Pets, dogs especially, are notorious for eating things they aren’t supposed. Whether it’s socks, garbage, or things off the counter, these ingestions have the potential to be anything but benign. Many times, if caught early enough, we can get it to come back up the way it went down by inducing vomiting. If not, the foreign material can travel into the intestines where if can get lodged or absorbed into the blood stream. However, not all materials that pets eat should be brought back up and there could be deadly consequences if you do. So, what should you do?
For many things that are common poisons (chocolate, raisons, rat poison, etc), they will obviously need immediate care. Just call the vet and get in the car. In the cae of less-common items, this is one of the few times I will NOT recommend calling your vet first. The reason for this is that vets no longer maintain files or a database on poisoning. Instead, we rely on the ASPCA’s service called the Animal Poison Control Hotline. As a branch of the ASPCA, this is a “volunteer” service that is maintained by donations and public funds. That said, it is also the most comprehensive and regularly-updated database on animal poisoning in the world. It is staffed 24-7 by veterinarians that will look at every aspect of the situation, not only the poison, but you pet’s breed, age, and other details. To cover the operating costs of a 24-hour operation, there is a $90 fee to have this consultation whether you are a pet owner or a veterinarian. If you rush to the ER or your vet’s office, the first thing they will do is call this service and charge the cost back to you. So, the reason I say to call them first is that, in many cases, you don’t need to come and spend a dime on us at all. They may recommend leaving them be or giving them hydrogen peroxide to make them vomit. However, they may also tell you to get in the car and get to the vet. In those cases, they will have you write down your pet’s case number and we can call them for their recommendations. In the case of our clinic, we keep ourselves active in their system to allow them to email their instructions for decontamination and treatment.
When you get to the vet, one of the first things we will do (unless instructed otherwise), is to make them vomit. We usually accomplish this with an intravenous injection that produces results in about 60 seconds. We also do this with foreign bodies. I have shared many high-fives with owners over their dogs as they yack up a Duxbury beach stone or a My Little Pony head. Those folks just saved a ton of money in surgical fees. Once whatever material or poison is up, we give a reversal agent and an “antidote” mixture. This is a meant to bind and inactivate and residual poisons in the gastrointestinal tract.
Depending on the material eaten, further testing may be required. For example, most rat poisons will lead us to run tests to assess a pet’s ability to clot blood. With raisins and grapes, we need to check for kidney damage with blood work. Depending on those tests results, pets may need further care, usually overnight at a full-service referral hospital.
The Animal Poison Control Center hotline is (888) 426-4435. It’s a great number to keep in your phones.