Toxicity of isopropyl alcohol to cats?

Factual Questions
1

My cat had a nasty looking… what appeared to be a scratch wound, and as she’s already sick I perhaps stupidly decided to rub it with some isopropyl alcohol to sterilize it, not wanting to get some other kind of infection.

But I expected it to dry very quickly, and it didn’t, not quite right away. So she, predictably, tried to clean herself, and probably got a few drops worth out of her fur and ingested it.

I know non-grain alcohols are bad for ingestion, but I get the impression that it’s more of a repeated use/long term thing that leads to damage.

I had her drink some milk (would’ve preferred to have her drink water, but she won’t drink it on command) to dilute it just in case.

Is it likely to be a problem? I’m keeping an eye on her, but figuring poison control wouldn’t know what to tell me about her, and I’m not sure where the nearest 24 hour vet is or if it deserves that kind of attention, I thought I’d ask on here in case anyone knew.

2

Safety Sheet for iPrOH.

So long as the cat behaves normally, she’s fine. Note that, since she’s a lot smaller than you, toxic doses are also smaller.

3

Oh, one of the things the MSDS lists is to wash in case of skin contact. I’ve wet myself with isopropanol a zillion times and I’m still here (in labs it’s normally used as the final rinse after water, since it evaporates faster than water).

4

My friend informs me that milk is bad for cats. I never knew - I knew cats loved milk, and I figured giving it to them sometimes was harmless. I figured it would be best to have her drink something, though.

So, she’s already sick, and then I gave her alcohol and milk. Well, she seems fine. If things take a turn for the worse, I’ll take her to the vet. But it may just be very minor and I’m being overly worried.

5

Milk is bad for cats how? Milk is bad for 90% of human population but most of us just get gas if we drink lactose-containing milk. There’s many degrees in “bad”…

Heck, I once was told that you should never, ever give chicken to cats because they may swallow a piece of bone. None of the cats to which I’ve ever given a piece of chicken meat with no bone attached seemed to have any kind of problems, though, quite the contrary.

6

Cow’s milk is not good for cats because it is likely to give them diarrhea. Chicken meat is fine for cats - in fact, it is the protein source in many top shelf cat foods. It is (of course) the bones that are dangerous.

7

I think it is bad in the lactose-intolerant sense. Most adult cats, like most adult mammals, are lactose intolerant. I don’t believe milk is bad for cats in any other way.

8

Cool, thanks SCL and Dr. Lao

9

From Nava’s link:

LD50 stands for “lethal dose 50%” and refers to the dose that will be lethal to 50% of the animals it is administered to. The units of mg/kg refer to miligrams of the substance per kilogram of animal body weight. Cats weigh something like 4.5 to 5 kilos, right? So, a dose that would be lethal 50% of the time in cats (assuming they are like rats) would be around 20 grams. That is about 25 mL or 1 and 2/3 tablespoons.

10

Well, she seems perfectly normal. If it was toxic, is there any reason to believe it would take more than several hours to show signs?

11

Also most isoprop alcohol you buy is diluted, is yours? The alcohol evaporates quickly and leaves water which doesn’t evaporate as quickly.

12

I’ve been told that hydrogen peroxide is better to use as an external disinfectant where it might be licked & ingested (like on cats or dogs). Anybody know if this is accurate?