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My Cat Is Still Alive
I had a very dilute solution of potassium ferricyanide
sitting in a shallow container upon the counter. While
my back was turned my cat had jumped upon the
counter and had begun to lap it up.
Two days now and no signs of illness. Just how
dangerous is that stuff if ingested? Dan
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A quick look at a Postassium Ferricyanide MSDS (such as this one) doesn't raise any alarms:
Ingestion:
Large doses may cause gastrointestinal upset with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and possible cramping.
Despite your cat being somewhat smaller than your average human, and a large dose being scaled accordingly, if you cat doesn't seem too upset by this stage, I'd say they'll be fine. Despite the "cyanide" in the name, it's not nearly as deadly as you might expect. Might get you on a watch list, but it most likely wont kill you.
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Isn't it a little late and why would you be asking here?
Your vet's the person you should have asked! They could then have taken proactive action instead of possibly having to take reactive action. You should have taken the cat to them immediately instead of waiting to see if the cat got sick. By that time it could have been too late.
A vet should always be contacted if an animal ingests something it shouldn't. Animals' physiology is not identical to humans' and they can have problems with seemingly innocuous substances. The best known is probably the danger chocolate can present to dogs in sufficient quantity.
I was at the emergency animal hospital this week and saw a medium-sized dog in convulsions from walking through stinging nettle, something which gives me a mild rash at worst!
You should still contact them and tell them what happened, and find out the potential for damage. Lack of symptoms does not in itself mean lack of damage.
Animals are amazingly stoic. They will often put up with a lot of discomfort or pain without showing it. It's also possible that the cat is asymptomatic but still injured by the chemical.
Listen to yourself. You basically said "My cat ingested a cyanide-bearing substance, but I figure I'll wait to see if it's actually poisoned".
THE CAT'S POISONED! The only question is how badly. Maybe not enough to cause permanent harm, but you don't know that.
What if it was a child that ingested some? Would you wait around to see if the kid got sick?
EDIT:While I was writing this the prior post went up. Remember the MSDS is written for humans. While it's likely the cat suffered no harm, that doesn't change the fact that you waited two days to ask anybody. A vet would have checked the MSDS, then looked for specific pathology between this substance and cats. They might have induced vomiting or pumped as a precaution, or they might have sent you home and said keep an eye on it. Or something else. The point is not to wait around for symptoms before doing something, and always act on the side of caution.
Last edited by lxdude; 02-07-2010 at 07:56 AM.
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Just as a point on curiosity, could any chemists in the house (I see you guys over there, with your coats), explain the difference between Potassium Ferricyanide and the cyanide pill I might pop if captured behind enemy lines? If you mention Potassium Ferricyanide amongst friends usually you have to follow it with "no, I'm not planning to kill anyone".
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 Originally Posted by dancqu  I had a very dilute solution of potassium ferricyanide
sitting in a shallow container upon the counter. While
my back was turned my cat had jumped upon the
counter and had begun to lap it up.
Two days now and no signs of illness. Just how
dangerous is that stuff if ingested? Dan Did you notice any bleaching of the fur? If so, don't fix but redevelop! If the cat has disappeared already, it's too late.
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Originally Posted by RalphLambrecht Did you notice any bleaching of the fur? If so, don't fix but redevelop! If the cat has disappeared already, it's too late. My animals are always fixed early in their development. 
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It's probably fine. The name sounds much worse than either the ferri or ferro really are in isolated and aq. form. I guess it could make cyanide gas in the gastric system, via reaction with the HCl. That being the case, you should make every effort not to inhale your cat's farts for a while 
If the fur turns prussian blue, well then do be sure to post some pics on youtube.... No, wait, scratch that: PETA would probably sue you.
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If you call potassium ferricyanide by its "official" IUPAC name, potassium hexacyanoferrate(III), it doesn't anymore sound like that dangerous ;-).
Well, I agree with lxdude, but good thing that potassium ferricyanide is not that dangerous, especially if the dose was very small. Remember that NaCl is also quite dangerous, unless the dose is small.
If it WAS cyanide, a proper first-aid antidote would have been sodium thiosulfate --- fixer.
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Originally Posted by hrst Remember that NaCl is also quite dangerous, unless the dose is small. Or hydrogen hydroxide, aka dihydrogen monoxide, sometimes called hydroxylic acid. Normally tolerable, deadly if inhaled in sufficient quantity.
Last edited by lxdude; 02-07-2010 at 09:29 AM.
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Also from MSDS, the LD50 rate for a mouse is "Oral mouse LD50: 2970 mg/kg." LD50 = Lethal Dose 50%, 2.97g/kilo, cat is around 4-5kg (small cat) = 11.88g-14.85g ingestion needed for a 50/50 chance of cat dying. Unless the cat was lapping up the dried crystals for a while...
Be a bit more careful next time, cat hair's awful on damp photographic prints.
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