The ASPCA Poison Control Center, What is Toxic, and Maggie. Oh Maggie.
Some of you might have read my September 29th post about Maggie and her unfortunate adventure with a ZZ plant. To briefly recap: I brought a new plant home, called a ZZ plant, or Zamioculcas zamiifolia. While we were out, Maggie ate prodigious quantities of it, threw up mountains of vomit all over our just-professionally cleaned oriental carpet, and then spent the afternoon and evening in absolute misery.
I was miserable myself struggling with how best to handle the situation. I called an emergency vet clinic–who explained this wasn’t life threatening, because although the plant is known to cause discomfort from the large amount of oxylates crystals in it, it only causes temporary “irritation and pain,” which should resolve soon. It didn’t. Not being an herbivore, apparently Maggie didn’t get the memo, and the more of the plant she ate, the more her mouth and stomach bothered her. Maggie suffers on rare occasion from acid stomach, and I always know when it bothers her, because she’ll delicately nibble on a house plant–just a nibble, never more. Until the attack of the ZZ plant. Maggie’s vet and I speculate that she got stuck into a dangerous loop–the more her mouth, esophagus and stomach burned, the more she felt compelled to eat more of the plant. Like dogs tend to chomp on grass if their stomach bothers them.
By eight o’clock, Maggie appeared to be in increasing pain, known in the field of veterinary medicine as “breaking an owner’s heart” pain. Feeling a need for more help I called ASPCA Poison Control. (The number is 888 426-4435.)
I’ve had great luck with them years ago, when Maggie (always Maggie!) ate a partially-chewed gummy dropped by a friend.
Here’s a screen shot from their home page: (Click on the link, not the image!)
And so, even though I knew there was a charge, ($115 now) I was grateful to talk to a specialist. I also expected to wait on hold for awhile. I sat on the couch, stroking Maggie’s head, trying to watch a movie. I kept checking my phone for an update, but it felt like forever until I looked at my phone for the hundredth time, and it said “Call failed.” Argh! By that time, Maggie appeared to be in abject agony, so I called a second emergency clinic, and we decided that I could give her Tramadol, which I had in the doggie-drug drawer, instead of bringing her in. I did, and she went to sleep in 20 minutes. Phew.
I week or so later, to my surprise, I found an email in my inbox from Nicole Martin, the Senior Director of Business Development for the ASPCA’s Poison Control Center. Full of compassion, Nicole was concerned that I wasn’t able to reach them successfully. What number did you call? What number did you call from? She wanted to ensure that something like this didn’t happen again. I emailed back, and we ended up having an almost hour-long phone conversation, joined by Dr. Catherine Dzienisiewski, a boarded toxicologist.
First, I learned that Nicole had looked up my call. It had lasted 29 minutes (Time being relative, I would have sworn it was more like 45 minutes. Sigh.) and came up on their end as “Call Abandoned.” Whoops. Nope, I didn’t give up, I just looked at my phone and saw “Call failed.” But then, Nicole reached out, (and is working on why each side got a different message), and several good things came out of my attempt to contact the Hotline. I hope what I learned is of value to dog lovers everywhere.
First, let’s talk about potential problematic plants and pets by looking at how we interpret two words, “toxic” and “irritation.” When I bought the ZZ plant, I was told at the nursery that it wasn’t toxic, but could cause mild irritation. Meaning, to me, that it couldn’t harm the dogs in any significant way. Toxic is defined by Mirriam-Webster as “containing or being poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation.” (my italics) And, it is true that ZZ plant is not one of the plants known to kill our dogs, unlike, for example, a plant like Sago Palm, in which even one seed can kill a dog. But, as Dr. D reminded me, everything can be toxic, even water, depending on the dose. The lesson here is that the word “toxic” can be used in different ways–we need to look more closely at the details.
The other word I thought a lot about is “irritation.” If you are irritated you are, what, mildly annoyed? But biological irritation is another thing altogether–Maggie’s mouth, esophagus, and stomach were not mildly annoyed–given the quantity of leaves that she ate, it must have felt like her entire insides were on fire. [Note: It is suggested by many to give dogs who eat oxylates dairy products. I gave her vanilla ice cream, which was the only thing she would eat, but she immediately threw it up.]
As you probably know, there are a lot of house plants that contain oxylates, and the ASPCA has a list of the most common house plants to watch out for. Thanks to Maggie, ZZ plants are now on the list, when they weren’t before. Nicole and Dr. D. explained that that’s part of the challenge at Poison Control–the popularity of house plants waxes and wanes, and right now there are 415 plants listed as toxic to dogs.
Because of our conversation, the ASPCA Poison Control folks posted a new blog about “Insoluble Oxaltes.” In it they list the most common calls they get about oxylate-bearing plants–check it out. Here’s that number again, just in case: And just in case, here’s that number again: (888 426-4435.)
I also learned a lot about the ASPCA Poison Control itself. It was established in 1978, helps over 400,000 animals every year, and has what must be the country’s most impressive group of board-certified veterinary toxicologists who not only help callers, but are involved in extensive research in vet toxicology, including housing data on more than 5 million cases which have helped to identify new potential toxins and to research effective treatment. Their research has led to an understanding of dangers related to lilies in cats, as well as the dangers of macademia nuts, xylitol, grapes/raisins, and tartaric acid to dogs. So, if you know that you shouldn’t give your dogs grapes, now you know who to thank.
There is a mountain of information on their website. For example, check out this extensive list of toxic versus non-toxic plants for dogs, cats, and horses: You might be interested in their poster of the “top ten toxins” that led to calls to the Hotline:
One of my favorite posters, admittedly in part because it’s so damn pretty, is this one:
I would love to hear your experiences with canine or feline digestive crisis–tell us what happened, who or what worked, what you learned. I learned that Maggie–the dog who ate the cork from a wine bottle and needed emergency abdominal surgery–can not be trusted to eat anything. Apparently she has Labrador rising. (Apologies . . . but you all know what I mean, right?)
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: First snow! Granted, just a dusting, but still fun. I love how there is still a little color (a dusting?) this late in the year.
Jim and I took a walk on Sunday morning. All dog lovers know what he is pointing at in the photo below! (I had the bags.)
Driving home from town last week. Wow.
The photo below is of Jim and I getting ready to walk the dogs. Oh, wait! We were at the black tie wedding of Jonah and Haley in Philadelpia; Jonah is the son of our dear friends Meg and Randy. I wish I gotten a photo of the back of my dress–it has a low back and a slit down the skirt part with fancy-ass rhinestones. Perfect for walking dogs, or wait, sheepdog trials?
Introducing in the next photo, alongside of Maggie and Skip, Jenny and Venus. Jenny assisted our usual (and fabulous) sitter, Susan G, who house sat in spite of having recently broken her collar bone. Jenny helped out with most of the chores, and Venus was in predatory heaven, hunting mice and voles and squirrels and rabbits and . . .
Update re Maggie: A few weeks after abusing the ZZ plant, long after appearing to recover, Maggie’s liver values went blooey. Her ALP, ALT and TBL were worrisomely high, although her kidney values were fine. We spent 10 days sick with worry that our almost 13 year old dog was, well, you know. The C word. Our hope was that was a reaction to the ZZ ingestion, and that her liver would regulate back to normal. Ten days later, it did. Glory glory!!! What a relief.
Here’s to all of us learning about ASPCA Poison Control. And never having to need them. I’m hoping you get to enjoy a fancy-ass something (anything!) in your life this week. See you once I get the dog hair off the keyboard.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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So glad Maggie is okay! Having had two labs and now a Golden who enjoys “delicacies” of all kinds, I understand where you’re coming from!
I love your blog posts and your books. They have been so helpful to me.
Thank you!
ahh yes, poisons and dogs. Several years ago my previous dog who I dog-shared with my 80 year old mother tore up an old box of mice poison she found in mom’s garage. So old that my mom could not remember it being somewhere in the garage and surmises her husband must have owned it. At any rate, my dog was found running out of the garage with blue on her lips, the humans traced her steps back and found the box of poison shredded. I called the emergency number listed for that company I found online, and even though after hours they answered immediately. Although they were very kind and knowledgeable we were informed that no matter how old the poison it remains just as potent/lethal. Off to the emergency vet who put Apo-morphine in her eye to make her throw up and went through the stomach contents to see if she had ingested any. Needless to say, help must be sought within a narrow window of the dog ingesting the poison. Good news was that my dog was placed on Vitamin K, had to be on activity restrictions and watched constantly for any signs of bleeding (swelling, white gums, etc) for the next 30 days. She recovered fine but what a scare! So glad Maggie is feeling better!
lak, that is an absolutely terrifying story. Thank heavens there was a happy ending. Eeeps.
For folks in the UK, The Veterinary Poisons Information Service performs a similar function. They have a public line and vets can sign up to access their services which includes a registry of vets carrying antidote to adder venom and a huge database of toxic substances including plants, fungi, foods and household chemicals.
They produce excellent (free) information leaflets; I give all my new clients a set when they sign up to a course.
https://www.vpisglobal.com
My dog’s microchip is registered through Home Again. I pay extra for the premium service because it provides free 24/7 access to a medical hotline which includes the ASPCA Poison Control hotline. My guy is as bad as a toddler about putting things in his mouth that have no business being there, and the premium membership has paid for itself several times over. [Some of us are slow learners 😉 ]
Oh my, poor Maggie. So glad to hear she’s doing well now.
Thanks for the aspca info. Phone # and website entered into my contacts list, even though I don’t have pets now. (Along with the many wildlife emergency #’s already there.)
Love the photo of you and Jim. That dress is stunning!
Some years ago my former-stray rescue dog would eat anything he could get his paws on. So when I saw that my neighbors arborvitae, which hung over our fence, developed fruit I quickly looked up toxicity. And then I was out there trimming every over-hanging branch. (Side note: that tree/bush was the home of successive Cardinals and one year 4 adorable baby Bluejays!)
My Scottish Terrier Sunny ate a chunk of corn on the cob and needed abdominal surgery to remove it. She had grabbed it off my plate when I turned my back for a second; her short legs are no deterrent to her ability to climb onto a chair and then a table. A few weeks later she ate the tube from my heart monitor; I remember her happily coming to me with the attached cuff, which apparently wasn’t as chew-worthy. I immediately gave her peroxide and took her outdoors, where she threw up dozens of pieces of the tube. I called my vet, who said that if she threw up all of the tubing, she’d be fine. So I sorted through the vomit for the pieces and tried to reconstuct the tube’s original length. Then I called the maker of the monitor to find out how long the tube was when intact. A wonderfully kind and patient woman measured the tube on one of their monitors, and thank goodness I could determine that all of the tube lay in the vomity mess in the grass. Which of course I picked up before Sunny could grab it for another go-round.
Marilee: Good God. I don’t know what else to say, but I’ll carry the image of you piecing together the tubing in the grass all week. Lucky lucky dog!
You definitely went the extra mile! Good idea to call for the length of the tube. My puppy ate his rabies vax tag we’d gotten from the vet. Years ago they were metal, now they’re hard plastic. I was worried sick a sharp piece would lodge in his intestines, so I donned rubber gloves and carefully went through his poop until I found as much as i could and pieced it together.
Just a fan – you don’t have to post this – thank you for a glorious wake-up message!
Maggie got my gratitude journal filled up for today.
And you and Jim wowzah! I love the photos outside always but it must feel good when you can show up with shiny shoes and the whole black tie shebang. You both hit it out of the park!
I’m going to see if I can make a donation to the ASPCA – so few businesses have human beings – let alone ones allowed to try to fix problems – it’s like a mini second coming!
🩷
Sally, it’d be brilliant to make a donation. They do such good work–it’s a joy to know how many good peolpe there are out there!
Thanks for the shout out, Patricia! I hadn’t realized how very sick Maggie had been, and I’m so glad she is 100% recovered. I’ve put the ASPCA number into my contacts. Thanks for sharing this very important cautionary tale.
Coincidentally, I had occasion to call both my emergency vet and the ASPC Poison Control Hotline two weeks ago. River, my 6-year-old rescue dog, ate four cups of raw rice while I was out. (The rice was in a plastic bag on my dining room table, where I was using it to try to dehydrate a 40-year-old photo stuck to the glass of a picture frame.)
The internet said to call the vet, so, since it was 11pm, I called the emergency number. Told they couldn’t do anything since they didn’t have a toxicologist available, they gave me the number for the hotline. When I called, the greeting said to continue if the pet had ingested an actual poison. If they ingested human food, the recording refers to their website which doesn’t have anything about raw rice. And really, they can’t have everything on their site.
Again, the internet provided information. Several sites said to watch for lethargy, vomiting, and diarrhea. Seeing none of that at the moment, we went to bed.
The next two days were filled with frequent trips outside for rice-filled diarrhea, one missed message from River that resulted in poop on the carpet, and one close call as we were driving to the dog park and she tried climbing out the car window to relieve herself. I watched the volume of rice with each poop to gauge how far along things were.
By the evening of the second day of diarrhea, she was back to normal. I now have an additional item to add to the “do not leave accessible” list which, in reality, includes every human food. So far, she’s eaten a package of cheese (which was in the plastic wrapper; thankfully, she didn’t eat the wrapper), a stick of butter, two raw eggs, a bag of compost, a loaf of pan de muerto I had out for Day of the Dead, six sugar skulls out for the same reason (a different year), and the list goes on.
River is 30% beagle. A woman at the beach told me, and the internet seems to confirm, that beagles lack the ability to stop eating when full, and that they’ll eat until they make themselves sick. Just another adventure of living with my favorite canine!
Holy moly Dan, what a story. (What a beagle!) I had a Saint Bernard eat a bag of raw rice too, when I was living in a cabin in Alaska. I called the local vet, who said: “Don’t give him any water” and then laughed himself silly. Luckily, the dog was fine.
Oh, Maggie! Indeed. And what a beautiful couple! Thank you for your stories.
I had occasion to use the poison control line when my border collie Beau ingested one of my prescription strength naproxin tablets. The man on the line was very helpful and told me to have my vet call since naproxin is fatal to dogs. With my heart in my throat, I called the vet; she called poison control; Beau ended up on subq fluids for several days. Poison control told the vet to keep him, but since he was nuts and my vet knew him well, she told me to keep him quiet at home and bring him in every day for a week, I think it was. The idea was to flush his kidneys. It worked; Beau survived.
But some of my dogs have ingested weird things. Border Collie Patch apparently ate twine attached to a plastic balloon–at least that’s what it looked like after surgery to remove it at the emergency vet. No one knows where he found it. Border collie/husky cross Tippy ate a corn cob, but she managed to pass it without surgery. Big terrier mix Sheba managed to eat the plastic wrap of bulk sausage–the kind with metal staples at the ends. No one knew how she sneaked it from the trash. Luckily, I was with her when she tried to poop it out because she needed help (ugh).
Glad Maggie recovered and that now the ZZ plant is on the list.
You and Jim clean up super good !
I’m happy to hear Maggie is feeling better. My Aussie Pixie is constantly eating things she shouldn’t. She ate 2 dead voles in a matter of days and since she didn’t throw the second one up she earned a visit to the vest office where they induced vomiting. She’s also eaten at various times a branch of a rhododendron, a corn cob and a bag of spicy Cheetos. She’s pretty determined to ingest lots of things that are not edible.
She had no ill effects from the Cheetos just a spicy belch when she was caught.
When my now almost six-year-old dog was a puppy, he staged a cage match with a philodendron growing in the backyard that none of the other dogs had ever bothered. We waited for the irritation and misery, but he was unfazed. A week later, he chowed down on some mistletoe that had fallen from one of the trees. It subdued him for a bit, but he was fine. I learned the difference between what “toxic ” plants cause irritation, GI upset, and which are truly harmful years ago with my first pup, and I’m thankful you wrote about this as i find the blanket “toxic” term frustrating.
P.S., my sister used to have a golden retriever with an iron stomach who literally followed along behind me, dug up and ate some lily bulbs I had just planted. They came out the other end intact, like everything else he ever ate that he shouldn’t have That dog lived forever.
My boy started waking me up around 1am a few weeks back, sticking his nose in my face as I slept (he’s amazing, absolutely will not go in the house!). I immediately jumped up and ushered him into the bathroom as he was licking his lips and clearly nauseous and that’s the easiest floor to clean up. With me talking to him and letting him know it was okay, he vomited an incredibly large amount of food. We sat there for a while until his nausea was gone and I started back to bed, but he sat there refusing to jump up, a clear sign that a trip outside was needed. This went on several times during the night, vomiting followed by liquid diarrhea. Poor boy!!!! In the early hours of the morning, when the sun was barely up enough for me to see, he vomited in the grass and when I went to inspect there was a large piece of plastic or wax paper or something, that appeared to have something inside of it. I placed it inside of another plastic bag in the event that a trip to the vet was deemed necessary. Fortunately after a day of more liquid diarrhea, no more vomiting, he started to turn a corner. I’ll never know what it was that he ate, but I’m very suspicious that any one of the “girls” currently living in my home (daughter & 2 granddaughters) who are, shall we say to be nice, “messy” dropped something on the floor or out of the car (the cars are worse than their spaces in the house) which he found irresistible. He’s not a counter or table surfer, so I’m sure it was at ground or floor level. UGH!
This same dog 3 years ago when he was about 6 months old, ingested a huge amount of Oriental Bittersweet berries. I was cutting the remains of a tree that had come down, choked with those blasted horrible invasive vines, and clearing the vines away into a pile behind me as I worked, when I suddenly realized that he was eating every berry that he could get his mouth on! Checked online and found American Bittersweet to be toxic, but couldn’t get a clear answer on Oriental. A quick call to the emergency vet confirmed that I should use peroxide to induce vomiting and let me tell you, the volume of berries was unreal!! Other than some hurt pride, my boy was just fine.
Several years ago, I had dug up a huge patch of day lily’s and was going to move them to a better space when my Springer grabbed a pile and ran off to have a snack. I got to her and she gave up what she hadn’t already eaten, drank a bunch of water when we went inside, and within the hour she was vomiting huge amounts of liquid. She was absolutely fine afterward, but it was scary. And even though she didn’t typically eat things like that, any day lily roots always had to be dispatched quickly as there was something about them that attracted her.
Another Springer many years ago )close to 30 now) pulled an entire pound of chocolate fudge out of a bag that I had just purchased from a local candy maker as a Christmas gift. I had run into a shop to get some wrapping paper and was gone less than 10 minutes. When I returned, the paper box was laid out flat on the back seat, not even torn, and the entire pound of fudge gone, box licked clean. My boy was on the floor of the front passenger side as far away from the evidence as possible “Not me Mom! Did you see? Someone came in the car and stole that lucious chocolate fudge! Scared me, so I’m hiding”. LOL! Only funny now because he, amazingly, was fine. A little diarrhea and that was it. And the candy maker, feeling sympathetic as he once had a candy stealing dog, gave me a replacement box free of charge.
So glad Ms Maggie is okay! And that you are too. These events definitely take away a few years from us!
In 2018, my West Highland White Terrier ate some cherry pits that my daughter had left within her reach. Knowing that cherry pits contain cyanide, I took her to the vet, who induced vomiting and talked to me about calling ASPCA Poison Control – it was my decision since I would have to pay for the call, which was $65 at that time. Poison Control said that since the cherry pits appeared to have been swallowed whole and weren’t chewed, there was little danger, but that the vet and I did the right thing. One thing I found interesting was that the support staff that do appointment scheduling, were not aware that cherry pits contain cyanide!
Now aged 12, said Westie is still with us, snoozing at my feet.
Oh dear, beautiful Maggie (and Patricia! I feel your pain), I feel so bad you went through this ordeal. So glad things have calmed down for you!
Years ago, my lovely Lucy (who also had periodic abdominal flare-ups), attempted to eat Every Single Plant in my living room. I have 8 or 9 large plants in that room -everything from a peace lily to norway pine. She was about six years old at the time and had never shown any interest in the houseplants. At all. But her belly must have been very upset that day. We were out, Lucy couldn’t get outside to eat grass and throw up (which she did to help her feel better), so she went for the next best thing. Came home to numerous piles of green vomit and one very sad and sick pup. Off to the vet, x-rays, blood tests, scans, etc….. our poor girl was very sick indeed. Her poor esophagus and stomach lining were extremely inflamed. After many weeks, she recovered. After many months Mom recovered. And set off on a years-long journey of learning everything I could about canine nutrition, so that her original abdominal issues would be better controlled, and her desire to eat plants might subside. Also began putting up the baby gate whenever we left Lucy home alone, so she couldn’t get to what was left of the houseplants. And, as it turned out, almost every plant I owned was toxic for dogs…… talk about “mom guilt” 🙁 !
PS – Love the pics!
No idea that tulips were toxic. We used to have a dog who was obsessed with them. But he wouldn’t eat them. He’d just behead them, biting off the flowers and letting them fall to the ground.
We bought a house… the house we now live in and that meant we could get a puppy! So we did.
I did not know that Boxwood bushes are toxic – not deadly sure, but will cause irritation. And we all know puppies are explorers so of course Foxy decided to chomp and chew on any plants she encountered. We spent weeks removing all the plants we knew to be unsafe or ones we could not identify from the backyard.
I have been fortunate to not have to make any emergency trips – with the exception for my youngest we suspect was stung as we encountered her with a swollen face one day. So now we carry benadryl in the car and in the house just to be prepared if she does get stung again – to give us time to get her vet care.
I’ve never had to call ASPCA’s poison line, but I keep the number on my fridge in case of need.
I know friends who’s cats partook in lillies and the aftermath was expensive and sometimes devastating. I came to accept that I’m just not likely to have houseplants… I simply don’t wish to chance it. I wish that nurseries labeled plants a bit better, but you’ll always find me on my phone looking up whether a plant is safe or not. Toxic plants end up in the front yard – tulips, daffodils, lillies…. and we’ve fenced off our woodland garden in the backyard to prevent access to them (and because we have two great pyrs behind us and having that double fence helps reduce barrier frustration/reactive barking between us).
I have had lantana in the yard for years. Never a problem. Then THIS puppy (Leonberger) started eating it like salad! Took me a bit to figure out what was causing all the diarrhea. But once I did plants had to go.
So glad that Maggie is better!
Hugh, BC, known counter cruiser, staggered and fell around 11:30 PM a few years ago. I got him up but he just went down.. think drunken sailor. Leo, BCx, was worried b/c mom was a wee bit concerned. In frustration with him not backing away, I “might” have yelled Go Lay Down! He went upstairs to the bedroom. I had decided we needed to head to Purdue’s emergency clinic when Leo came downstairs with something in his mouth. It was a thoroughly chewed bottle that had contained 90 Lyrica capsules. In the bedroom I found the cap and the also chewed little plastic desiccant container from inside the bottle. I did not find any capsules and immediately called the ASPCA hotline. The very nice person said I could pay the fee & talk to someone but because we knew what was ingested, they suggested to head to the ER. Which we did. Purdue suggested I call back to ASPCA for their advice but that Purdue could also call for me and I agreed thinking the professionals should discuss treatment. Yes, the fee was added to the bill but who cares? Treatment was supportive for an overnight stay ( they wanted to keep him 1more night). Since he was stable & we are only 10 minutes from PU I brought him home. He was none the worse..
Thank goodness for Leo who let me know why Hugh was out of it and for the PU Vet Hospital and the ASPCA! As for the human who left the Rx bottle on the counter then didn’t notice it was missing, I had words with her.
Sadly, I lost my dearest Hugh at the end of September. I am grateful for the splendid 13 years we shared.
What a relief your precious Maggie is now well! I have a 9 year old lab who ate earthball mushrooms (look like little potatoes) in August, of course at 9:30 pm on a Saturday and the variety listed as toxic online. I live on an island with no emergency veterinary services. I called an emergency clinic on the mainland who referred me to Pet Poison Helpline (855-886-7965; $89 fee). This Helpline then referred me to a Facebook page that provides only emergency identification of plant items ingested by animals and humans and has toxicologists working around the world: “Poisons Help: Emergency Identification for Mushrooms and Plants”. It helped me confirm what I thought the mushroom was and provided assistance in possible symptoms; not lethally toxic. I then confirmed/worked with the Helpline experts. While it was a stressful night, it was also a very positive experience with many wonderful helpers. Great information to keep.
Years ago my girl Scitzo put a toad in her mouth. She immediately spit it out. Her eyes got really strange and she was drooling profusely. Called our local ER Vet and was told local toads aren’t poisonous. It was quite scary for both her and I.
While walking the docks on a Saturday morning in FL, I released Lewis, my young Basenji, to chase seagulls as reinforcement for a very nice sit-stay. As I walked to the t-dock I saw what looked like green-blue cookie crumbs on the dock [this was a few days after St Patricks Day]. I turned the corner and saw a similar colored chunk in Lewis’s mouth. I cued him to drop it, which he did immediately. I picked up the chunk, walked to the marina office, and asked what it was. Yep, rat bait. We walked home and I called ASPCA Poison Control. The vwt who answered asked if Lewis had ingested any, I told her I didn’t know. She told me to induce vomiting, collect as much of it as I could in a ziploc bag, and go straight to ER vet. The ER vet told me there are 3 types of rat bait, each causing a different reaction. She weighed the pieces I had collected, said Lewis was under toxic level for 2 of the types and borderline toxic for the 3rd, then gave me prescription-strength Vitamin K to give to Lewis for 30 days. Liver enzymes okay and Lewis is still with me [will be 12 years old next month]. Yes, I made a mistake letting my dog off-leash but there were no people or animals at risk & Lewis HATES getting wet, so I thought we were okay. Rat bait is supposed to be in a child- and pet-proof container because of its toxicity, not left out in the open! Vet clinics used to hand out ASPCA Poison Control refrigerator magnets, but I couldn’t find them anywhere online.
I had a good chuckle at your “Jim and I getting ready to walk the dogs” line! Lovely photo of you both!
And yes, I had to call Animal Poison Control several years ago when I tried to kill my little 47-pound Llewellyn setter, Pal, by accidentally giving him the medication meatball meant for his big galoot brother, Moose (a 105-pound Rottweiler), who’s an epileptic and takes a LOT of heavy duty anti-seizure medications. I absentmindedly gave the meatball to the dog waiting (they’re like baby birds at my side as I prep the meatballs, waiting for mama to bring a fresh grub) and as soon as Pal swallowed the yummy meatball I realized what I’d done – given him enough phenobarbital for a dog twice his size (who was also taking the high-end dose for a 100-pound dog), plus some extended release Keppra. I called the local ER, who referred me to poison control. It took a long, LONG time on hold (I actually DO believe it WAS 45 minutes or more) before I got the “it won’t kill him” response, but they said he will be drunk. Which was the understatement of the year. It was the next morning before it hit poor little Pal (a senior, on top of everything else), who was staggering drunk, and looked like he had the mother of all hangovers too. It was a full 72 hours before the poor little guy was back to normal. I felt so bad for my poor, sweet little old man.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time I’ve done this. I did it to Pal AGAIN a few months later, but that time I got out the fresh hydrogen peroxide immediately and was able to have him vomit up his entire lovely meal, just eaten, and included the accidental medication dose. Whew! He wasn’t happy with me, but I assured him he would get fed again. Pal has been gone for a couple of years now, but Moose is still here, and of course still epileptic. And wouldn’t you know, it happened again just last week. This time his sister, Thea, who’s 70 pounds, was there waiting for the yummy meatball eagerly. Aarrgh! I used hydrogen peroxide on her but all that came up was the hydrogen peroxide I think – but there may have been something (dissolved) in that foamy, slimy mess. I wasn’t as concerned about due to her larger size and younger age (she also got some potassium bromide in her meatball, but it’s not an issue for one dose), but she was a little wobbly the next day and slept more too.
In my defense, both Pal and Thea were/are being medicated as well (carprofen for Pal, gabapentin for Thea), so it was just absent mindedness on my part each time, handing out the medication meatballs when my mind was elsewhere…
Maureen: I feel your pain. That’s something I absolutely could do myself! Glad all was well in the end!
I once accidently double-dosed one of my dogs with Trazadone. He got half a pill. Gave him his pill, ate breakfast, see half a pill sitting next to the bottle, thought “Oh, I need to give him his pill….” He was one sleepy zombie all day. You could set him somewhere and he’d just… stay there, without so much as a twitch. Thankfully, he was fine by that evening.
Some years ago we had three dogs were able to get an opened package off a kitchen stool while we were out to dinner. The package contained packing peanuts, it was full when we left and there were 6 peanuts left when we arrived home. Panic hit quickly – luckily our vet clinic still had an after hours number we could call for help. The vet had us hold one of the remaining peanuts under water and the peanut melted away. He explained these types of packing peanuts were made of a Chee-to type of material and that the dogs might experience indigestion or diarrhea but would be okay. Big relief and big lessons come together – no more items left on the kitchen stool!
Several years ago now, my Belgian Sheepdog agility partner started nibbling on a Jade plant, just a tiny bit here and there. He had never touched a plant before, but somehow that plant became irresistible. I didn’t notice right away. He became lethargic. It turns out that Jade plants can cause arrhythmia. He was a big boy and was eventually fine. That’s to say that I gave that plant away.
Thanks for this “all the important links” in one place post! I’m so glad Maggie is ok! And you and Jim look like you are on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards!
My first husky rescue managed to eat zucchini I was growing plus some Morning Glory leaves. I had looked at possible toxic plants on the local regional plants site before planting anything as he was my first dog as an adult. Well unbeknownst to me at the time, morning glories are psychedelic. I called the rescue asking for help because my calm, sweet boy was acting like Cujo. His foster parent came over and pointed it out to me. I dug out the plant the next day. Of course there was the zucchine plant vomit to clean up off of the light blue carpeting!
So glad Maggie is fully recovered. It’s just petrifying to have a beloved dog suddenly ill and suffering.
As a youngster, Max, my adored Golden Retriever, at everything he could get his mouth on. In one week, that included eating a $2,500 pair of hearing aids followed shortly thereafter by a new set of prescription glasses. Both mysteriously disappeared and I blamed my own absent mindedness. But when I cleaned his crate a few days later, I discovered fragments of wire and glass — all that was left of the two things that helped me to see and hear! Didn’t phase Max’s gut in the least!
I live in Arizona and wanted to also put in a plug for the human poison control line. I was unknowingly bitten by a spider on my foot and had a bad reaction and they were able to figure out exactly what type of spider it was and what treatment I needed (urgent care visit followed soon after). They have a whole department for bites and stings. I’ve been lucky on the dog front, only had to call that poison control once for a lab (of course!) who I was sitting who ate an entire container of some boutique lotion that thankfully just caused upset stomach/ diarrhea.
Thank you for all this good information! It is great when there are wonderful people around who know how to care for your animals as much as we all do.
Recently, my Pippin, a 5 year old Aussie, got into some garbage and ate two corncobs. I didn’t discover this until later. I live on a small island in the PNW and it was after hours on a Sunday. I was told by the emergency vet tech that I needed to get to a vet ASAP but would have to go off the island. I then remembered I had kept the home phone number of my favorite vet on the island, called it, apologized profusely for coloring outside of the lines, and he told me to meet him at the vet clinic right away. There we spent an hour and a half chatting while watching Pippin throw up the world, including clearly chewed up corn cobs. He would have been fine but we didn’t know that and my still favorite vet came to the rescue.
Still gorgeous after all these years!
Thank you for the ASPCA Poison Control number. I’ve put it in my phone (funny thing was, my first thought was post it on my fridge, you can tell I’m older ; ).
You and Jim look fabulous in that photo, you go girl with the open back!
Glad Maggie is OK. I have a very large ZZ plant but not a dog who eats plants, but still good to know.
Best to you all.
I haven’t had trouble with toxic foods, but my dogs have eaten some weird stuff over the years. I think the most “Why??? Just WHY????” one was the young Aussie who ate part of a compact disc case. Hard plastic, breaks into sharp-pointed pieces. I didn’t have any bread at home, so she got a bunch of cotton balls dipped in half and half to hopefully wrap around the sharp bits before I induced vomiting. No bad effects, thankfully.
My brother’s wonderful, much loved dog died after eating about six muffins made with the sugar substitute xylitol. She was a counter surfer and both parents thought the other was watching her. The muffins were freshly baked and cooling on the kitchen counter. They rushed her to an emergency vet in Madison and tried for 24 hours to save her but her liver was, basically, destroyed. There is no treatment for xylitol poisoning. A tragedy . Much sorrow and guilt for her parents.
One thing I noticed is that the ASPCA Poison list left out raw Pacific Salmon. They carry a fluke that can be deadly if not caught in time. One of our dogs got a hold of a piece of raw salmon and got really sick a few days later. Fortunately our vet, as a former microbiologist. on top of it. When she heard about the small piece of raw salmon the dog ate, she knew what to do and the dog recovered. I have also heard this fluke may not be limited to pacific salmon, but possibly Atlantic salmon as well.
Back before I knew my lab mix, Burley, was a counter-surfer, I came home to find the tub of Dasuquin that had been set far back on the kitchen counter now on the floor, with several chews spilled about, and I assumed several more in Burley’s belly.
The Dasuquin was for the other pup in the house, an 11-year-old Golden Doodle named Dude–who lived up to his groovy, laid-back name, but was often an innocent accomplice to Burley’s antics.
I called the ASPCA Hotline and was told that I needed to induce vomiting in Burley –and also in Dude because I didn’t know whether he had also partaken in the “treat.”
The first method that was suggested didn’t work, necessitating a trip to a couple of different neighborhood stores to buy a turkey baster to administer hydrogen peroxide orally. That was a heart-wrenching journey because I had to leave the dogs at home alone and I imagined all kinds of pain and misery as I searched like a fool for a turkey baster.
The mission was finally accomplished and revealed that Burley had acted alone.
I will be forever a fan of the hotline, but I’m sure Burley was not. And Dude . . . well, his sweet self always was content to just abide.
My dog Gus (half lab, half boxer) was intact until he was 7 (when the smegma production became untenable and thus he was neutered). Prior to being neutered he had never displayed any interest in things like fallen apples in my yard. The deer could have free reign. After being neutered, however, he developed the lab half of his DNA to a remarkable degree., and several times I came home from work (he had a fenced yard and doggy door) to find him miserable with colic from stuffing himself with apples. The first time I was positive he had bloat and rushed him to the emergency vet, but they said it was just colic. Over time I discovered that the homeopathic remedy magnesium phosphorica helped him amazingly. I’d come home, find him with colic, walk him a mile and a half around the park slowly so he could poop and/or vomit if he was able, then give him a dose or two of that and he’d be able to fall asleep. I did cut down all my apple trees after a few times of colic, but then he moved on to wild cherries and had to be locked away in the house while I was at work for the month of August because wild cherry seeds can be particularly dangerous if chewed. He died at 13 of pancreatitis associated acute kidney injury. he had previously had this at age 9 and managed to recover but 4 years later his body just did not have the resilience. I still miss him!
p.s. – years ago a friend was staying with me with her St Bernard, Harley. Harley found and ate a beer can someone had thrown into my front yard, one night when she let him out to pee before bed. She took him to the vet the next morning and they did x-rays. She said his gut looked like Christmas lights with all the beer can bits strung along it! The vet advised giving Harley a little extra wet food over the weekend to help cushion the beer can bits. She went out and bought a case of wet food, and we fed him the entire case over the next three days. Harley was in dog heaven! His x-rays on Monday were all clear though. 🙂
“Labrador rising”!!
Oh I’m going to use that a lot. “Terrier rising” would explain a lot!! “Husky rising” for all the vocal ones?
I called them once and they were very helpful. I have their app on my phone. Or maybe I long ago bookmarked it on my main screen.
Sorry, but I have a HUGE Problem with the ASPCA list of people foods to not give a dog: The put Xylitol between raw meat,eggs, bones and salty food. As far as I know, raw meat and bones are normal dog food, raw eggs no problem in small amounts (and I thought dogs are not susceptible to salmonella), salt in small quantities is required (as for humans) – but Xylitol is deadly even in small amounts unless immediate treatment happens in a veterinary clinic. At least that is what Dr. Rückert insists on in his blog (in German).
I appreciate your point Klara, I’ll relay this to them.
I’m so glad to hear that Maggie is going to be ok. My dog Sadie (now 16), in her ‘youthful’ years, got into everything! I had to put child locks on the drawers & cabinets in the kitchen. Some of the things she has ingested: mouse poison (two of her siblings partook as well and we had neon green poop until it was out of their systems – yes, immediately took them to the vet), a bag of ibuprofen that my mother left on the counter, a bag of rimadyl left on the counter, a CFL light bulb (not sure if she ingested or just chewed and broke), many boxes/bags of “frosted pecans” that had been wrapped as presents at Christmas time (and may I add, very expensive frosted pecans from Savannah, Georgia), the candy drawer (wrappers all over the living room!). I sound like a terrible dog mom, but I’ve learned a lot over the years and don’t have any recent incidents.
I note that rodenticides and insecticides are in the top 10- both are pesticides. There is a great resource out there, called the National Pesticide Information Center. It has web pages and fact sheets on lots of topics, including hazard versus risk, rodenticides (and how the different ones work- critical in a crisis), how to evaluate how toxic a pesticide is from its label (the active ingredient is only part of the story!), and ways to reduce risks of exposure if you use pesticides (even disinfectants are pesticides, by the way! They control micro pests!). You can use the chat feature on the website, email them, or call their hotline.
You can find the website here: https://npic.orst.edu/
NPIC staff are not medically trained, but they can help you evaluate the magnitude of an exposure, look up signs and symptoms, and most importantly, help you avoid being in that position in the first place.
Also, there is a second animal poison control hotline: Pet Poison Helpline, 855-764-7661. It is a bit cheaper ($85) but they’ve saved my border collie before.
Our vet recommended a call to the aspca poison control when our 10 lb chi mix ate 2 raisin stems. I was so grateful that experts were available to help us understand what to do in such a case. It was a relief to not have to do invasive measures. Very very thankful that they exist!
My Greyhound ate part of a Norfolk Pine plant about 5 years ago. He lived with the plant for a few years without bothering it but suddenly decided it would be tasty. He was the one who had to go to the vet for eating a foot bandage and chew toy, so not completely surprised he did it. I found the plant on the floor near several pools of vomit and him lying down innocently nearby. We called the emergency vet, because these things always happen after regular business hours, and was told that the plant wasn’t toxic to dogs. Luckily, he recovered just fine. The plant still leans to one side though.