Poison Prevention

  • Poison Control Hotline

  • Top Toxins

  • How to make a dog throw up

  • Safe Pest Control

Who to Contact If Your Dog or Cat Eats Something Toxic

Your initial call for advice can be to your local veterinarian or a poison control hotline.

There are two phone consult toxicology services, both offering consultations 24/7 and run by veterinarians:

Pet Poison Helpline created Toxin Trends to educate pet parents and veterinary professionals on the variety of toxins that are near their communities! The tool allows you to drill down and see which specific cities the calls originated from and which months of the year had the highest call volumes. You will also find lists of common clinical signs for each exposure and frequently asked questions.

Use this link to search the top 30 plants toxic to cats and dogs.

Toxin Trends

How to Make A Dog Throw Up

Whether to make a dog throw up or not is dependent on what they have swallowed. Please consult your vet or call one of the poison control help lines to determine the safest course of action.

1. ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435. Fee: $65 payable at time of call by credit card.

2. Pet Poison Help Line: (855) 764-7661. Fee: $39 payable at time of call by credit card.

Medications Toxic to Dogs and Cats

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)

  • Advil

  • Motrin

  • Aleve

Acetaminophen —  

  • Tylenol

  • Excedrin

  • Sinus and cold medications  - also contain acetaminophen.

Ibuprofen

Dogs Who Overdose Need More Than Reversal Medication

5-FU toxicosis in a dog (Efudex®, Carac®, Adrucil®, and Fluoroplex®

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (Efudex®, Carac®, Adrucil®, and Fluoroplex®)

5-Fluorouracil toxicosis in the dog

Bread Dough

By Sharon M. Gwaltney-Brant, DVM, PhD, DABVT, DABT, University of Illinois

Last full review/revision May 2013 | Content last modified May 2013

Raw bread dough made with yeast poses mechanical and biochemical hazards when ingested, including gastric distention, metabolic acidosis, and CNS depression. Although any species is susceptible, dogs are most commonly involved because of their indiscriminate eating habits.

Pathogenesis:

The warm, moist environment of the stomach serves as an efficient incubator for the replication of yeast within the dough. The expanding dough mass causes the stomach to distend, resulting in vascular compromise to the gastric wall similar to that seen in gastric dilatation/volvulus. With sufficient gastric distention, respiratory compromise occurs. Yeast fermentation products include ethanol, which is absorbed into the bloodstream, resulting in inebriation and metabolic acidosis.

Clinical Findings:

Early clinical signs may include unproductive attempts at emesis, abdominal distention, and depression. As ethanol intoxication develops, the animal becomes ataxic and disoriented. Eventually, profound CNS depression, weakness, recumbency, coma, hypothermia, or seizures may be seen. Death is usually due to the effects of the alcohol rather than from gastric distention; however, the potential for dough to trigger gastric dilatation/volvulus in susceptible dog breeds should not be overlooked.

Diagnosis:

A presumptive diagnosis can be based on history of exposure and clinical signs. Blood ethanol levels are consistently increased in cases of bread dough toxicosis. Differential diagnoses include gastric dilatation/volvulus, foreign body obstruction, ethylene glycol toxicosis, and ingestion of other CNS depressants (eg, benzodiazepines).

Treatment:

With recent ingestions in asymptomatic animals, emesis may be attempted, although the glutinous nature of bread dough may make removal via emesis difficult. In animals in which emesis (whether induced or spontaneous) has been unsuccessful, gastric lavage may be attempted. Cold water introduced into the stomach may slow the rate of yeast fermentation and aid in dough removal. In rare cases, surgical removal of the dough mass may be required. Animals presenting with signs of alcohol toxicosis should be stabilized and any life-threatening conditions corrected before attempts to remove the dough are made. Alcohol toxicosis is managed by correcting acid-base abnormalities, managing cardiac arrhythmias as needed, and maintaining normal body temperature. Providing fluid diuresis to enhance alcohol elimination may be helpful. Anecdotally, yohimbine (0.1 mg/kg, IV) has been used to stimulate severely comatose dogs with alcohol toxicosis.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/food-hazards/bread-dough

Insecticides

Insecticides come in at No. 7 of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's top 10 pet toxins of 2017. Insecticides includes items such as ant baits, bug sprays and yard products. Ant baits use attractants like peanut butter which unfortunately attract dogs as well as ants. In our effort to battle home invasions of unwelcome pests, we often unwittingly put our pets at risk.

Make sure your lawn is safe for your children and animals

ASPCA Poison Control

Studies Link Canine Cancers to Lawn Chemicals

Detection of herbicides in the urine of pet dogs following home lawn chemical application.

Household Chemical Exposures and the Risk of Canine Malignant Lymphoma, a Model for Human Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Case-Control Study of Canine Malignant Lymphoma: Positive Association With Dog Owner's Use of 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Herbicides

Natural, Organic and Other Methods of Fire Ant Control

FLEA & TICK CONTROL

FLY CONTROL

Lawn Care (Safe)

Integrated Pest Management

Holes in your chard? Gouges in your apricots? Yellowing, wilting leaves? It's time to get rid of the pests and keep your garden growing!

We're going to try to make it easier to keep the good bugs and bad bugs straight and eliminate the damaging bugs this month. Of course, the first defense against pests is always a healthy plant. Pests usually go for plants that are sickly, lacking in nutrients, in the wrong site, or watered irregularly. So, your first resource should always be to grow healthy plants and have healthy soil.

We have some tips if you're asking yourself, "What's eating this leaf and how do I make it stop?" The first step to eliminating the pest at hand is to identify it! Many foliage chomping pests are most active at night, so if you haven't seen it in action during the day, take a flashlight out to your garden after dark and turn some leaves over in search of the culprit.

If you need help identifying the culprit, the book, "Pests of the Garden & Small Farm" is an indispensible resource as is the
UC Davis Integrated Pest Management Website.

Once you've identified your garden enemy, you can create an effective management plan. This may include trapping or hand picking, a biological control such as introducing a "good bug", a cultural control like reducing the number of cool moist hide-outs, and/or a chemical control including natural insecticidal soaps and BT.

The Top 5 Pest Complaints

The Pest: Snails & Slugs

The Problem: Leaves with irregular chewed holes with smooth edges. Fruits near the ground with large holes eaten out of them, especially strawberries.

Know Your Enemy: Snails & slugs like cool weather and are most active on cloudy or foggy days and at night. A slime trail is a tell-tale sign that they've been around. They are one of the easiest pests to find: they are big!

Solutions:

Sluggo Plus: 
Environmentally friendly bait effectively kills many of the gardens most prolific pests. Unique blend of iron phosphate, a natural soil element, and spinosad, which is derived from a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacteria, and bait additives compressed into easy-to-use pellets.

Slug Saloon
A safe, efficient, non-toxic method of slug and bug control. The Slug Saloon is a durable lifetime trap for slugs and earwigs. Child and pet safe.

Handpicking 
Wet down infested area in the late afternoon with a hose. Come back out after dark with a flashlight, gloves, and a pail of soapy water to drop them in. Repeat daily until there's been a noticeable decline at which point weekly handpicking should be adequate.

Copper 
A flexible copper strip is a powerful deterrent for slugs and snails because it creates an electrolytic effect that repels them when they touch it. A reaction between their slimy secretion and the copper causes the shock.

Reduce Hiding Places 
Eliminating overgrown areas, low-laying boards, and rocks will force them further from your garden to find a day time hiding place. Also, while mulches can be very beneficial in a garden, there is a trade off: mulches provide hiding places for slugs & snails.

Beer Traps 
Dig a hole in the ground for a tuna can or similar container so that the lip is even with the ground. Fill it with beer and the slugs and snails will have a final toast. They can't resist the smell and taste!

 

The Pest: Earwigs

The Problem: Chewed leaves and stems and/or gouges in soft stone fruit or strawberries

Know Your Enemy: Earwigs are most active at night and prefer cool, moist, dark places

Solutions:

Insect Baits, Traps & Sprays

Dozens available at GrowOrganic.com, including, organic traps, baits, and sprays.

Diatomaceous Earth
Fossilized shells of tiny water-dwelling organisms called diatoms which, when ground, have microscopically fine, sharp edges. Used as a barrier to crawling pests such as slugs, snails, earwigs, etc.

Earwig & slug trap: The Slug Saloon 
A safe, efficient, non-toxic method of slug and bug control. The Slug Saloon is a durable lifetime trap for slugs and earwigs. Child and pet safe.

Trapping in cans
Fill multiple tuna fish cans with 1/2" of water with a drop of oil and soy sauce or bacon drippings and place them throughout your garden. Capture daily, dump earwigs in soapy water, refill cans, repeat daily!

Trapping in rolled newspaper
Moistened newspaper, rolled up in a tube, provides the perfect hiding place for earwigs. Pick the newspaper rolls up daily and drown them in soapy water daily.

Reduce Hiding Places: 
Eliminating overgrown areas, low-laying boards, and rocks will force them further from your garden to find a day time hiding place.

 

The Pest: Aphids

The Problem: Leaves that are curling, yellowing, and/or exhibiting oozing honeydew (the aphids suck the fluid out of the leaves). Leaves will often be covered with aphids.

Know Your Enemy: Aphids are very small, soft bodied insects that congregate most frequently on the underside of leaves and do not move quickly when disturbed. They are often in large clumps rather than a solitary insect. They come in all colors as well, from pale green to dark brown

Solutions:

Monitoring

Check your plants a couple times a week to catch infestations early. Remember to look on the underside of leaves.

Eliminate the Ants if they're around

Ants actually help aphid populations, protecting them in some cases from beneficial insects (see more on ants below).

Beneficial Insects

Introduce aphids' natural predators like parasitic wasps, lady bugs, lacewing & syrphid fly. Planting things like sweet alyssum or anything in the apiaceae family help to attract beneficial insects. The main defense against aphids is to increase beneficial habitat. You can also mail order beneficial insects

Row covers

Use a light weight row cover to protect seedlings which are more vulnerable than mature plants.

Reflective Mulch

Aphid and whitefly numbers can be lower in plants grown on reflective mulches. Reflective mulches were also shown to lower the numbers of cucumber beetles by 6 times in a study written up the American Society of Horticultural Science.

Wash 'em off

Using a strong stream of water, wash the aphids and their honeydew off plants.

Insecticidal soap

Spray infested foliage with neem oil, Safer Soap, Pyganic for temporary control. Multiple applications may be necessary as they will only kill aphids present at time of spraying.

Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants

This list contains plants that have been reported as having systemic effects on animals and/or intense effects on the gastrointestinal tract. Please note that the information contained in our plant lists is not meant to be all-inclusive, but rather a compilation of the most frequently encountered plants. If you think that your animal is ill or may have ingested a poisonous substance, contact your local veterinarian or our 24-hour emergency poison hotline directly at 1-888-426-4435.

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/

 

Aspca Animal Poison Control Center Hotline

As the premier animal poison control center in North America, the APCC is your best resource for any animal poison-related emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think that your pet may have ingested a potentially poisonous substance, make the call that can make all the difference: (888) 426-4435. A $55 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card.

 

What To Do If Your Pet Is Poisoned

- Don’t panic. Rapid response is important, but panicking can interfere with the process of helping your pet.

- Take 30 to 60 seconds to safely collect and have at hand any material involved. This may be of great benefit to your vet and/or APCC toxicologists, as they determine what poison or poisons are involved. In the event that you need to take your pet to a local veterinarian, be sure to take the product’s container with you. Also, collect in a sealable plastic bag any material your pet may have vomited or chewed.

- If you witness your pet consuming material that you suspect might be toxic, do not hesitate to seek emergency assistance, even if you do not notice any adverse effects. Sometimes, even if poisoned, an animal may appear normal for several hours or for days after the incident.

Call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center 

The telephone number is (888) 426-4435. There is a $55 consultation fee for this service.

Be ready with the following information:
- the species, breed, age, sex, weight and number of animals involved
- the animal’s symptoms
- information regarding the exposure, including the agent (if known), the amount of the agent involved and the time elapsed since the time of exposure.

Have the product container/packaging available for reference. 

Please note: If your animal is having seizures, losing consciousness, is unconscious or is having difficulty breathing, telephone ahead and bring your pet immediately to your local veterinarian or emergency veterinary clinic. If necessary, he or she may call the APCC.

Be Prepared
Keep the telephone number of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center—(888) 426-4435—as well as that of your local veterinarian, in a prominent location.

Invest in an emergency first-aid kit for your pet. The kit should contain:
- a fresh bottle of hydrogen peroxide, 3 percent USP (to induce vomiting)
- a turkey baster, bulb syringe or large medicine syringe (to administer peroxide)
- saline eye solution
- artificial tear gel (to lubricate eyes after flushing)
- mild grease-cutting dishwashing liquid (for bathing an animal after skin contamination)
- forceps (to remove stingers)
- a muzzle (to protect against fear- or excitement-induced biting)
- a can of your pet’s favorite wet food
-apet carrier

Always consult a veterinarian or the APCC for directions on how and when to use any emergency first-aid item.

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_whattodo

 

A Poison Safe Home

Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet 
- Alcoholic beverages
- Avocado
- Chocolate (all forms) 
- Coffee (all forms) 
- Fatty foods
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy or spoiled foods
- Onions, onion powder
- Raisins and grapes
- Salt
- Yeast dough
- Garlic
- Products sweetened with xylitol

Warm Weather Hazards  
- Animal toxins—toads, insects, spiders, snakes and scorpions
- Blue-green algae in ponds
- Citronella candles
- Cocoa mulch
- Compost piles Fertilizers
- Flea products
- Outdoor plants and plant bulbs
- Swimming-pool treatment supplies
- Fly baits containing methomyl
- Slug and snail baits containing metaldehyde

Medication
Common examples of human medications that can be potentially lethal to pets, even in small doses, include: 
- Pain killers
- Cold medicines
- Anti-cancer drugs
- Antidepressants
- Vitamins
- Diet Pills

Cold Weather Hazards 
- Antifreeze
- Liquid potpourri
- Ice melting products
- Rat and mouse bait

Common Household Hazards
- Fabric softener sheets
- Mothballs
- Post-1982 pennies (due to high concentration of zinc)

Holiday Hazards  
- Christmas tree water (may contain fertilizers and bacteria, which, if ingested, can upset the stomach. 
- Electrical cords
- Ribbons or tinsel (can become lodged in the intestines and cause intestinal obstruction—most often occurs with kittens!) 
- Batteries
- Glass ornaments

Non-toxic Substances for Dogs and Cats  
The following substances are considered to be non-toxic, although they may cause mild gastrointestinal upset in some animals: 
- Water-based paints
- Toilet bowl water
- Silica gel
- Poinsettia
- Cat litter
- Glue traps
- Glow jewelry

Toxic To Dogs

  • Xylitol (found in gum, sugar-free foods and other products) check the label

  • Chocolate

  • Grape & Raisins

  • Macadamia Nuts

  • Onion

  • Raw Yeast Dough

  • Alcohol

  • Coffee & Caffeine

  • Fruit Pits & Apple Seeds (apricot, avocado, cherry, nectarine, plum, peach)