Anti bacterial (Benzalkonium Chloride) PLEASE KEEP AWAY FROM ANIMALS!!!

[josaphine32]

I thought i would post this as i did not realise how dangerous to Animals Anti-Bacterial spray was and if you do use it please make sure that your work tops are dry before your naughty cat jumps on them. I have a beautiful 6 month old ginger Tom called scooby who unfortunately got on to my work top not long after i sprayed it with anti bacterial, that night he became seriously ill, he first started dribbling then to drawling and on to beeing completely drenched, his throat started to swell due to inflamation, we sat at the vets for an hour awaiting the vet to arrive and thankfully gave him the right injection to disperse any left benzalkonium chloride, he is still on anti inflamatries and anti hystermines... we syringe fed him milk and water for 2 nights now and he is just picking up, but the burns in his mouth are horrible and he still wont wash...my other cat washes him ehich he loves.

I feel so GUILTY

they should make these cautions on labels much bigger as you needed a magnafine glass to see this one,

Please excuse typing and spelling mistakes!

[gessoo]

When antibacterial sprays first came out our little ginger kitten accidentally got some on his fur and had the same reaction as your puss. This was some 12 or so years ago. I wrote a letter to the makers of Dettox who maintained the product was safe!!! I note now that Dettol Anti Bacterial Spray now carries a warning about contact with animals. I get so cross when I see adverts for using such sprays on babies' high chairs.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of lots of professionals nowadays, using these sprays is not a good idea anyway as their use has caused more cases of asthma and does not allow children to build up natural immunity to bugs. I now use plain hot water and detergent,. rinse with hot water and dry well.

I am sure your puss with make a full recovery and hope it won't be too long before he's back to full health.

Best wishes.

[WendyS]

Thank you for posting this info Josaphine - I wouldn't have known this either and I'm really sorry about your poor cat and his suffering. Incidentally if his mouth is still too sore and burnt to allow him to wash himself, you can do it for him by rubbing him gently all over with a damp warm flannel followed by patting with a dry towell if the fur gets too wet. I did this once to a very sick cat of mine and he really appreciated it as they hate being dirty and smelly and usually wash themselves several times a day.

[Drusilla]

Thankyou so much for the info, josaphine32. We have recently got a kitten and even though she's a little minx, I would hate for something to happen to her. Does this mean I don't have to clean so frequently? Bonus!!!! :-)

[qapmoc]

No Drusilla, I think you got that the wrong way around, with the anti-bact sprays you dont need to clean very often as it kills all the bugs, if you don't use it then you will have to clean more often with a simple basic soap type cleaner (sorry to bring you bad news).

[logman]

Sorry to hear about your cat josaphine,hope he gets better real soon! I think there are to many harmful chemicals around too, and yes, the print is way-far to small, i dont wear glasses but have to keep a pair of reading specks in the kitchen for reading instructions etc, i'm sure they make the print deliberately hard to see too, like small black print on a dark red background..All the Best.

[Drusilla]

Thanks qapmoc. I was using an anti bacterial cleaner everyday and sometimes more if the kitten scrambled onto a work surface. At least ordinary cleaners should prove cheaper. Famous last words methinks!!
Thanks once again josaphine- invaluable info and much appreciated by my daughters who send their thanks, too.

[veritymoon]

hope he gets better soon x

verity