Cancer cream highly toxic to dogs

Wednesday, November 03, 2010 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: 5-fluorouracil, dogs, health news

(NaturalNews) A new report out of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville (UV-C), is warning the public about the dangers of 5-fluorouracil, a topical skin cancer cream used to treat actinic keratosis, as well as several other forms of cancer. According to the report, the drug is highly toxic to dogs and will kill them, even in very small doses.

"5-fluorouracil cream is extremely toxic to dogs, for unknown reasons," explained Dr. Nicholas Snavely, a dermatologist at UV-C and co-author of the report. "Very small doses will send them into seizures and they die -- and people don't know about this."

Published in the journal Archives of Dermatology the report highlights the case of a young Yorkshire Terrier named Ruby that died several hours after chewing on her owner's tube of 5-fluorouracil. The dog immediately began vomiting and having seizures, and died just a few hours later at a local animal hospital.

According to the report, even minute residue of the drug left on skin can kill a pet if the pet licks the affected area. Up to 40 cases of animal poisoning from the drug are reported to officials every year, said Dr. Safdar Khan, director of toxicology at the Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Illinois. So pet owners using the cream need to be extra cautious with it.

The American Cancer Society indicates that 5-fluorouracil is a chemotherapy drugs also used for colon, rectum, head, and neck cancers. Its negative side effects in humans include sterility, lowered white blood cell count (white blood cells defend the body against disease and infection), bleeding, anemia, nausea, vomiting, severe allergic reactions, hand-foot syndrome, heart problems, and death.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A13YR...

http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/Treatmentsan...