Labrador Retriever Forum
I have wanted to share this with you for a while ….
I have plaque psoriasis (a skin disease in which red, scaly patches form due to increased production of skin cells on some areas of the body). I’ve been on various mediations to treat the problem, one particular, Dovonex (vitamin D ointment) main ingredient is Calcipotriene.
I’ll try to make this a brief ….
When I brought my pups home I had no idea that my pups could/would get into anything and everything. I was very careful to hide and put everything away, I thought! They were about 8-10 months old when I found that they were lethargic and then found a tube of Dovonex they had eaten. I immediately called the Poison Control Center and the rest is a spiraling nightmare. I immediately took them to the ER Vet Clinic… I had no idea that this would literally kill my girls if I didn’t find the antidote! The antidote is was only available from a Hospital (The Vet & I had already called all over the City) and they would not release it to the ER Vet Doc/Clinic. I had to then call a friend who is a Derm Prof at Baylor who in turn called his friend who was the Director of the Hospital Pharmacy. I paid $2K for 2 vials of meds (which was well worth it) … Remember maybe 2-3 hours had elapsed and I had no idea what time they had eaten it so the clock was ticking…. The Vet couldn’t believe what was happening as she had NO experience with calcipotriene toxicity however, the Pet Poison Control Center was VERY experienced…I was a very lucky person and I educated myself VERY quickly….. I Thank God for my dear friend and for his friend! Otherwise, my girls would certainly be dead as not a soul would release that medication to us. I actually had to go back and buy another vial of meds for treatment which was another $1K….The Vet ER clinic released my girls to me the next morning and I took them to my regular Vet who kept them for another 3-4 days to follow them with blood work and make sure that they were improving. I’m sure that a lot more happened in between but I have tried to highlight the most important events.
This has been almost 2 years ago but I felt that I should share it with you as I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I believe I spent between $10K to save my girls (which I would do again in a heartbeat) …. It was a very stupid mistake that will stay with me for a VERY long time! I do things differently now…. I also do not use Dovonex and what little I have left is kept at the office. I make sure to wash my hands or body parts when I get home so that there are no accidents!
Please be aware of medications you leave out (which I know that you already do! I was very unaware of my psoriasis meds but am much more informed)
BTW:
Houseplants: Certain house plants (eg, Cestrum diurnum [the day-blooming jessamine], Solanum malacoxylon , Triestum flavescens ) may contain a substance similar to vitamin D that may cause hypercalcemia when ingested.
Articles about this for educational purposes if you are interested:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/40408.htm
http://www.eblue.org/article/S0190-9622(07)00025-4/fulltext
http://books.google.com/books?id=wdffhm3Bi20C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=calcipotriene+toxicity&source=bl&ots=9H3A1Jm1Kw&sig=CsUwY5JUFFe_0cggAU2fqm1L8cI&hl=en&ei=L6BXSuLgOozqMbO_7J0I&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6
Death of a dog caused by calcipotriene toxicity
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 56, Issue 4, Pages 712-713
N. Saedi, R. Horn, B. Muffoletto, A. Wood
If my spelling & grammar is off ... I should really be working
