Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Illness in horses following spraying with amitraz.
- Journal:
- Australian veterinary journal
- Year:
- 1984
- Authors:
- Auer, D E et al.
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Three out of four horses became sick within a day after being sprayed with a diluted solution of amitraz, a chemical used for pest control. It appears that the older part of the solution had broken down into a more toxic substance, which likely caused the horses to show signs of being very tired, depressed, uncoordinated, and having colic (abdominal pain due to blockage) for up to six days. One horse also developed swelling in its face. All the horses received supportive care, including fluids and medications, and after some time, they started to feel better, although they had a brief period of diarrhea before fully recovering. In the end, all the horses survived and returned to normal health.
Abstract
Sickness occurred in 3 of 4 horses within 24 h of being sprayed with an 0.025% w/v aqueous suspension of amitraz. The latter consisted of a portion of an amitraz aqueous suspension made up some 3 weeks previously, to which some freshly prepared spray fluid had been added. It seemed likely that the amitraz in the older solution had broken down to the highly toxic N-3, 5- dimethylphenyl N-methyl formamadine derivative and that this was in fact the main cause of the untoward effects observed. The horses displayed typical clinical signs of tranquillisation, depression, ataxia, muscular incoordination and impaction colic lasting up to 6 days. Subcutaneous oedema of the face occurred in one horse. The syndrome was accompanied by mild dehydration and acidosis. All horses survived after persistent symptomatic treatment including the giving of intravenous fluids, enemas, analgesics every 3 h, multiple doses of paraffin oil per os and dexamethasone intravenously. Following the eventual relief of constipation the horses scoured profusely for 24 h before their condition returned to normal.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6508668/