Palytoxin - links to pet illness

[samnaz]

Quick update.

IF he was poisoned by palytoxin or some other toxin that exists inside my house - I may never know.

There's a lot more to this than I really care to write out here on a reefing forum (maybe I should join a cat forum lol) but just before I went to pick up Vinnie from the hospital he had two seizures, one after the other. A few things I learned today - his red blood cell count is very low, he is anemic, may have chronic kidney disease, potassium is way too low... He's also gone from 13 lbs to 8 lbs. Wish us luck ;-(

Thank you everyone for the replies, I really appreciate all the help.

 

[ReefQueen]

What food are you feeding? A friend of a friend was having a similar issue with her cat recently and $2k later the vets still couldn’t figure out what it was. she stumbled upon something online about a certain food making cats sick and after she switch the cats food he was a million times better.

 

[samnaz]

I had a similar experience with 2 cats who were wasting away slowly. The vet couldn't find anything concrete to treat so he gave them cortisone shots. That did nothing to help them. They both passed away. This happened before I set up my reef btw.

I later stumbled upon an article about tea tree oil being highly toxic to cats. I had been using the oil on my face, then petting the kitties without even thinking about it being on my fingers. I had absolutely no idea that it was fatal to cats. You might check to see if any of your cosmetics or toiletries contain tea tree oil.

Good luck. I hope you figure this out.

What an awfully sad story :-( I'm so sorry that happened to you, and them. I've always been careful not purchase anything with tea tree oil. Many years ago I almost used some for home made natural insect spray, but found out it was extremely toxic and have kept an eye out for it since.

What food are you feeding? A friend of a friend was having a similar issue with her cat recently and $2k later the vets still couldn’t figure out what it was. she stumbled upon something online about a certain food making cats sick and after she switch the cats food he was a million times better.

Urinary Tract Health by Purina One. They have been on this food for about 2 years.

 

[ReefQueen]

What an awfully sad story :-( I'm so sorry that happened to you, and them. I've always been careful not purchase anything with tea tree oil. Many years ago I almost used some for home made natural insect spray, but found out it was extremely toxic and have kept an eye out for it since.



Urinary Tract Health by Purina One. They have been on this food for about 2 years.

Ok friskies was the culprit in this case. I hope they find out the problem soon and your kitty gets better! Another thought, any house plants that may be toxic when eaten?

Edit: I just remembered that friskies is made by purina, so still something you may want to mention to your vet.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Quick update.

IF he was poisoned by palytoxin or some other toxin that exists inside my house - I may never know.

There's a lot more to this than I really care to write out here on a reefing forum (maybe I should join a cat forum lol) but just before I went to pick up Vinnie from the hospital he had two seizures, one after the other. A few things I learned today - his red blood cell count is very low, he is anemic, may have chronic kidney disease, potassium is way too high... He's also gone from 13 lbs to 8 lbs. Wish us luck ;-(

Thank you everyone for the replies, I really appreciate all the help.

Oh man, so sorry to hear about Vinnie! I hope you figure it out. So palytoxin could be spread as simply as grabbing the frag rack and touching some of the palys while you throw it away then petting your cat before washing your hands. (Wiping dry probably wouldn’t get rid of it) It’s a slim chance but possible. There’s at least one person I know who nuked a tank and himself by sticking his hand in a tank and taking a paly colony with his hand and putting the colony in another reef aquarium. By morning the reef he moved the colony to was all dead, and he got VERY sick. (It really doesn’t take but a limited exposure).

 

[fish farmer]

What an awfully sad story :-( I'm so sorry that happened to you, and them. I've always been careful not purchase anything with tea tree oil. Many years ago I almost used some for home made natural insect spray, but found out it was extremely toxic and have kept an eye out for it since.



Urinary Tract Health by Purina One. They have been on this food for about 2 years.

Is that the prescription wet food UR or the dry food in the blue bag? One of my cats had urinary blockage when he was about 2, been on the wet food and a little bit of the dry since then...he's 9 now. My vet tends to push wet food over dry.

 

[ZoWhat]

How about....Palytoxin... link to my stupidity.

Even in trace amounts, it's scary wicked stuff, I'll explain:

I've had poisoning TWICE. I'm so stupid.

My sickness was
*extremely lethargic
*major loss of appetite for 3days where I only ate a very small meal once a day (and for me was like w.t.frech, I'm always hungry)
*no vomiting or "other end" problems, just NO appetite for anything
*continous headache
*pounding increased heartrate
*wheezing airflow

Both times took about 5 days to tough it out thru the symptoms. Took 10 days to 100% recover

Round #1
I have these ugly brown palys that will not go away, worse than aiptasia. First time I knew air exposure was not good by removing LR and working on palys that way... so like a dummy...went into the tank barearmed and scrubbed these palys away with a toothbrush. Got sick. Really sick. Learned my lesson, so I thought bc I was bare armed
..and the toxin entered my body thru my skin

Round #2 three months later
Thinking bare armed was my mistake, wore full arm length gloves to do a 2nd round of scrubbing these away. Using AiptasiaX is a joke to palys, they laugh at it. So with arms fully covered...scrubbed away. Got sick AGAIN...but only like 50% hardness of the 1st time. What I concluded was that even with my arms covered the palytoxin still reach the waterline and went airborne and I breathed all that crap in during my scrubtime while hovering over the waterline

Plans for future scrubs absolutely using:
* full length arms covered gloves
* a surgical mask that rated at a certain micron.
* have a hi speed fan blowimg across my work space to well ventilate the air I'm breathing with the mask on.
*wearing some kind of eye protection
*once scrubbing is over a full bath. Then a full shower
* opening all outside doors to the house using two fans

Idk I'm twice bitten 3rd time shy....any airborne particles could enter my body via anything unprotected

ITS WICKED




.

 

[ZoWhat]

I only recounted my personal experience to see if the OP is experiencing any symptoms i had on a smaller scale

I doubt:

* that the cat would be sick and the OP not be effected at all

* palytoxin is only released if the paly is "disturbed" in some way. If it's just sitting there on a rock undisturbed there should be no toxins to be worried about. A skunk would be a perfect comparison

* zoanthids do have toxins but an extremely lower level than compared to straight up palys

 

[VR28man]

@samnaz I'm sorry to hear about Vinnie. I unfortunately don't have much to directly contribute, beyond that I have two cats who are just fine, as well as a good number of palys that I've never suffered any effects from.

That being said, of course anything you might find is of course highly interesting to me. It seems there are a number of cat owners reading this thread; this might be an appropriate place to tell more about Vinnie's condition if you wish.

[see also this thread for some general cat reef aquarium fun]
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/catfish.581430/

 

[samnaz]

Vinnie had what I believe to be a stroke (once last night, once a few minutes ago). He was laying down on my bed sleeping, nearly fell off the bed, then got up and walked in a circle 5-6 times and looked very confused after. He's not been himself. Whatever is wrong with him I believe has nothing to do with Palytoxin. I've pretty much ruled it out at this point. Will be taking him back to the hospital in the AM.

Mods, perhaps move this to the lounge? since it no longer has anything to do with reefing.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Vinnie had what I believe to be a stroke (once last night, once a few minutes ago). He was laying down on my bed sleeping, nearly fell off the bed, then got up and walked in a circle 5-6 times and looked very confused after. He's not been himself. Whatever is wrong with him I believe has nothing to do with Palytoxin. I've pretty much ruled it out at this point. Will be taking him back to the hospital in the AM.

Mods, perhaps move this to the lounge? since it no longer has anything to do with reefing.

Do you use any essential oils anywhere in the house or have any products that contain any?
Also, are there any flowers of any kind, especially lilys?

 

[samnaz]

Do you use any essential oils anywhere in the house or have any products that contain any?
Also, are there any flowers of any kind, especially lilys?

no and no :-( I have turned my house upside down, studied every list of toxins natural and otherwise... I still don't think he was poisoned.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Does he catch mice? Maybe got one that ate something bad?

I've had very good luck with CBD pet products for animals with seizures and other neurological issues. ( [emoji102] I hope it's okay to mention it on R2R)

 

[ScottR]

How’s the weather where you are? Humid? I’ve heard of mold making people/pets sick. I’d look into if you have any hidden mold in the house. You may not even know you have it. I get sick every year because we have really wet early springs and there’s mold everywhere.