Asymptomatic Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in Dogs and Cats—A French and Belgian Rural and Urban Areas Study

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are important tools for controlling rodent pests, but they also pose a health threat to non-target species. ARs are one of the most common causes of pet poisoning. However, exposure of domestic animals to subclinical doses of ARs is poorly documented. To study the random exposure of dogs and cats to ARs, feces from animals showing no clinical signs of rodenticide poisoning were collected from a network of French and Belgian veterinarians. We analyzed fresh feces from 304 dogs and 289 cats by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. This study showed a li... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Tarek Mahjoub
Emilie Krafft
Léa Garnier
Amélie Mignard
Christophe Hugnet
Sébastien Lefebvre
Isabelle Fourel
Etienne Benoit
Virginie Lattard
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: Frontiers in Toxicology, Vol 4 (2022)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Frontiers Media S.A.
Schlagwörter: anticoagulant rodenticides / pets / dogs / cats / asymptomatic / non-target species / Toxicology. Poisons / RA1190-1270
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28885958
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2022.907892

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are important tools for controlling rodent pests, but they also pose a health threat to non-target species. ARs are one of the most common causes of pet poisoning. However, exposure of domestic animals to subclinical doses of ARs is poorly documented. To study the random exposure of dogs and cats to ARs, feces from animals showing no clinical signs of rodenticide poisoning were collected from a network of French and Belgian veterinarians. We analyzed fresh feces from 304 dogs and 289 cats by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. This study showed a limited prevalence of AR exposure in dogs and cats of 2.6 and 4.5% respectively. In both species, access to the outdoors is a risk factor for ARs exposure. In contrast, the sex of the animals did not affect the ARs exposure status. The observation of the ratio of cis and trans isomers suggested primary exposure in dogs, but also in some cats. While primary exposure in dogs appears to be related to the use of ARs as plant protection products, primary exposure in cats may be malicious, as warfarin, an anticoagulant formerly used as a rodenticide and now used only in humans, was found in 4 of 13 exposed cats. Secondary exposure may also occur in cats.Our study showed reduced exposure in dogs and cats, compared to wildlife, which often has high exposure, especially in areas where rodent control is important.