Dogs are known to put everything and anything in their mouths. But these objects present in your home can be particularly dangerous for the health of your dogs.
Dogs, let's face it, are not the finest gourmets. They will of course eat watermelon and rush eggs like us, but we also know that these same dogs appreciate the taste of their own excrement and vomit. Because dogs lick everything and anything, objects in your home and around that are not intended for their consumption can cause problems. The last thing you want is for your four-legged friend, to enter when he is in your care. If you know where the most dangerous and toxic objects are hidden, you can create a safer environment for your faithful companion.
If you don't know where to start, you're lucky. To highlight the national dog's mouth, the QuestionsWer experts and answer website has seen nearly 200,000 discussions between dog owners, veterinarians, and experts which took place online between January 1, 2022, and the 1st of June 2023. The team looked at the most popular answers to the question: "I don't know what to do, my dog ate ___."
Here are the nine most common answers, classified according to the total number of online conversations. (And you will see that it is not the "duty" answer that prevails!)
9. Chewing gum
It’s worrying when your dog swallows chewing gum. First, certain types of gum contain the Xylitol sugar substitute, which can cause liver lesions and hypoglycemia, a disease that occurs when blood sugar is dangerously decreased. "If your dog's hypoglycemia is not treated, this can lead to convulsive crises and even death," said veterinarian Charles D. McMillan, owner of Goodvets in Atlanta. Liver lesions are usually reversible over time thanks to appropriate therapy. ”
Chewing gum that does not contain Xylitol can nevertheless seriously disturb your dog's health. It can, even without being toxic, cause stomach aches or intestinal occlusion.
What to do if your dog eats chewing gum: immediately bring your dog to the veterinarian. Hypoglycemic attacks can happen quickly following Xylitol ingestion. The veterinarian will start detoxification by vomiting your dog, will start a symptomatic treatment, and monitor his blood sugar and liver values.
8. Cookies
"Cookies can be particularly dangerous when they contain certain types of polyalcohols and chocolate," warns Dr. McMillan. Pay particular attention to Xylitol sugar alcohol. It is often found, in addition to chewing gum, in sugar-free foods, and it is the only sugar substitute recognized to cause hypoglycemia.
Chocolate contains methylxanthins that dogs cannot metabolize like humans. By accumulating in the body, they can cause vomiting, diarrhea, greater thirst, hyperactivity, or even even more serious symptoms such as convulsive crises and an irregular heart rate.
So keep the raisin cookies out of the reach of your dog since they are toxic too. If you want to reward your good behavior, give it more dogs for dogs.
What to do if your dog eats cookies: call your veterinarian or an animal anti-poison center and give as many details as possible on the quantity of cookies your dog has eaten, the ingredients they contain, and the time when it is produced. The telephone number of the anti-poison service Poison Helpline-24/7 in the United States and Canada (in English only) is 1 800 213-6680. Consultation fees may apply.
The first thing to do if your dog ingests xylitol and chocolate is to vomit it. Your veterinarian will probably also use charcoal activated to link chocolate and thus prevent it from being absorbed by the digestive tract. If the cookies contain only Xylitol, the veterinarian will be able to monitor your dog's blood sugar and liver values for a few days.
7. Chicken
Chicken is actually one of the human consumption foods that dogs can eat. The danger comes from the way it is applied. Raw chicken or insufficiently cooked (like any protein of animal origin) can be contaminated by various pathogens such as salmonella, escherichia coli (or E. coli), and Listeria, which can cause diseases of food. Then comes the challenge of secondary transmission: dogs can transmit food pathogens to humans.
Chicken baked without sauce or seasoning can be given to your dog under the wise advice of your veterinarian, but it is very risky to give it chicken bones. "Dog owners should not give them chicken with bones because their ingestion can cause gastrointestinal lesions or disorders and cause a risk of suffocation," said Dr. McMillan.
What to do if your dog eats raw chicken: some dogs can tolerate raw chicken while others will present signs of illness. Call the veterinarian if your dog vomits or has diarrhea. "It becomes a public health issue if dog owners feed them with raw or insufficiently cooked chicken due to the pathogens that hide in the environment by their excrement, according to Dr. McMillan. Some dogs fed daily by raw can also accommodate pathogens in their coat. ”
6. Bottles
We are not talking here about eating bottles even if it is not impossible that your dog mined a plastic bottle. After all, some dogs eat earth well and chew grass! No, these are more panic owners who exclaim: "My dog ate a bottle of___!" What they are trying to say is that their dog has swallowed a significant amount of a drug.
“Any bottle of pills represents a huge risk, except for some less toxic. Vitamins and supplements for joints, in particular, would enter this category deemed less worrying depending on the type and the amount of drugs ingested, "said Dr. Grant Little, a veterinarian for JustAnswer.
What to do if your dog eats an entire bottle of something: call your veterinarian or the anti-poison service with all the information you can collect on the contents of the bottle so that we can advise you on the procedure to treat your dog.
5. Raisins
Something to eat for your dog? Some dried raisins. Naturally, that does not mean that your very curious puppy will not use himself. And if he succeeds in putting the paw on one of these small boxes of raisins that you put in your child's lunch box or if he swallows an oats and raisins cookie, there are strong Chances that you have to take him to the veterinarian, because the raisins are toxic.
"Some dogs may have symptoms after ingestion of raisins (or grapes) when others will not have them," said Dr. McMillan. If experts still do not know why some do so with slight symptoms while others will develop a serious illness, research suggests a possible link between tartaric acid and its salt, potassium bitartrate, which is found in greater quantity in grapes.
"The contents of tartaric acid vary depending on the maturity of certain fruits and could explain the inconsistencies as to the development of symptoms according to the ingestion of grapes and raisins," said Dr. McMillan.
What to do if your dog eats raisins: immediately take your dog to the veterinarian so that he can vomit. He will then provide her with support care, then measure and probably monitor his kidney values for several days. "The good news is that the vast majority of dogs that ingest grapes or raisins will not develop any clinical sign," concludes Dr McMillan.
3. Medicines
Oops! Some pills fell to the ground trying to open the bottle cover. And as your dog follows you everywhere, it only makes a bite. This scenario occurs more often than you might think.
"Any medication commonly used in humans to treat current diseases, particularly chronic problems, is a drug commonly ingested by dogs," notes Dr. Little. Usually, these drugs are those that people use daily as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, notably Bayer, Motrin, and Aleve, hypertension drugs, those to treat thyroid, and vitamins, especially vitamin D.
"These drugs have more notable toxicity windows in dogs because the dose is much stronger for them or because their ability to eliminate these drugs from their organism is not as effective as in humans," explains Dr Little. For example, a medication intended to treat hypothyroidism in humans would release an excessive quantity of thyroid hormone in a dog.
Marijuana has become, since its legalization, a popular spare solution to traditional drugs to treat disease. This is why more and more owners are concerned that their fur friends accidentally have marijuana, gelled candies, and other edible products at the CBD. According to Justanswer's report, questions on the subject have tripled since 2019.
What to do if your dog eats drugs: If your dog has lodged in your reserve of edible cannabis products, in the bottle of aspirin for babies, or in that of your prescription drug against hypertension, any small dose could endanger his life. Immediately call your veterinarian or the anti-poison service and provide all the information you have about the drug, including its name, dosage, strength, the quantity ingested by your dog, and when ingestion goes up. “It will help determine the next measure to take. In some cases, the dose will not be an issue according to the quantity ingested, ”says Dr. Little.
2. Raticide or other toxic products for domestic use
Since dogs are often attracted to things that we consider disgusting, it is plausible that they can also be by the smell of certain poisons. At the very least, they can be curious about the container and ingest it. But since the label contains the word "poison", no wonder what is bad for them.
The toxicity of pesticides used to hunt and kill insects as well as to control plants or animals such as rats and mice can vary from mortal to the substance and the quantity ingested by your dog.
"It is a general classification which can include poisons causing, among other things, hemorrhagic disorders, neurological destruction of the brain, or a toxicity of vitamin D causing a kidney disease," explains Dr. Little. Dogs can happen to us in convulsions, in complete renal insufficiency or we see bleeding in the chest or the abdomen which collapses squarely. "
What to do if your dog eats ratings or other toxic products for domestic use: if possible, detach the label of the poison container so that your veterinarian or the anti-poison service can analyze it. To determine the level of toxicity, it is also very useful to know how much product your dog ingested. Early diagnosis and immediate medical care are essential and can save your dog's life. The veterinarian will be able to treat poisoning with a detoxification process, but if your dog has ingested a lot and the poison is particularly toxic, your little patient may be hospitalized as well as treated intravenously and other drugs.
1. Chocolate
You would need help finding a North American household not have a single little piece of chocolate hidden somewhere. But given the propensity of dogs with little sweets - and to eat things that they should not - there is a good chance that your four-legged friend wants to steal your reserve. You will understand that even if chocolate is one of the greatest pleasures of life, it is also dangerous for dogs.
Chocolate contains compounds called methylxanthines, specifically theobromine and caffeine, which are unsuitable for the canine gent. Your dog cannot metabolize them as effectively as we do. "Theobromine causes global stimulation of the central nervous system, which leads, at sufficiently high doses, strong and rapid contractions of the heart, more abundant gastric secretions [vomiting and diarrhea], greater thirst and more frequent, Convulsive crises and, ultimately, death, ”explains Dr. Little.
Chocolate contains compounds called methylxanthines, specifically theobromine and caffeine, which are unsuitable for the canine gent. Your dog cannot metabolize them as effectively as we do. "Theobromine causes global stimulation of the central nervous system, which leads, at sufficiently high doses, strong and rapid contractions of the heart, more abundant gastric secretions [vomiting and diarrhea], greater thirst and more frequent, Convulsive crises and, ultimately, death, ”explains Dr. Little.
Chocolate toxicity is not exclusive to dogs: it can be toxic to all kinds of creatures. However, as chocolate remains one of the most common foods to be toxic to dogs, it is important to store yours out of the reach of your animal and immediately collect the pieces that you could have dropped.
What to do if your dog eats chocolate: immediately call your veterinarian or the anti-poison service because your dog will probably need to start a detoxing process as quickly as possible. The treatments will vary depending on its size and the amount of chocolate swallowed. The veterinarian may want to treat your dog in the clinic, but if poisoning is not too serious, he can offer you options to treat him at home.
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