Poisoning: First Aid and After Care for Your Dog

It’s every pet parent's worst nightmare: your dog is poisoned. Dogs are prone to get into everything and anything, and sometimes those things are detrimental to their health. Some dangerous items dogs are attracted to are plants, household cleaning products, alcohol, antifreeze, garbage, or medications. Dogs can also be vulnerable to poisonous spider or snake bites.

As a responsible pet parent, you do everything you can to keep your dog away from toxic products and circumstances. But what can you do if, despite your best efforts, your dog is poisoned? Here are the critical steps you need to follow to give your dog a chance to survive.

Signs of toxicity can vary depending on what type of poisoning has occurred. If you suspect that your dog has been poisoned, look for any of the following symptoms:

• Cardiac symptoms such as irregular heartbeat
• Loss of blood (bruising, blood in stool, nosebleed, anemia, pale gums)
• Seizures and other neurological disorders
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Drooling
• Pale gums
• Inability to urinate
• Lethargy
• Loss of appetite
• Difficulty breathing
• Loss of balance
• Skin rash
• Swelling of tongue
• Muscle rigidity 
• Tremors 

 If your dog is suffering from one or more of the above symptoms, get help immediately.

If you believe that your dog has been poisoned, what steps should you take to administer first aid? Your next critical actions are dictated by what means and method your pet has been poisoned.

First, try to determine what your dog was exposed to, and look around for evidence. This proof may be a pool of antifreeze, an open pesticide container, broken bottles of medication, a chomped house or garden plant, or a container of rodenticide. Then, contact your veterinarian or an animal poison control center immediately.

Be prepared with the answers to these questions when you call:

• Breed, sex, age, and weight of your dog
• Symptoms
• If your dog is on any medicine or supplements
• If known, name or describe the substance that your dog was in contact with
• How and in what amount was your dog exposed to it (or in case of consumption, how long since your dog ate it)
• If possible, have the packaging of the product on hand for reference

Follow the directions provided to you by your veterinarian or the poison control center. They may advise you to do any of the following actions before bringing your dog to the veterinarian’s office:

• For skin or eye poisoning, follow the directions on the product label for people exposed to the product. You may need to wash your dog’s skin with soap and water if the skin has been exposed to toxins, keeping it out of their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Flush your dog’s eyes out with water as soon as possible.

• For consumption of poisonous products, your vet may instruct you to induce vomiting in your dog. Don't induce vomiting without instruction from your vet, as doing so is not always the best recourse. Keep 3% hydrogen peroxide on hand for such a circumstance. Collect anything that your dog has vomited or chewed, seal it in a plastic bag, and bring it to the veterinarian’s office.

As stated, it is extremely important to note that there are circumstances in which you should not induce vomiting in your dog. If you see any of the following symptoms, take your dog immediately to your veterinarian, and do not induce vomiting:

• If the poison ingested was a cleaning product, a strong acid, a petroleum product, or an alkali such as bleach
• If your dog swallowed the poison more than four hours ago
• If your dog is semi-conscious, unconscious, or convulsing

A poisoning episode means a long road to recovery for your dog, and the duration of that recovery is linked to what poison affected them.

Skin rashes can often be cared for topically or in combination with vet-approved antihistamines. Ingestion of poison can be trickier to recover from. When the liver or kidneys are affected, your dog may need to be on a very bland, easily digestible diet for some time to give the liver and kidneys a chance to rest and recuperate. Many patients require IV fluids to rid the excess toxins from their body.

In some situations, your veterinarian may recommend that your dog take antioxidants,  vitamins and minerals or nutritional supplements to assist your dog’s body in recovering from the poison.

The best scenario for any pet parent is never to have your dog experience poisoning. Prevention is the best cure possible, so do everything that you can to dog-proof your home and keep all poisonous substances out of your dog's reach, such as:

• Secure cabinet doors containing dangerous products with safety latches if your dog can access them
• Clean up any spills of cleaning products or toxic materials immediately inside the home and garage, and out in any yard areas your dog frequents
• Change from toxic pesticides, rodenticides and insecticides to pet-safe products
• Replace any toxic houseplants with safer ones for indoor use
• Take out toxic plants from your garden if your dog is at risk of chomping on them, or put up fencing or other dog deterrents to keep them out
• Store medications safely away from your dog
• Use pet-safe salt when it snows instead of commercial de-icing salt that often contains antifreeze
• Never leave cigarette butts out in ash trays, or vaping cartridges within reach

Dogs have a habit of getting into what they should not, so if your dog does become poisoned, call your veterinarian for advice and guidance right away. With your vet’s help and with your preparedness, you can give your dog the best chance possible to fully recover.