英語聽力文摘 洋蔥是寵物殺手？
洋蔥是寵物殺手?
You may already know that chocolate can be lethal to your pet, but did you know that onions can be toxic to your cats and dogs too? And I’m not just talking about their breath.
You see all forms of onions–cooked, raw, dehydrated–contain sulfurcompounds. When your pet ingests onions, these compounds are broken down into what are known as disulphidecompounds; these are toxic to red blood cell membranes and cause them to form small bubble-like projections that are known as Heinz bodies. These bubbles make the red blood cell more rigid, and weaken its outer membrane, which means not only that the cell can’t flex and twist as it circulates in the body, but that it is more likely to rupture.
Now, the main function of red blood cells is to circulate oxygen throughout the body. Without enough of these, the animal becomes anemic, and–if the bone marrow isn’t given enough time to regenerate new red blood cells–it may even die. This also explains why the effects of onion toxicity can take a few days to show up, and why even very small amounts of onions can still have a cumulative damaging effect.
So what can you do to protect your dog or cat? Make sure to read labels. For example, baby food, which people use to entice their sick cats to eat, often contains onion powder. Also, do not feed your pet table scraps that contain onions in any shape or form. And it is always if your cat or dog begins vomiting, acting depressed, or breathes rapidly. Don’t delay! Take them to the vet.
也許你已經(jīng)知道巧克力對(duì)寵物的殺傷力，但是你知道小貓小狗吃了洋蔥會(huì)中毒嗎?我不僅僅說的是他們的呼吸。
要知道，新鮮的、脫水的、烹飪的洋蔥，無一例外含有硫化物。寵物攝食洋蔥，化合物就分解成二硫化物，紅細(xì)胞膜“中毒”，形成海恩茨氏小體的突起小泡。海恩茨氏小體使紅細(xì)胞僵硬，外膜受損。紅細(xì)胞在體內(nèi)循環(huán)，無法彎曲和扭轉(zhuǎn)，更易破裂。
紅細(xì)胞的主要功能是循環(huán)體內(nèi)的氧氣。紅細(xì)胞的缺失誘發(fā)動(dòng)物貧血;如果骨髓沒有及時(shí)更新紅細(xì)胞，動(dòng)物就會(huì)喪命。這也是洋蔥毒性在數(shù)日后才得以顯現(xiàn)的原因，而極少量的洋蔥也能帶來極大的危害。
那么，你如何保護(hù)寵物呢?請仔細(xì)閱讀標(biāo)簽。比如，人們用來喂生病寵物貓的嬰兒食品中就常含有洋蔥粉。也不要喂給寵物任何含洋蔥的殘羹剩飯。此外，如果你的寵物貓狗出現(xiàn)嘔吐、精神沉郁、呼吁緊促等癥狀，就趕快送去獸醫(yī)診所!
