Quick lesson on poisoning and how to induce vomiting

Lucy (on left) is a young setter that recently swallowed a large quantity of TomCat rodent poison but is now recovering. Her kennel-mate in the background is four-year-old Beasley.

Jerry and I recently heard from Mike, a friend and client from Minnesota. Mike has bought two setters from us— Beasley in 2011 and last year, Lucy.

“Tuesday afternoon I was driving home, talking to my wife Cynthia who was at home. All of sudden Cynthia was telling Lucy to drop something. When she reached, Lucy swallowed the rest of the mouse poison.

“Within 10 minutes I was home and had the vet on the phone. Per the vet’s instructions I gave her hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Within 5 minutes Lucy did and there was a lot of poison in her.”

Inducing vomiting in a dog is an extremely valuable medical skill and, fortunately, it’s relatively easy to do.

1.  Have these two supplies on hand:
•    3% hydrogen peroxide
•    syringe (without needle) or turkey baster

2.  Fill the syringe or baster with straight hydrogen peroxide at the dosage of 1 teaspoon per 10 lbs. of dog weight. (One teaspoon equals 5 cc or 5 ml.)

3.  Squirt into the back of the dog’s mouth.

4.  Wait 15 minutes. If the dog hasn’t vomited, the dosage can be repeated once.

Due to quick thinking and action by Mike and Cynthia, Lucy is recovering. Last week, they took her back to their vet for a re-check.

“She is good! We will be giving vitamin K for the next 30 days to help her blood clot. They do want us to keep her quiet for a month. That will be a challenge!!”