The Veterinary Poisons
Information Service is managed and provided by staff at the National Poisons Information
Service in London and the Medicines Information Service at the Leeds General Infirmary.
The Service is available, 24 hours a day, to all veterinary practices
and animal welfare organisations in the UK and provides information and advice concerning
all types of toxic exposures in animals.
The VPIS is not a public access service.
For acute / emergency exposures enquiries will be handled by telephone.
Non-urgent enquiries to the service should be made by letter, fax or
E-mail.
Registration
To use the Veterinary Poisons Information Service you need to have
registered with the service and paid an annual subscription fee.
Registered practices are given a registration number that will need to
be quoted each time the service is used.
Requests for membership application forms should be addressed to:
Mr A Campbell,
Manager
VPIS (London),
Medical Toxicology Unit,
Avonley Road,
London,
SE14 5ER
or sent by E-mail to vpis@gstt.sthames.nhs.uk
Using the VPIS
When using the service it greatly increases the speed of our response
if you have the following information available:
- Your registration number
- Full details about the agent involved - name, constituents, manufacturer (if known) and
amount involved
- Full details about the animal – species, breed, age, sex, weight, other (e.g.
pregnancy, lactation etc)
- Full details about the incident - route of exposure, time since exposure and duration of
exposure
- Details of any clinical effects already present and of any treatments instituted
- The owners name and/or address and/or any case reference number of your own to
facilitate case follow up.
Information sources
The emergency enquiries are answered by trained information specialists
or pharmacists with ready access to a wide variety of sources. These include veterinary
toxicology textbooks, past case reports from the literature, and the results and findings
of animal laboratory work performed during drug or product testing. There are also human
toxicology databases that contain some animal data and there is a database of past cases
reported to the VPIS.
The VPIS has access to a large library of data sheets provided by
manufacturers throughout the United Kingdom. These are held in commercial confidence but
they do provide information about the composition, the packaging, the physicochemical
characteristics and, in some cases, toxicological characteristics of a wide variety of
commercially available products or preparations. Access to these data therefore allows the
VPIS staff to make some assessment of the potential risks to animals where exposures
occur.
Information provision
The VPIS aims particularly to provide information on toxicity,
mechanism of toxicity, kinetics and metabolism for the named agents involved together with
advice on likely clinical effects and suggested treatments for most cases referred.
Where appropriate callers may be referred to alternative organisations
with more specialist knowledge.
Laboratory facilities
A laboratory service for identification of drugs and other poisons is
available to registered practices. Additional charges will be made dependent on the
services required. Practices wishing to use this facility should contact VPIS for
further details.
Follow-up questionnaires
The VPIS follows up many enquiries with a questionnaire. These have
enabled the service to build a comprehensive database of information about past animal
poisonings, which is of use in formulating advice given for subsequent enquiries about
similar cases. We appreciate the time spent in completing these forms and hope this
support will continue.
If you suspect that a wild animal has
been poisoned then:
-it needs treatment, and,
-you need advice.
CONTACT YOUR VETERINARY SURGEON.
Contacting your veterinary surgeon now will be of more benefit to the animal, than
reading the rest of this page.
In the United Kingdom veterinary surgeons are listed in the telephone Yellow Pages
under the heading: "VETERINARY SURGEONS".
Any treatment or advice depends not only on the nature of the (suspected) poison but also
on the nature of the patient and on the clinical state of the patient. Hence professional
advice is essential and no agent-specific advice is given here.
The following points should be noted:
- Even during office hours it is generally better to telephone in advance.
Advice can be given more quickly.
If the veterinary surgeon is out (on visits, for example), the practice can make better
arrangements so that you and the animal are seen more speedily.
- Minimise the patient's and other animals' exposure to the poison.
Removing the patient from the poison is obvious.
Make sure (your) other animals do not consume any poison.
Try to ensure the patient and other animals do not (re-)eat vomit or faeces or groom each
others' coats if these are contaminated.
- Help the vet identify the poison.
If you can safely take the poison or a sample with you (preferably in the original
container) do so.
Your own medicines in their original packing will, for example, almost certainly be
capable of being safely taken with you -if these are the cause of the problem.
More toxic agents, unsealed sacks, leaking containers are not likely to be suitable to
take with you. Not all plants are easy to transport -besides obvious examples such as
nettles, the sap of some plants is highly irritant to the skin. ASK ADVICE.
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