Prevalence of exogenous intoxications in dogs and cats in the municipality of Fortaleza and metropolitan region

Abstract

Animals with animal poisoning are seen with increasing frequency in the country's veterinary clinics and represent a clinical emergency in most cases. To determine the main toxic agents and the frequency of poisoning in dogs and cats in the city of Fortaleza and its metropolitan area, this epidemiological study focused on the cases of intoxication in dogs and cats that occurred between January 2015 and December 2020 and was carried out in 100 veterinary clinics with 100 veterinary medical professionals. The number of registered cases was 9,951. Of these, 7,039 were cases of intoxication in dogs (70.7%), and 2,533 were cases of intoxication in cats (25.5%). The main categories of intoxicating agents in decreasing order of prevalence were food (31.7%), pesticides (25.5%), medicines (16.2%), poisonous and venomous animals (14.5%), toxic plants (4.6%), cleaning products (3.7%) and drugs of abuse (2.9%). Therefore, we concluded that cases of exogenous intoxication remain frequent in medical clinics for small animals. In this context, it was possible to create an alert profile about cases of intoxication in dogs and cats, and the importance of practicing methods of preventing poisoning in domestic animals is emphasized.