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This Common Hair Product Sold In Stores Across New Jersey Could Be Deadly to Your Pets

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Minoxidil hair-loss products can cause severe or fatal poisoning in pets, particularly cats, even after exposure to tiny amounts or contaminated surfaces.
Minoxidil hair-loss products can cause severe or fatal poisoning in pets, particularly cats, even after exposure to tiny amounts or contaminated surfaces.

Minoxidil, the active ingredient in many popular hair-growth products, can cause severe poisoning in dogs and may be fatal to cats after exposures as small as a few drops or licks.

NEW JERSEY — It could be sitting next to your toothbrush right now and is sold on the shelves of nearly every New Jersey pharmacy, big-box store, and supermarket.

Millions of people use minoxidil every day to treat thinning hair and hair loss. Sold as topical liquids and foams under names such as Neosporin and numerous generic brands, the medication is generally considered safe for pets when used as directed.

For cats and dogs, it can be a very different story.

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center warns that minoxidil can cause life-threatening poisoning in pets, with cats especially vulnerable. Exposure does not necessarily require an animal to drink from the bottle. A pet can encounter the drug by licking treated skin, stepping in spilled solution, contacting contaminated bedding or grooming after lying on a pillow carrying minoxidil residue.

A Few Drops Can Be Enough

This common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets
Photo: this common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets

The danger is not limited to a pet swallowing a large quantity.

A veterinary study of 211 dog and cat minoxidil exposures reported clinical illness after exposures involving only drops or licks. Among the animals that developed symptoms, most experienced moderate or major illness.

Cats were especially vulnerable in the study, with several deaths reported among animals that became symptomatic after exposure.

This common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets
Photo: this common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets

That makes the bottle on the bathroom counter only part of the danger.

The residue can matter too.

Common U.S. brand and store-brand products that contain minoxidil include:

  • Rogaine — men’s and women’s versions, usually 2% solution or 5% foam/solution.
  • Kirkland Signature Minoxidil — Costco’s 5% topical hair-regrowth treatment.
  • Amazon Basic Care Hair Regrowth Treatment — sold in 2% solution and 5% foam formulations.
  • Hims Hair Regrowth Treatment / Hims Minoxidil
  • Hers Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • Keeps Minoxidil Topical
  • Equate Hair Regrowth Treatment — Walmart store brand.
  • up & up Hair Regrowth Treatment — Target store brand.
  • CVS Health Minoxidil/Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • Walgreens Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • GoodSense Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • Member’s Mark Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • Keranique Hair Regrowth Treatment for Women
  • Bosley Professional Strength Hair Regrowth Treatment
  • Signature Care Hair Regrowth Treatment — Safeway/Albertsons branding.
  • Foligain Minoxidil and some other specialty hair-loss products.

The key thing for pet owners is not the brand name. Check the Active Ingredient panel for “Minoxidil”, commonly at 2% or 5%. Generic/store-brand versions pose the same poisoning risk to pets if they contain minoxidil.

Your Pillow Could Become the Exposure Point

This common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets
Photo: this common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets

Someone applying minoxidil before bed may think the medication is safely out of reach once the bottle is closed.

But topical medication can remain on the scalp, hands, clothing, pillowcases or other surfaces.

The ASPCA has warned that cats can be poisoned after coming into contact with minoxidil residue on bedding and then grooming themselves.

For a cat that sleeps beside its owner every night, that creates a risk many people may never have considered.

What Minoxidil Does to Pets

Minoxidil affects blood vessels and blood flow.

In poisoned animals, that can lead to dangerously low blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms and fluid accumulation in or around the lungs.

Cats can develop vomiting, weakness, loss of appetite, difficulty breathing, fluid in the chest and bluish gums caused by inadequate oxygen.

Dogs can experience lethargy, vomiting, rapid heart rate, strong pulses and low blood pressure.

Symptoms can appear quickly in some cases but may also be delayed for hours. A pet that initially appears normal is not necessarily in the clear.

Cats Appear to Be Particularly Vulnerable

This common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets
Photo: this common hair product sold in stores across new jersey could be deadly to your pets

Veterinary toxicologists consistently describe cats as especially sensitive to minoxidil.

Dogs are not safe from the drug either.

Even relatively small exposures can become serious, and owners may not immediately realize what happened if a pet simply licked treated hair, rubbed against wet product or came into contact with contaminated bedding.

Foam Isn’t Automatically Safe

Minoxidil is available in several forms.

The familiar topical liquid is one, but many hair-growth products now come as foams. Minoxidil is also available as an oral medication.

All should be kept away from animals.

Consumers should check the active ingredients in hair-growth treatments rather than assuming a foam, generic product or different brand eliminates the hazard.

Using Minoxidil in a Home With Pets

Pet ownership does not necessarily mean someone must stop using a medication recommended by a physician.

It does mean the routine around that medication matters.

Minoxidil should be stored where animals cannot reach it. People should apply it away from pets, wash their hands immediately afterward and clean even small spills thoroughly.

Used tissues, applicators and empty containers should go into a secured trash can.

Pets should not be allowed to lick treated hair or skin or come into contact with contaminated bedding and clothing.

Don’t Wait for Symptoms

A suspected exposure should be treated as a veterinary poisoning emergency.

Do not wait to see whether the animal becomes sick, and do not induce vomiting or attempt a home remedy unless a veterinarian or veterinary poison specialist instructs you to do so.

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center can be reached 24 hours a day at 888-426-4435. Pet Poison Helpline can be reached at 855-764-7661.

If an animal is already having trouble breathing, collapsing or showing other severe symptoms, immediate emergency veterinary care is warranted.

Minoxidil has become such an ordinary part of millions of people’s morning and nighttime routines that many users may never think of it as a household poison.

For the dog waiting at your feet or the cat sleeping on your pillow, however, a seemingly harmless hair-growth product can become a medical emergency.

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