In many situations, treatment is not possible; however, if the animal is alive, direct treatment toward stabilization of vital organ systems – establish and maintain an open airway, control seizures, correct life‐threatening cardiac dysrhythmias, and begin fluid administration.
Once the animal is stabilized, initiate oral and dermal decontamination.
Detoxification
AC (1–4 g/kg PO in water slurry [1 g of AC in 5 mL of water]).
One dose of cathartic PO with AC if no diarrhea or ileus – 70% sorbitol (3 mL/kg) or sodium or magnesium sulfate (250–500 mg/kg).
Administration of other drugs depending on the individual situation.
Appropriate Health Care
Appropriate monitoring and follow‐up depend on the specific toxicant under suspicion or analytically confirmed.
Antidotes
Antidotes are not available for most toxicants, but fortunately, many animals survive with timely decontamination and appropriate symptomatic and supportive care.
If an antidote is available, consider giving it first before further treatment.
Prevention/Avoidance
Routinely inspect the immediate environment of an animal and note any unusual human activity.
Routinely inspect feed and water for any foreign material.
Encourage clients to know sources of feeds and forages.
To minimize malicious poisoning opportunities, camera surveillance can be considered, particularly for valuable animals.
Possible Complications
Potential complications depend on the specific toxicant involved.
Expected Course and Prognosis
Variable depending on the chemical.
See Also
Necropsy Analysis
Other specific toxicant topics
Abbreviations
See Appendix 1 for a complete list.
Suggested Reading
1 Haliburton JC, Edwards WC. Medicolegal investigation of the sudden or unexpected equine death: toxicologic implications. In: Robinson, NE, ed. Current Therapy in Equine Medicine 4. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1997; pp. 657–659.
2 Johnson BJ. Handling forensic necropsy cases. Vet Clin N Am: Equine Practice 2001; 17(3):411–418.
3 Poppenga RH. Toxicology. In: Southwood LL, Wilkins PA, eds. Equine Emergency and Critical Care. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2015.
Author: Robert H. Poppenga DVM, PhD, DABVT
Consulting Editor: Robert H. Poppenga DVM, PhD, DABVT
Chapter 2 Necropsy Analysis
The key components of a diagnostic toxicology work‐up include history, clinical signs, clinical chemistry, analytical toxicology, and, if animals die, a postmortem examination (necropsy).
The first goal of a postmortem examination is to determine the cause of death, circumstances surrounding the death, and/or the extent of disease.
Systematic gross and microscopic inspections of all organ systems after death are indispensable diagnostic tools that can help the clinician gain clues about what the physical findings likely represent and are important should litigation become an issue.
The second goal is to collect appropriate specimens for analytical toxicology testing. Samples typically collected for toxicology testing include stomach contents, liver, kidney, fat and brain.
See individual topic discussions on absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME), mechanisms of action, systems affected and diagnostic approaches for individual toxicants.
History and clinical signs should be kept in perspective for determining differential diagnoses while completing the necropsy.
Poisonings often affect many animals in a very short period of time and thus attract substantial public attention and interest.
Many clues can increase the suspicion of a toxic etiology. Obvious cases involve sudden onset of disease in a number of animals. Common feed or environmental conditions will further support a suspicion of an intoxication. Intoxication is also suggested in the otherwise healthy animal that is found “suddenly dead”.
However, chronic and subchronic intoxications also occur and are more challenging to diagnose because they are subtle. Sporadic mortality in a group of animals along with poor animal condition should raise suspicion of a chronic intoxication.
Other situations suggesting testing from a toxicology laboratory include drug testing in the racehorse industry, testing for nutritional adequacy (especially selenium and vitamin E status), or providing testing in suspect cases of malicious poisoning.
Reasons to suspect a poisoning:Many animals are sick with no known exposure to infectious disease.Affected individuals have been exposed recently to a new environment.There has been a recent change in feed.Recent construction activity in the environment.Recent pesticide application in the environment.Unusual weather conditions.The animal has limited feed or pasture, resulting in consumption of plants not normally consumed.An uncommon clinical condition exists.There
