Princeton, NJ All About Pets!

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Potential Dangers of Herbal Supplementation in Pets

July 06, 2011 By Kristen Polo

Recently one of our clients brought her two dogs to Princeton Animal Hospital for wellness examinations and routine vaccinations. The dogs were acting normally at home and the owner reported no problems. On physical examination the dogs appeared healthy. They owner reported that they were taking heartworm preventive medication and topical flea/tick control. Routine vaccines were administered and wellness bloodwork for both dogs was sent to our lab for analysis.

The next day the blood work for both dogs returned showing an abnormality in a liver enzyme (ALT). This is an unusual finding for two young, unrelated, seemingly healthy dogs. It can indicate liver damage or damage to red blood cells.

Dr. Polo called the owner at home and told her of the unusual finding, inquiring about potential toxin exposure or supplementation. At that point the owner mentioned that she had been giving both dogs garlic supplements with their morning meals, after reading that garlic can act as a natural flea preventative.

Unfortunately, garlic can be toxic to dogs and cats. It damages red blood cells, the first sign of which is an elevation in this particular enzyme. If the supplementation had continued, the dogs would have become anemic, and potentially very ill. The owner immediately stopped supplementing the dogs with garlic, and on recheck bloodwork several weeks later the enzyme level had returned to normal.

Onions are another food that can cause similar toxicity in dogs and cats. Cats are more sensitive to these toxicities than dogs. Dogs can generally tolerate a small amount of onion and garlic ingestion as long as it occurs infrequently, but even small amounts will damage some red blood cells, so it is safest to avoid these foods completely.

Moderated by Stephen Tracey.

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