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The researchers want to raise awareness and to let people know that pet medication can be a threat for kids too.
STATES CHRONICLE-Pets and children play well together and animals can even help children develop socially and emotionally. Despite the fact that pets are great for children, pet medication is dangerous for kids. A new study alerts all parents to secure all medication, especially that for animals.
This recent study shows that parents don’t usually secure the pet medication as well as the one intended for people. Many parents mentioned that they did not know that it was so dangerous for their children.
The author of the study, Henry Spiller, mentioned that this is a thing that happens pretty often. Henry Spiller is also the director of the Central Ohio Poison Center and he mentioned that they have received more than 1,400 calls about kids who were exposed to pet medication since 1999 to 2013.
The worse thing about this problem is that most of the calls are about kids younger than 5. For them, it is even more dangerous because they are more sensitive than older children or adults. Henry Spiller mentioned that more than 85% of the calls were about children younger than 5.
The study found that most of the cases did not result in serious medical effects. This was because children did not ingest substances that were so dangerous. Despite the fact that these children did not suffer severe health problems, there are some veterinary prescriptions that can be extremely dangerous in low dosages.
The researchers mentioned that they made this study because they want to raise awareness and to let people know that pet medication can be a threat for kids too. The researchers also mentioned that these pills can look like candy to children and that is why they ingest them.
All doctors advise parents to keep any type of medication out of the reach of children and pets. All pills should be put in an area where children don’t have access to. Parents should also make sure that the animals finish their medication before the children are around.
Doctors mentioned that if the kid already ingested any type of medication to take them to the hospital immediately. The sooner a doctor sees them, the better it is.
What is your opinion about this study? Did you know that there are so many cases of children ingesting pet medication?
Image source: Pixabay
