In female pets, the symptoms resemble heat: swollen genitals, bloody discharge and behavioral problems. Male animals are showing up with swollen breast tissue and hair loss. Standard treatments and even repeated operations have had no effect.
Now vets have identified the culprit. The pets were all owned by women who used hormone creams on their hands, arms and legs to counter symptoms ofmenopause. Animals who licked or cuddled their owners, or rubbed up against their legs, were being inadvertently exposed to doses of hormone drugs.
These anecdotal reports, about 20 of which were first collected by theVeterinary Information Network, a news service for veterinarians, suggest that many women are not taking proper precautions when using topical hormone products — putting not only pets but also family members at risk for hormone exposure.
"The dogs are licking and rubbing the treated area and absorbing the drug, which is putting them back into heat," said Dr. Terry Clekis, a veterinarian in Bradenton, Fla. Dr. Clekis has seen about five cases of pet exposure to menopause creams, including a dog that appeared to go into heat about six months after being spayed.
Dr. Clekis feared he had left remnants of ovarian tissue behind after the spaying. So he repeated it, but found nothing. It was his wife, chatting with the pet owner, who discovered she was using a hormone cream. Once the owner took precautions against exposing her pet, the symptoms disappeared.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in the summer after eight children exposed to the estrogen spray Evamist showed signs of prematurepuberty like nipple swelling and enlarged breasts. The agency also received two reports of dogs exposed to Evamist, and last year it issued another warning after eight children were exposed to topical testosterone.
Use of topical estrogen, n the form of creams, sprays and gels, has surged since a major government study linked oral menopause drugs with a higher risk of heart attacks and cancer.
Last year, doctors wrote 440,000 prescriptions for brand-name topical estrogen products alone, nearly triple the 2006 figure, according to IMS Health, a drug information service. And those numbers do not capture the estimated one million women using compounded hormone creams, which are custom-mixed by pharmacists and have been widely promoted as an alternative to commercial menopause drugs — even though the F.D.A. has said these so-called bio-identical hormones are no safer than hormones from drug companies. (The compounds' popularity surged after the former sitcom star Suzanne Somers wrote two books claiming they delivered many health benefits.)
Dr. Cynthia A. Stuenkel, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Diego, and a former president of the North American Menopause Society, said the society was surveying its members to collect case reports of inadvertent hormone exposure to pets or children. The problem, she added, is that the doctors who prescribe the drugs typically treat older women, but the doctors who see the problems are pediatricians and veterinarians.
"We need to connect the dots between these groups so pediatricians and vets think of it early before subjecting these children and animals to extensive testing," she said. But some vets say women aren't forthcoming about the use of hormone drugs because it simply doesn't occur to them that it might be related to a pet's problem.
More ...
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/when-hormone-creams-expose-others-to-risks/
