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Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI) has analyzed its database of more than 485,000 insured pets to find the sources behind the hundreds of poisoning claims submitted to VPI every month. Following is a ranking of the nearly 20,000 pet poisoning claims VPI received between 2005 and 2009: | Accidental Ingestion of Medications (pet or human drugs) | 5,131 | | Rodenticide (mouse & rat poison) | 4,028 | | Methylxanthine Toxicity (chocolate, caffeine) | 3,661 | | Plant Poisoning | 2,808 | | Household Chemicals | 1,669 | | Metaldehyde (snail, slug poison) | 396 | | Insecticide | 323 | | Heavy Metal Toxicity (lead, zinc) | 288 | | Toad Poisoning | 270 | | Antifreeze Poisoning | 213 | | Walnut Poisoning | 100 | | Alcohol Toxicity | 75 | | Strychnine | 28 |
VPI policyholders spent more than $6.6 million between 2005 and 2009 treating their pets for poisoning. Accidental ingestion of pet or human medications, the most common type of poisoning, cost policyholders an average of $791 per claim. The most expensive type of poisoning, heavy metal poisoning, cost an average of $952 per claim. For more information about pet poisoning prevention and poisoning first-aid, please visit the Pet Poison Helpline at www.petpoisonhelpline.com.
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