Beware Pest Control

New Cat Diaries columnist, Bek Warnock, delivers a cautionary tale about pyrethrin poisoning in cats

In the hot Australian summer, insects can be a real problem. After finding a red-back spider hiding in her child’s toy box a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine decided the time had definitely come to have her house treated with insecticide. Being the proud mother of one beautiful girl and two beautiful Siamese cats, she was diligent about finding a service that was both pet- and child-friendly.

So after three anxious calls to the pest control company to ensure they used pet-friendly products, my friend was finally convinced that her two cats would be fine in the bathroom for the hour it took for Mr. Pest Control to spray the premises. As long as a towel was placed over the crack under the door, she was assured, it would be perfectly safe not only for her cats but for her 15-month-old daughter to crawl around the entire house.

A nasty turn

I was with her when these assurances were being made. I wasn’t with her, however, later on that afternoon, when both of her cats started having ear twitches, fatigue and confusion, and soon after, full-blown seizures. After rushing them to the emergency vet (who rang the pest control company to inquire as to which pesticide had been used), my friend was informed that that the cats were suffering from Pyrethrin poisoning.

Pyrethrin, the active chemical that had been used to spray her house, is actually incredibly dangerous for cats when they are exposed to higher than usual amounts of it – like the amount they could have ingested in their afternoon romp with the exciting bugs that must have been littering the yard.

Thankfully, the cats were treated in time and suffered no lasting brain or organ damaged. Left untreated, Pyrethrin poisoning in cats can rapidly lead to irreversible system damage and death. So before you get your house treated for insects, be sure to do your research on what chemicals the company plans to use. While Pyrethrin dissolves relatively quickly after it has been administered, if your cats come into contact with it before it has dissolved, the results could be disastrous.

•    Have your cats ever been poisoned by household (or non-household) chemicals? Use the Comment facility below to let us know how you coped.

Images by Hideko To and dear crissy