The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center Celebrates 25 Years of Helping Animals

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Tuesday, 26 August 2003

Poison Control Center marks its 25th year.

On August 29, The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, the premier animal poison control center in North America, will celebrate 25 years of service as an emergency resource for animal owners and veterinarians. The center, an allied agency of the University of Illinois, is the only facility of its kind staffed by 25 veterinarians including 5 board-certified veterinary toxicologists and 10 certified veterinary technicians. The specially trained staff provides assistance to pet owners and specific diagnostic and treatment recommendations to veterinarians pertaining to toxic chemicals and dangerous plants, products or substances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2002, the center handled over 73,000 cases. "We are very proud that the center has been around for 25 years and that our service has proven successful in helping pet owners and veterinarians treat and save thousands of animals' lives each year," comments Dr. Steven Hansen, Senior Vice President of The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. "Our veterinarians and staff have years of specialized knowledge about treating exposures to dangerous plants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other products that can prove hazardous to animals. We strongly believe that when an animal's life is endangered by a poison, a matter of minutes can sometimes make all the difference."

The center began operation in the fall of 1978 as the Animal Toxicology Hotline. At that time, Dr. William Buck, a renowned veterinary toxicologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and his graduate students started handling calls around the clock using a paging service. The only expense to the caller was the actual telephone call itself. Initially, the service focused on handling cases from within the state of Illinois, but word of its value spread to other states when the hotline number was broadcast on a national radio show and appeared on the label of a popular rodenticide. The number of calls from outside of Illinois climbed, and in 1980 the name was changed to the Animal Poison Control Center.

To reflect the national scope of the center's work the name was modified in 1984 to the National Animal Poison Control Center. In the summer of 1996, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) acquired the center from the University of Illinois. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center remains an Allied Agency of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. Several staff currently hold university appointments and the center provides clinical toxicology training to veterinary toxicology residents.

Throughout the years the center continued to improve upon its services. In order to help the center's licensed veterinary staff more efficiently provide life-saving information over the phone, in November of 2001 AnToxTM, a unique electronic veterinary toxicology database system that contains over 700,000 cases of animal poisonings, was launched. The AnToxTM on-line, direct entry medical records system raises the bar by being more comprehensive and collecting more patient data than any other veterinary toxicology medical record system in the world. AnToxTM consists of two main databases that are highly integrated: the medical records database and the medical library database, which provides center staff with access to animal, clinical, substance and therapy information. In addition to enabling staff to quickly provide life-saving information over the phone, the information collected from the database helps protect and improve the lives of many animals as a surveillance tool. The data collected can be analyzed and interpreted by ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center veterinary toxicologists to identify "trends" of certain poisonings and identify improved methods of treatment. The information from each case has helped the APCC develop standardized protocols for treatment.

In addition, the center created the Veterinary Lifeline Partner ProgramTM in an effort to make it easier for veterinarians and veterinary clinics to respond quickly and efficiently to animal poison emergencies. Enrollment in the program is free and offers participating veterinary clinics with special benefits such as direct access to specially trained veterinary professionals and board-certified veterinary toxicologists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, incident summary's e-mailed for patient's medical records and quarterly biosurveillance alerts and toxicology tips provided via email. "The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center provides essential information for the specific care of acutely ill companion animals exposed to toxins and drug overdoses," comments Dr. Gary L. Stamp, Executive Director of the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society. "Our society clearly recognizes the value of this point-of-care information when it is combined with the principles of emergency and critical care medicine."

For more information, or to contact American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, see their website at: www.aspca.org