Do you have a Himalayan Salt Lamp? Do you have a pet?
Maddie Smith, from New Zealand, woke up to find her cat Ruby walking strangely and holding her head in an odd position. Ruby also was unable to hear, see, or walk. The family rushed to the vet, where they discovered that the cat had an extremely high level of sodium in her body. "So this severe salt poisoning had caused her brain to swell, and ultimately the neurological problems that followed," Maddie explained in a Facebook post. See below....
"We woke up on Wednesday morning to our darling Ruby walking really strangely and had her head in an odd position as she walked. We initially thought this was just because she was so cold so we got her nice and toasty and left for work as usual. Wednesday afternoon Clayton arrived home from work and she had deteriorated dramatically so we rushed her to the vets.
The vets were extremely concerned for her and could see she definitely had neurological problems because she simply could not walk properly, could not hear or see, couldn’t even eat or drink properly because she couldn’t function her tongue the best. Her basic senses and abilities GONE in 12 hours. She was so helpless☹️
So the vets ran some tests and they were all good, no worries. Until her bloods arrived back this morning, and she had extremely high sodium levels in her blood. So this severe salt poisoning had caused her brain to swell, and ultimately the neurological problems that followed.
The salt poisoning was caused by just your normal salt lamp that we had in our lounge, Ruby has ingested the salt by simply licking the lamp (we didn’t realise obviously). This is usually more common in dogs so this was a huge shock, and their first case they have seen with a cat. Salt poisoning is EXTREMELY deadly to animals and she is basically a miracle to still be here now. These salt lamps are addictive to animals, and if they get a taste it becomes just like potato chips are to us! So please please keep these out of reach from your fur babies. Ruby still has a long road to recovery but we are so glad she’s still here with us, with the right nutrition and hydration we should have her back to normal. Ruby wouldn’t be here today without the help of First Vets who have helped her with every hurdle we have faced with our Ruby the past 11 months we have had her. She’s a fighter that’s for sure!
Hopefully sharing this might help educate others on just how deadly these lamps can be if the salt is ingested. I know mines not staying in our house that’s for sure😡"