What household products cause dog acid burns & how are they treated?

Question

Good Afternoon, I am currently doing some research into how acid burns on animals are treated and if there could be a better way. I was wondering if you could let me know how you currently treat it and also how well does the treatment work. Also what is the most common house hold product to cause an acid burn? , many thanks Mollie

Eryn Taormina, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hi there! Let me see if I can help by giving you my experience with acid burns. I have to say in my entire 18 year career, I haven't really seen a lot topical acid burns, unless someone maliciously poured something onto a dog. In those cases, we would treat by cleaning the wounds, applying silver sulfadiazine cream (which is also used to treat burns in people), and administering pain medications and antibiotics to stop secondary infections. What I have seen more commonly, are oral and esophageal acid burns from the following types of products: Cleaning agents (e.g., toilet bowl cleaners), anti-rust compounds, etching compounds, automotive batteries, and pool sanitizers - which are considered acid burns. And drain openers, automatic dishwasher detergents, alkaline batteries, toilet bowl cleaners, swimming pool products and radiator cleaning agents. Or just agents with a pH >11. These of course are your alkaline burns. batteries being ingesting is one of the most common things I've seen. Some batteries can pass through in 24-48 hours if they are small enough. However, sometimes they need to be removed surgically or with endoscopy. And of course if chewed, caused alkaline burns as well of the oral cavity and wherever the acid touches. Lots of dog owners are familiar with giving hydrogen peroxide with toxic ingestion and even taking the dog to the vet to be treated with activated charcoal to pull out the toxins. These types of burns are cases where we do not do that. Instead, we focus on the wounds that the burns cause. We give pain medications for the discomfort and sometimes a medication that helps to coat the esophgus and stomach should there be ulcerations there. The dog is also put on intravenous fluids and we need to make sure they are able to eat or we put in a feeding tube depending on the severity. Antibiotics are given as needed. Animals are mostly OK as long as the burns aren't severe. However, if they are severe enough it can result in severe illness, or even death. I hope you find this answer helpful in some way for your research. Best of luck!

What household products cause dog acid burns & how are they treated?

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