I received this from a friend today, Haven't checked on Snopes.com for validity, but decided to pass it on. For those who don't know Cavalier is a type of spaniel, a small dog. I'm posting this on several forums...
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In a message dated 12/10/2008 6:25:17 P.M. Central Standard Time,
Karencantner writes:
We have suffered a terrible, terrible tragedy last Wed. Two, beloved
Cavaliers of mine, Haley and Zoe both ate potpourri from a decorative
basket in my Living room.
Within hours, they were vomiting it, convulsing and going into total
body rigidity and shock. We took them to the after hours clinic, they
had no idea what it could be and wouldn't listen to me about them
vomiting potpourri at home and how I had such concerns about the
toxic effects of it. They treated symptoms.
We transferred them to our day vet. He also wouldn't listen to me
about the potpourri theory. He said they had "strychnine" poisoning
symptoms. I kept telling him that the potpourri was Made In India,
sold by a company in California and sold at my local WalMart. My
heart told me that it was the culprit of their condition.
They declined rapidly throughout the day and we transferred them back
to the after hours clinic for a second night. At midnight, I made the
agonizing decision to put them to sleep. Haley was in constant
seizures that wouldn't stop, fluid was filling up in her lungs, body
temp was dropping on both of them, Zoe was lying almost lifeless on
the table, struggling with every breath she took. Every muscle was
completely rigid, you couldn't even move her.
I have devoted the last couple of days (now that I can get out of bed
and function) to researching my concerns with the potpourri and have
since found out I was right....... ....._there is a lab in England
that has case studies on toxic potpourri from India!!_ The
toxin....strychnine , which in it's commercial source, comes from a
certain tree grown in India . I am completely heart broken over this.
Please be aware of the potential toxins in any and all stuff like
this in our homes. I would've never guessed this could happen but
when I saw them both "playing" in the potpourri and then after about
two hours saw the symptoms of a poisoning, I just put two and two
together. Hug your babies, Love them and always take lots of photos
along the way...it helps later on, trust me.
Karen Cantner, Heartland Kennels, Evansville , Indiana USA
Potpourri Dangers
Thanks for the heads-up. What a heartbreak. Please extend my sincere condolences to your friend.
Jan
It actually wasn't my friend, she was just passing on the info. It came down through another dog group.
I couldn't find anything about it on Urban Legends--but it makes sense to me. I once became very ill making potpourrie because the recipe called for Bitter Almond Oil--which as everyone who reads Agatha Christie knows is a source of Cyanide. I didn't know what was wrong, but I couldn't get any oxygen no matter how hard I tried to breath...it did smell good though.
I found this nice idea for making "scented rocks" while looking for "toxic potpourrie"...you could do it with you kids...just watch the essential oils.
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/scentedrocks.htm
I'm sooo soeey to here about the dogs! And to think we put that stuff out with small children around. If there is any lesson to be learned maybe it is that just because it is ALL natural (plant or animal based) by no means, means it is safe. Almost everything that is poisinous was at one time made by Mother Nature herself. Any one watch Arsnic and Old Lace?
Lisa
Yeah, it's hard enough to know what's toxic here in this country, let alone what might be dangerous from others.
I just looked up cyanide in my dictionary... and found out it is actually a class of compounds made with cyanogen... a colorless, flammable poisonous gas. Nice.
However, that doesn't mean that your reaction to the essential oil had anything to do with cyanide or cyanogens; there probably isn't any in the oil. Many people have strong asthmatic-type reactions to essential oils, myself included. Strong perfumes make me sneeze and wheeze. It's some kind of mis-cued immune reaction.
No, they actually extract cyanide from bitter almonds. I'm sure they can make it synthetically now--but that was the old source of it. The funny thing is, it doesn't make it hard to breath....you can breath just fine, but you red blood cells do not take up the oxygen so you feel like you are suffocating. It took me two days to recover.
http://chestofbooks.com/health/aromatherapy/The-Volatile-Oils-Vol2/346-Bitter-Almond-Oil-Continued.html
Wow! What a great site. So did you do "the Prussian blue test recorded on p. 534 of volume I."? =0) But it does sound like the cyanide would routinely be precipitated out in a commercial product.
Isn't this what they use canaries in mines for (cyanide gas)? Or was that teflon? LOL How's your canary these days?
My budgie died:0( Shall I get a canary?
I think there was a problem with the oil--I ordered it mail-order when I lived in England. It was from a rather strange and extensive medicinal/herbal company. You could get a lot of odd things. I think there was some medicinal use for it. If you notice in the link, they have to work to get the cyanide out of the oil. Which apparently wasn't what they wanted to do with that particular oil. In my case I wanted it for potpourri.....which is why until I was lying on the floor gasping for air it didn't occur to me it could be dangerous.
I did read that link, and there is an extra step to precipitate out the cyanide. But I'm surprised that a potentially lethal substance would be sold with no warning lable. But then, being in England changes everything. Scary, though, how it neutralizes the RBCs.
Cyanide has all sorts of uses (hardening iron, extracting gold, killing canaries), but I'm not familiar with any medicinal uses. I wonder if it's like arsenic... a little makes your hair shine, a lot makes you dead. Then again, my medical knowledge extends to Tiger Balm and aspirin. And bute. LOL
Sorry to hear about the budgie. Was it the teflon? Budgies seem doomed, sheep of the bird world. I had one as a kid... it flew into a window. End of budgie. Got a puppy.
Jay
Not Teflon. Budgie was 14 years old. Which is not that old for a budgie. It just died. No other symptoms.
When I was googling "cyanide and bitter almond oil" it appeared that there are some who believe it has medicinal applications.
Arsenic also gives you better stamina and increased the IQ of children who took it in very low doses. How they got the permission to do that study, I'll never know. Didn't they used to give it to race horses--shiny coats and stamina. Then there are the "arsenic eaters", people who ate arsenic in low doses for its beneficial effects and built up high levels of tolerance. I think Rasputin was supposed to have done that.
Cyanide is also found in peach and apricot pits. Anything that is found on the periodic table is a naturally occuring element but that doesn't make it safe. I thought canaries were used to detect high levels of COs thus low levels of oxygen? Anyway my feathers always get ruffled when I hear "its all natural it has to be safe". This strycnine was from a plant but that doesn't mean you should eat it. Live and learn I'm just glad it wasn't a child.
I think there are some folks who are still giving it to show horses for their coats. And cocaine for the big liquid eyes look. I don't think it's most show barns, just a few. But it tarnishes everyone in the industry.
I don't know about you guys, but I've about had it with greedy people who will do anything... the Madoff ponzi scheme has me really riled. Not just ripping folks off for millions but ripping off charitable organizations to the point where they are shutting their doors. D*&^ that greedy B#%^&#!!!
OK, OK, I'm putting my head between my knees and sucking air.
Yeah, the whole it's natural, it's safe thing gets me too. Try eating tobacco and see what happens to you! And yesterday we pulled out some of our home-grown flour corn and found it was moldy... mold that grows on corn can kill a horse, just imagine what it might do to a human.
But it'd be a natural death, anyway! LOL (
This message was edited Dec 18, 2008 9:09 AM
I think there are some folks who are still giving it to show horses for their coats. And cocaine for the big liquid eyes look. I don't think it's most show barns, just a few. But it tarnishes everyone in the industry.
I don't know about you guys, but I've about had it with greedy people who will do anything...
Yeah, the whole it's natural, it's safe thing gets me too. Try eating tobacco and see what happens to you! And yesterday we pulled out some of our home-grown flour corn and found it was moldy... mold that grows on corn can kill a horse, just imagine what it might do to a human.
But it'd be a natural death, anyway! LOL (
I have a question do the scented candles have this in them i use those alot??
My "Tessie" has never chewed one but i do have one on my end table.
Wow, weird thing happening with the posts. So y'all get to see the unedited and the edited version. LOL
I think we can get over-anxious with this stuff. If she's never chewed one, why worry?
If you just can't help yourself, call poison control and see if there is any real risk... make sure you ask about quantity/dosage. Apply critical intelligence... it takes 1# of chocolate per 10# of dog to be lethal, so if a 50# lab snags a chocolate chip cookie, you don't have to get in a sweat. On the other hand, a snack box of raisins CAN do in a lab.
Ask your vet about how to make your dog safely puke, in case it ever does eat something it shouldn't. I'm not thinking the candle, I'm thinking human medication, bags of pot, rat poison, rags, raisins... these are the things we've seen in the clinic. I've got a cloth-eater here, and every now and then we make her puke up a rag she's managed to find so it doesn't tangle up her gut.
Know that some things should not be puked up... caustic materials, sharp objects. Call the vet, take the container, drive safely.
T.M.I
The one problem I've heard with scented (or unscented) candles is that they may have wicks that contain lead which they give off as fine particulates as they burn and that this can, overtime, contaminate all the surfaces of your home. There was a show on 60 Minutes or something that showed homes that were seriously contaminated by it. I don't know if this is a problem that has been corrected--the candles were mostly of foreign manufacture. There are now soy-based candles which are supposed to be safer than the petroleum-based ones (and more expensive). I would think they would also have lead-free wicks.
This link is from a site selling "lead-free" candles, but it does contain excerpts from a researcher at the U of Michigan. Apparently you can test for lead in the wick by rubbing it and looking for a greyish smudge. Snopes also has an article about it. (I burn them and a lot of incense--so I am not too freaked about it).
http://www.candlecomfort.com/lead.html
Thanks Cat thats all the info i needed ^_^
Ooops.
OK, short version...
IMHO, probably not. Catscan was mistakenly using a medicinal essential oil as a scent. The cyanide apparently has not been removed from medicinal bitter almond oil.
For scented candles, the cyanide HAS been removed (or we'd all be dead and this question wouldn't come up... LOL), if they're even using real bitter almond essential oil. What you have is probably some laboratory mock-up of almond.
OR you can call your vet or poison control for more complete info.
That better? =0)
Jay
I will make sure my smelly candles are out of reach of my Tessie and i won't be buying potpourri ever again. (Those things should be labeled or something)