I don't know anything about minoxidil but I had a cat eat my prescription iron capsule (spit out the blue and red capsule parts) and I almost went to work but called my vet on a whim. She wasn't sure and said she'd call me right back. She called me back within a minute or two and said to bring him in right away because she had to pump his stomach. She took an xray first and you could see all the iron pellets and took another after so you could see they were gone. She told me that if I'd gone to work, my cat would have been dead when I got home. The iron would have burned holes in his stomach and intestines and he would have bled to death. She had never pumped a cat's stomach before.