Pets and Poison: Quick Resource Page
Updated: 7 days ago
Pet Poison Helpline Emergency at (855) 764-7661 https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/ ($89 incident fee applies)
ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435
I am, on purpose, not including how to induce vomiting at home. There are too many ways this can go wrong. Please call Poison Control, Pet Poison Helpline, your veterinarian or ER. Home methods do not work on cats, and dogs with heart disease, laryngeal paralysis or some brachycephalic breeds (cute squishy faces) are at risk. Also, animals actively displaying signs of toxicosis (disoriented, seizure, collapsed, tremor, hyperactive) are not candidates for inducing vomiting.
Chocolate (calculate toxic doses)
Link for Food Hazards
Foods: Avocados (skin, leaves, pit); Caffeinated products (chocolate, energy drink, coffee grounds in garbage or garden); Grapes/Raisins/Zante currants/Tamarinds/Cream of Tartar; Macadamia nuts; Garlic/Onions/Chives/Shallots; Rising Bread; Peach pits/leaves/stems; Rotting fruit under the tree; raw/smoked salmon and trout
Link for Poisonous Plants
Never have lilies in your home. Please consult poison control if you are uncertain about a plant ingestion.Be Thoughtful and Aware of toxins in your homes
Your pet’s medicines, especially chewable: If you mail order, open box and put medicines up in a cupboard right away (if your pet is on a JAK inhibitor, like Apoquel, overdoses are life threatening)
Your medicines/vitamins: keep tubes, vials, patches locked away in a cupboard. Do not leave vitamins sitting in your pill dish. Vitamin D at the typical doses people use can be fatal to a cat and small dog. If you use a topical JAK inhibitor cream, such as Opzelura, do not let your pet lick the skin where you used the cream. Keep your heart meds, sleeping pills, ADHD meds, anti-anxiety meds up in the cupboard – child-proofed if necessary.
Acrylamide in hydrogel-filled cooling migraine caps, headache wraps, and cooling face masks (even a small amount of the gel ingested can be fatal.
Xylitol ("birch sugar" or "wood sugar"): Look around and remove everything with xylitol from your home (chewing gum, toothpaste, oral care products, breath mints/strips, some nasal sprays, chewable vitamins, even in some peanut butters). Ingestion not attended to immediately can result in severe liver damage and life-threatening hypoglycemia. I’ve had patients climb up on the children’s desk and eat the whole pack of gum packaging and all.
Don’t leave wrapped, unknown presents lying around. You might be surprised what a dog or other pet will get into, the packaging and ribbons are also a risk. Plastic grass in Easter Baskets can cause serious intestinal damage/obstruction if eaten.
Expandable foaming glue containing methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) ex. Original
Gorilla Glue DON’T make your dog vomit, or the esophagus could become obstructed. Your vet will need an x-ray to determine extent of obstruction and your dog may need surgical ‘obstructive foreign body’ removal.
Garbage: coffee grounds, seeds/skin of avocados, onions, spoiled food, plastic packaging, packaging with xylitol residue (toothpaste tubes), batteries, not toxic in itself but corn cobs can cause serious obstruction.
Outdoor hazards: toxic mushrooms, foods/candies/chewed gum containing xylitol, drugs/cannabis, rodenticides/herbicides, spoiled fruit and fruit pits. Rat Bait (Brodifacoum, Bromethalin, Zinc Phosphide) / Snail Bait (Metaldehyde): Never use rat poison, mole or slug bait without checking labels and ensuring whether they are toxic to pets.
Tobacco: 20-100mg minimum lethal dose in dogs and cats
Nicotine pouches: Low / Light: 1.5 mg to 3 mg per pouch (ex. standard ZYN or on!), Regular / Medium: 6 mg per pouch (common for daily users), Strong / Extra: 9 mg to 12, High-Strength / Extreme: range from 15 mg up to 47 mg+ per pouch
Nicorette patches range from 7mg to 25 mg
Cigarettes contain 13-30mg (butts contain approximately 25% of the total nicotine).
Cannabis, Recreational Mushrooms
Never apply a canine spot-on pyrethrin/pyrethroid based insecticide on a cat.
