My Dog Ate Something Toxic: The First 10 Minutes

If your dog ate something toxic, take the item away, check that your dog is breathing and acting normally, work out what and how much they ate, and call your vet, an emergency clinic or a poison line right away: ASPCA Animal Poison Control (888) 426-4435 or Pet Poison Helpline (855) 764-7661 (a fee may apply). Don’t make your dog vomit, and don’t give home remedies or medication, unless a veterinarian or poison control tells you to. If your dog has collapsed, is having a seizure or is struggling to breathe, go straight to the nearest emergency clinic and call on the way.

The holidays bring more of everything a dog shouldn’t eat: chocolate, raisin breads, sugar-free sweets, fatty leftovers, drinks, and guests’ bags full of medications and gum. Here is what to do, in order, when one of them goes missing.

Minute 1: stop it and step back

Take what’s left away from your dog, and move your dog out of the area. That’s the first step on Pet Poison Helpline’s list: “Remove your pet from the area.” Pick up any wrappers, pill bottles or crumbs before a second dog finds them.

Minute 2: check your dog

The next step on the same list is to check that your pet is safe: “breathing and acting normally.” A dog who is not, for example one who has collapsed, is having a seizure, or is struggling to breathe, needs a veterinarian now, not a phone consultation. Go to the nearest emergency clinic and call ahead. The AVMA’s first-aid brochure recommends calling so the clinic can be ready when you arrive.

Minutes 3 to 5: gather the facts

The person on the phone will need:

• What your dog ate: the product, brand or recipe. The AVMA says to have the product or container available, so bring the wrapper, bottle or box.
• How much, as best you can tell. The ASPCA asks callers to note the amount eaten. Count the missing pills, weigh what’s left of the chocolate bar, check the size of the bag.
• When it happened, even roughly.
• Your dog’s weight, age and any medical conditions or medications.
• Any signs so far. The AVMA also says to collect any vomit or chewed material in a sealed plastic bag to take to the vet.

Minutes 5 to 10: make the call

Call your vet, your nearest emergency clinic, or one of the two US poison lines:

• ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435. The ASPCA says it is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A consultation fee may apply.
• Pet Poison Helpline: (855) 764-7661, also available 24/7. A fee may apply.

Pet Poison Helpline explains what happens on the call: its staff gather information about the exposure, run calculations and decide whether your pet can be watched at home or should be seen by a veterinarian, and they work with your vet on a treatment plan if care is needed. Follow the plan you’re given, and call back if anything changes.

What not to do

• Don’t induce vomiting unless a vet or poison control tells you to. The AVMA and Pet Poison Helpline both say so. Pet Poison Helpline gives one reason: a swallowed battery should not be brought back up, because its corrosive contents can cause further damage to the esophagus.
• Don’t give home antidotes. Pet Poison Helpline lists this as a “do not” on its emergency steps.
• Don’t give any medication, including human pain relievers, unless a veterinarian directs it (AVMA). Human pain relievers are poisonous to dogs in their own right: see ibuprofen, acetaminophen and aspirin.
• Don’t wait for signs. The FDA says to treat chocolate and xylitol as emergencies and call your vet immediately. Pet Poison Helpline adds that the sooner an exposure is addressed, the easier and safer it is to treat.

Signs to watch for afterward

The AVMA lists the signs that a pet may have eaten something it shouldn’t have: sudden behavior changes, depression, pain, loss of appetite, vomiting or diarrhea. Some problems show up late. The FDA notes that if a bone or chew lodges in the stomach or intestines, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and belly pain may start hours to days later, and Pet Poison Helpline says mouth ulcers from a battery may not appear for hours. If signs appear after you were told to watch at home, call again.

The usual holiday suspects

Each of these has its own guide on this site with the details and the sources:

What your dog ate	Read next
Chocolate, cocoa, hot chocolate	Chocolate and dogs and the chocolate toxicity calculator
Sugar-free gum, mints, candy or baking	Xylitol
Raisins, grapes, fruitcake, panettone	Grapes and raisins
Stuffing, gravy, anything with onion or garlic	Onions and garlic
Fatty ham, turkey skin, drippings	Pancreatitis in dogs
Cooked bones, the turkey carcass	Cooked bones
Raw bread or roll dough	Raw bread dough
Eggnog, beer, wine, cocktails	Alcohol
Macadamia cookies	Macadamia nuts
Tinsel, ornaments, batteries, cords	Dog-proofing the Christmas tree
A plant from a holiday bouquet	Poinsettia and lilies

For a single food, the free toxic-foods checker gives a fast answer. If your dog is coughing, gagging or pawing at the mouth rather than poisoned, the problem may be something stuck: see my guide to choking first aid.

Get ready before you need it

Put the numbers where anyone in the house can find them: the free pet poison emergency card is made for the fridge, and the AVMA suggests keeping your vet’s number, the 24/7 emergency clinic and both poison lines posted somewhere easy to find. Know the route to your nearest emergency clinic before the holidays, as the AVMA advises, and stock a basic kit with the free dog first-aid checklist.