An Investigation of the Effect of Long-Continued Ingestion of Zinc, in the Form of Zinc Oxide, by Cats and Dogs, Together With Observations Upon the Excretion and the Storage of Zinc

Toxicological Profile for Zinc

“…In dogs (Drinker et al 1927d) and minks (Aulerich et al 1991), histological changes in the pancreas have not been observed at doses comparable to or higher than the dose levels that caused abnormalities in rats, mice, cats, ferrets, and sheep. Degeneration of the acinar cells of the pancreas was observed in sheep by Allen et al (1983) and in rats and mice by Maita et al (1981).…”

“…In animals, following oral administration of zinc compounds, decreased hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocyte, and/or leukocyte levels were observed in rats (Maita et al 1981;Smith and Larson 1946), mice (Maita et al 1981;Walters and Roe 1965), rabbits (Bentley and Grubb 1991), dogs (Drinker et al 1927d;Meurs et al 1991;Robinson et al 1991), ferrets (Straube et al 1980), and preruminant calves (Jenkins and Hidiroglou 1991). In rats, the lowest LOAEL for hematological effects was 4 mg/kg/day (8 mg/kg every other day) for an increased frequency of basophilic-stippled erythrocytes in rats exposed every other day for 14 days (Piao et al 2003).…”

“…Slight decreases in hemoglobin levels were observed in rabbits fed 174 mg zinc/kg/day as zinc carbonate (Bentley and Grubb 1991). Zinc oxide consumption caused anemia in dogs (76.5 mg zinc/kg/day) (Drinker et al 1927d), ferrets (195 mg zinc/kg/day) (Straube et al 1980), and preruminant calves (64 mg zinc/kg/day) (Jenkins and Hidiroglou 1991). Hematological alterations were not observed in cats exposed to up to 83.2 mg zinc/kg/day as zinc oxide (Drinker et al 1927d) or in adult mink exposed to zinc at up to 297.4 mg zinc/kg/day as zinc oxide (Aulerich et al 1991;Bleavins et al 1983) or to rats exposed to 53 mg…”

“…Oral exposure to high levels of zinc has caused anemia, decreased levels of HDL cholesterol, and pancreatic damage in humans (Black et al 1988;Chandra 1984;Chobanian 1981;Hooper et al 1980;Murphy 1970) and animals (Allen et al 1983;Aughey et al 1977;Drinker et al 1927d;Katya-Katya et al 1984;Klevay and Hyg 1973;Maita et al 1981;Straube et al 1980). The mechanisms involved in the pancreatic damage have not been elucidated.…”

“…resulting from zinc ingestion have been observed in rats (Maita et al 1981), mice (Aughey et al 1977;Maita et al 1981), cats (Drinker et al 1927d), ferrets (Straube et al 1980), sheep (Allen et al 1983, and birds (Kazacos and Van Vleet 1989;Lu et al 1990). In dogs (Drinker et al 1927d) and minks (Aulerich et al 1991), histological changes in the pancreas have not been observed at doses comparable to or higher than the dose levels that caused abnormalities in rats, mice, cats, ferrets, and sheep.…”