IMPORTANT INFORMATION for Pet Parent regarding the use of HAND SANITIZERS AND YOUR PETS. I am re-posting this because I know people are using more hand sanitizers and I want people to know the dangers of them for our pets!
Today I had a very traumatic experience with my 1 year old Golden Retriever. After our morning walk, I stopped at the grocery store and upon returning to the car I put a large squirt of hand sanitizer on my hands and rubbed them together as a precaution of the corona virus contamination. Immediately after doing that my dog, being a curious 1 year old, started to lick my hands and I said "leave it" but she had already licked the sanitizer from my hands. Right away she started to gag like she wanted to throw up and I was suspicious for I know Isopropyl Alcohol is dangerous to dogs. The writing on the small spray bottle was hard to read but I did see active ingredient of 64% ethyl alcohol. My fur baby kept trying to gag and so I stopped for her to drink some water, but she continued to gag and get really close to me while I was driving. I knew she was afraid and I assumed her mouth and throat were burning for drinking alcohol is dangerous to pets. This was a rather high concentration of 64% which wouldn’t be found in alcohol beverages! As soon as I got home I gave her my food remedies, organic coconut oil & honey, to coat the throat. I use when I have a dog upset because they might have swallowed something that was irritating their throat and digestive tract. I also fed her an entire can of organic solid pack canned pumpkin mixed with some chopped vegetable mixture of parsley and other dark green veggies that I feed them daily. I let her eat what she wanted to get the alcohol diluted in her system. She is a 55 pound dog. After getting the food in her she finally stopped gagging and did settle down. I was fortunate to be rather close to home to feed her food to dilute the alcohol in her throat and digestive tract. My dog is fine now but I want people to be aware of the dangers of the hand sanitizers for I know the main ingredient is alcohol of some form. A hand sanitizer needs to have at least 60% alcohol to kill germs. This particular sanitizer contained 64% ethyl alcohol along with essential oils. It does say for external use only but I never thought my animal would want to lick it from my hands. That is why I am writing this blog so you also can be aware of the dangers of hand sanitizers with your pets since we are using more sanitizers with the concern of the corona virus. I know Isopropyl alcohol should never be in any product used on your pet but ethyl alcohol was even worse since she licked it off my hands. Here is some information on Ethanol which is commonly known as ethyl alcohol, but it also goes by the names pure alcohol, grain alcohol, and drinking alcohol. It can be described as a colorless liquid which can be soluble in water. It also has a slight odor and somewhat sweet when diluted. However, when undiluted or concentrated, it has a very strong taste and leaves a burning aftertaste. Ethyl Alcohol is the alcohol found in alcoholic drinks such as beer, brandy, or whiskey. It is made from the fermentation or chemical breakdown of sugars by yeasts. It is made from plants and grains such as corn, wheat, barley. Ethanol can be produced by milling the grains and then fermenting them with yeast. During the fermentation process, the starches of the grains are turned into alcohol. Then, there is also a distillation process. Pure ethanol will irritate the skin and eyes. Nausea, vomiting, and intoxication are symptoms of ingestion. Long-term use by ingestion can result in serious liver damage. The information on ethyl alcohol is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol#Safety
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April 2024
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