Minoxidil killed my cat - It was just a few licks - Please be super careful with your pets
Minoxidil
There have been plenty of threads on how Minoxidil is toxic to cats. I didn't see any of them when I started using Minoxidil a couple of months ago.
Two days ago, I apply 1ml of Minoxidil to my head, like I do every morning. Two hours later, it was completely dried. Our cat then licked my head very briefly, and there was a few seconds of contact between her fur and my head. (We usually don't do that because she lives with my roommate upstairs)
Ten minutes later, I remembered that cats sometimes have toxic reactions to substances that are harmless for humans. I figured, at least gonna look this up. And what I saw was not good - lots of reports on toxicity, but also lots of people saying they never had a problem and it's no big deal. I take her to the vet immediately, just out of caution, they keep her there for the afternoon. No problem, everything checked, good to go home in the evening.
Yesterday, she stopped eating and seemed quite tired and lethargic. I take her back to the vet, and the vet was quite shocked when she saw her: Low temperature, breathing noises, fluid in the lungs, etc... They kept her overnight and gave her infusions and everything, but she did not survive. Dead within 36 hours of exposure.
I'll answer some questions below, in the hope that this saves other cats out there!
Is this a danger just for cats?
To my knowledge, Minoxidil is also dangerous for dogs and other pets.
Was it really Minoxidil?
The symptoms matched exactly Minoxidil poisoning, and they appeared right when they should. The cat had no other health problems, and in fact, a complete bloodwork was done on the first day showing perfect marks. It is extremely unlikely that this was anything other than Minoxidil.
Which specific tincture did you use?
The specific tincture I used was Dualgen-15 with PG from MinoxidilMax. Now, besides Minoxidil, this thing also contains azelaic acid, Finasteride, Retinol, Adenosine, Biotin and Niacinamide (the last three they call "ABN complex"). Did a quick Google search, it appears that out of these, Minoxidil is the only one with reported strong toxic effects. So I assume that the other substances did not contribute to the poisoning. But they might have through some weird interactions?
This is a significant danger, and we should accept that there is risk and uncertainty.
There are many cat/minoxidil threads here. Some peolpe say "Oh, my cat is fine, just wash your hands and it won't be a problem". I believe that most of these people have not actually read the existing research on Minoxidil poisoning in animals. They just observe that their own cat is fine, and conclude that there's nothing to worry about. They might also want to convince themselves that there is no danger, to feel better.
This is one case study of a cat that was killed, out of the blue, by a very small amount of Minoxidil. Just one or two licks, and a few seconds of hair/fur contact. I think this shows that there is a significant danger to pets. Perhaps when you are careful, your cat will be completely fine! But it is hard to say just how careful you need to be! This is not a subject where you can get easy answers, and I think we should accept that there is significant uncertainty. The risk is definitely not zero, even when you are careful.
