The toxicity and biotransformation of single doses of acetaminophen in dogs and cats.

The biotransformation of single oral doses of acetaminophen (APAP) was studied in dogs an cats. Each animal received APAP at a no-effect (low), mildly toxic (medium), and severely toxic (high) dosage; dosages for each species were selected to produce similar clinical effects at each respective dosage. For dogs, these dosages were 100, 200, and 500 mg APAP/kg, while for cats, the similar effective dosages were 20, 60, and 120 mg APAP/kg. Plasma half-lives in dogs remained constant at the lower two dosages, but nearly tripled at the high dosage. The plasma half-lives in cats rose with increased dosage. Although the cats were given lower APAP dosages than the dogs, the plasma half-lives of cats were greater than those of the dogs at the medium and high dosages. Both species excreted about 85% of the administered single dose within the first 24 hr. APAP-glucuronide was the principal metabolite excreted in the urine of dogs; its fraction of the total metabolites excreted in urine remained constant at the three dose levels. In cats, APAP-sulfate was the major metabolite in urine at all three dosage levels, but the fraction of the total urinary metabolites represented by APAP-sulfate decreased as the dosage increased. Hepatic centrilobular pathology was seen in dogs, while cats had more diffuse liver pathologic changes. The results indicate that the cat is at increased risk from APAP exposure because of impaired glucuronidation and saturation of its sulfate conjugation pathway.