From the article: Toxins and Your Dog
Dogs will be dogs, and that means most of them like to explore with their noses and mouths. Unfortunately, there are many toxins, poisons and other hazards out there that have harmed dogs. Sadly, many dogs do not survive. Others have been fortunate to survive. Share your stories about close calls and emergency situations so that others may learn. You might save a dog's life!
Share Your Stories
Chocolate chips
- When I was a little girl my Cocker Spaniel, Cedar got into a bag of chocolate chips. He ate the entire bag. We didn't end up taking him to the vet, just many emergency walks so he could expel. Now I own two Great Danes that can reach higher than me.
- —Guest Chocolate chips
Rural toxins
- In the last two years we have had to come to grips with a couple of incidents where our dogs have became ill or died. Firstly we live in rural Tasmania (southern Australia). We have horses and fowls. As horse owners will know, horses need to be wormed. We discovered worming paste was the cause of our dog being poisoned twelve months after having to have her euthanized. The small amounts that fall to the ground are enough to give grave problems to your dog. The veterinary diagnosis was twisted bowel. Secondly, rotting fish caused our old Lab cross to be unable to move. Curiously, if we moved any part of her to a position, it stayed there. Odd, but caused by an enzyme in the rotting fish which breaks down vitamin B: itself important in nervous transmission in dogs. Treatment was a vitamin B shot and human vit B tabs for a week. Lastly, fowl layer pellets contain a toxin similar to that of chocolate which causes liver dysfunction and failure. Treatment: steroid shot.
- —Guest Shaun
what toxins did your dog get into?
- We almost lost our Malamute when our neighbors had their yard sprayed. It drifted onto our grass,. he walked on it and licked his paws. The poor boy was never quite the same after that.
- —chunkycrone
Inhaler
- My husband threw his inhaler in the bathroom garbage when the medicine inside was gone. For some reason my dog pulled it out (the vet thinks because it smelled like my husband) and carried it into another room. While doing this he punctured the canister and a small amount of some remaining medicine got into his mouth. I noticed his heart was racing when I pet him and then I saw the inhaler on the floor. I rushed him to the ER vet and they had to give him charcoal and keep him overnight. He was eventually ok but gave us quite the scare. He could have had a heart attack but apparently he didn't ingest enough. I never would have thought the dog would touch something like that but now any used inhalers get wrapped up and thrown in the kitchen garbage that has a lid.
- —brownandlu
antifreeze
- I was in a church parking lot at dusk. I looked it over real well to make sure there was no antifreeze about. Since it had recently been repaved, it looked free of anything. I happened to see my dog drop his head; just the way the light caught the area he seemed to be sniffing, I caught the green reflection of antifreeze. I took him into the emergency vet who ran a test. Sure enough he had managed to ingest just a small quantity. He was at the vet all night being flushed out and having kidney panels run. In the morning, I had to transfer him to my regular vet to continue the flushing out & additional kidney panels. Fortunately, he was OK and had no kidney damage. It was very frightening. We are extremely careful with our dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble
- —Guest MMaxie88
Mouse Poison
- I always keep mouse poison in my garage because of the field mice. One day I must not have shut the door tight and my dog got in. She found the box and ate all the contents. This resulted in a rush trip to the vet.
- —bekmk
Redwood Mulch and dogs
- I put out some redwood mulch in my garden. Soon afterward my German Shepard was having bloody diarrhea. I took her to the vet who diagnosed her with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and put her on a full spectrum antibiotic. I couldn't find any information anywhere that the mulch had caused anyone any problems so the next year in order to try and keep the weeds in the garden at a minimum, I tried the mulch again. This time my dog go so sick she had to stay at the vet's for 3 days on iv antibiotics and nearly needed a transfusion. Fortunately, she survived. I have never used any kind of mulch again.
- —Pacifica_Girl
Dog toxins - grapes
- This is about my friend's dog. He owned a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a vineyard. When the grapes were ready but not picked yet, his dog went into the vineyard and ate quite a few. Several hours later, the dog was staggering, having trouble breathing, drooling, and eventually collapsed. This was many years ago, so we suspected antifreeze, even though there was none around. At that time grapes were not known to be a toxin to dogs. Sadly the dog died, and the vet was never sure what killed him. My dog never got into anything because I supervised her and never allowed her to roam freely. (she also lived on the same vineyard)
- —Guest red dog
toxic to dogs
- although rare, Kentucky coffee trees do exist and the seeds and pods are poisonous to animals and could be fatal.
- —cooper70
Gorilla Glue is dangerous to dogs
- When my German Shepherd was six months old, she escaped from her kennel and found a bottle of Gorilla Glue. She must have thought it was a squeeky toy and chewed on it. By the time I got home, her mouth, tail, feet and chest were covered with it. I called Poison Control and was told "it's not toxic." This didn't sit well with me so I called the vet emergency clinic. They told me to get her in immediately. She had surgery a short time later and two cups of glue were removed from her stomach and intestine. The glue continues to expand in a dog's stomach and will eventually kill them in a horrible, painful way. FYI, during the surgery, I had the vet do a gastropexy to avoid any occurance of torsion (a twisted stomach) in the future. Large dogs are prone to torsion. It was a scary occurance but she came through just fine. I recommend keeping all types of glue far out of a dog's reach. Since this happened, I've heard many similiar stories from other dog owners.
- —janiesnydr
Peace Lily toxicity
- I had just attended a First Aid for Dogs class presented by the Red Cross and the next day Daisy, a Westie, ate a leaf from my peace lily which is toxic to dogs. I gave her the prescribed antitoxin to make her throw up which she did but then we had to put her on prednisone for 6 weeks as she nearly died from either the plant or the antitoxin. Thank God for our excellent vet, Dr. Dayton Williams of Sioux Falls, who worked very closely with us and helped us with this very close call. We were within hours of having to make the ultimate decision before she suddenly snapped out of it.
- —Guest cooneen
Our dog bit a toad
- Our little Toy Fox Terrier either licked or bit a toad one night. We live in the northeast, so we didn't think it was poisonous. It still gave us a scare because she was foaming at the mouth. My husband tried to give her water, but she wouldn't drink, so he wet a cloth and wiped out the inside of her mouth as good as he could. I looked for any information that I could find online, which was a huge help. We watched her overnight for any signs of sickness. She was alittle groggy for a few hours, but she was then back to her old self. She still goes after frogs, but we try to watch her closer now.
- —Guest Deb M
Shmooey and the Fudge
- I'll never forget the morning when I awoke to the sound and feeling of my pug throwing up on my head. Shmooey likes to sleep on the pillow, above my head. I don't know if it was the most unpleasant experience of my life, but it was close. Later that day, my son asked, "Did Shmooey seem sick at all?" After I laughed hysterically, I asked why. "Well, he got into a box of fudge we had on the table and ate about a half a pound." (This was after I had gone to bed.) If he was sensitive to chocolate, he would certainly have been dead by now. When I talked to my vet about it, he said that not ALL dogs are sensitive to these food toxins, but the problem was that you wouldn't find out that they WERE sensitive until it was too late. Luckily for me and Shmooey, he's not sensitive to chocolate. Which does NOT mean he gets to indulge!
- —wendy82551
TOXINS
- It wasn't one of my dogs that poisoned themself but my much loved lorikeet, Spike. He had two of those painted wooden bird toys in his cage and unbeknown to us he was chewing on them. One day, he just fell off his perch and died almost before he hit the bottom of his cage. All the vet could put it down was a build up of toxins in the paint on his toys (made in China). That got me thinking of all the cheap dog toys that are made in China and have painted paw prints, etc on them. My dogs no longer get these toys to play with just in case.
- —Guest HELEN BRIGHT
Socks can be harmful for dogs
- Not quite a toxin but my 4 month old Springer ate a sock so we took him to the vet and they induced vomiting to get it out.
- —lovespringerspaniels
