merry christmas, your cat is dead
| <<-- : 12.09.02 : -->> |
1:23 p.m.i can't believe that poinsettias are that dangerous. a couple co-workers of mine completely freaked me out by saying that my cat could die from eating poinsettias.
now i am scared.
i don't want anything bad to happen to pisces.
but i did my research online, and i talked to carina, cuz she knows more about cats than i do, and i'm all calm now. so here's my proof, uncited, cuz i don't really feel like citing it...
Today scientists have proven that the poinsettia plant is not poisonous. Numerous studies have been performed in rats that tolerated ingestions of up to 50g of poinsettia per kg of body weight2. That is the same as saying the rats tolerated "doses equivalent to a 25-pound, two-year-old child eating about 250 poinsettia leaves in 1 day"1. Eight years worth of data, with 22,793 human-poinsettia exposures, collected by participating poison control centers, was published through a grant from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) in a 1996 article. Most subjects of the study were children (93.3%), a majority of which were under the age of 2 years old (77%). The study showed that there were no poinsettia-related deaths, and 92.4% of the cases had no reported effects. Of those that did have an effect, stomach irritation was the most common. It was also found that using decontamination methods, such as ipecac, had no impact on patient outcomes3. Finally, a 1998 report on pet ingestion of poinsettias showed that 15 dogs had ingested poinsettias, with 3 becoming ill (vomiting and diarrhea). Of the 51 cats in the report that ingested poinsettias, 1 was reported to have the side effect of excessive salvation2.
These data appear to support the claim that the poinsettia plant is non-toxic and at worst a stomach irritant. However, it is an ornamental plant that should not be eaten by people or pets. Therefore, it should be kept out of the reach of curious little ones.
Poinsettias are generally over-rated in toxicity. If ingested, poinsettias can be irritating to the mouth and stomach, and may cause mild vomiting or nausea.
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