for five days. or use succimer, which she was

unfamiliar with (succimer is meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid).

does injections of chelators pose similar dangers for small animal like my

cat (only 5.5 pounds) that it does for humans?

does this edta dose of 27.5mg/kg four times a day for five days look safe?

should i try to talk vet into using a lower oral dose?

does anyone have know if succimer would be safer?

vet had not heard of dmsa. i did find articles that mention using dmsa with

cat, but they indicated its use was considered " new " in cat, and the article

did not give any dosing.

http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/clients/antechnews/1998/may98_02.htm

do you think it'd be safe to chelate cat with oral dmsa? at what dose per

kg?

i appreciate any help you can offer to support the health of my precious

cat.

gratefully,

kendra

[Guest guest]

Maybe you or your vet can call around to area vets to see if anyone

has ever chelated a cat before...

Just a quick Google showed a few articles saying Succimer (oral) is

well tolerated with a wide safe dose range. The 'gold standard' of

diagnostic testing was blood lead concentrations, but no mention of

how long it takes for lead to get in to the bloodstream (they are

focusing on chronic exposure).

Interesting: one of the behavior signs of lead poisoning in cats

was 'head pressing'; applying pressure to the head by pressing up

against a wall. Whose child never had deep pressure needs?

Good luck. The big thing is to remove the source of toxic exposure;

can you do that? Wrap the cords?

Pam

>

> hello,

> one of my two cats chewed completely thru the thick power cord to

the

> hand-control on my hospital bed, and chewed several inches of the

outer

> cover of the second power cord to the outlet, but not into the

wires. she

> chewed thru the thick pvc coating and the several color-covered

copper wires

> inside. she swallowed bits of all this (lead pvc & copper wires),

and

> vomited some.

>

> as you may know, almost all power cords in usa use lead to

stabilize the pvc

> coating:

> http://www.uos.harvard.edu/ehs/pr/pr18052004.shtml

> http://www.dld123.com/q & a/index.php?cid=88

> http://nontoxickids.blogspot.com/2007/11/lead-lead-everywhere.html

>

> so i'm planning to have blood lab test done on monday to determine

lead

> level. vet thought that the amount of copper was not a problem.

>

> for an acute situation like this, is a blood test going to be

accurate

> indicator of whether the cat should be chelated?

>

> i asked vet what is protocol for lead chelating cat. vet has never

done this

> before, but she looked it up in her book. she said injections of

edta

> 27.5mg/kg four times a day for five days. or use succimer, which

she was

> unfamiliar with (succimer is meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid).

>

> does injections of chelators pose similar dangers for small animal

like my

> cat (only 5.5 pounds) that it does for humans?

>

> does this edta dose of 27.5mg/kg four times a day for five days

look safe?

>

> should i try to talk vet into using a lower oral dose?

>

> does anyone have know if succimer would be safer?

>

> vet had not heard of dmsa. i did find articles that mention using

dmsa with

> cat, but they indicated its use was considered " new " in cat, and

the article

> did not give any dosing.

>

http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/clients/antechnews/1998/may98_02.htm

>

> do you think it'd be safe to chelate cat with oral dmsa? at what

dose per

> kg?

>

> i appreciate any help you can offer to support the health of my

precious

> cat.

>

> gratefully,

> kendra

>