Call before you make them vomit

Your dog has just eaten something from the floor, the bin or the bathroom, and you are standing there with your phone, reading that a spoon of hydrogen peroxide will make it throw up. Or salt water. Or that you should give charcoal. It feels like the fast, responsible thing to do.

If your pet swallows something that could be poisonous, call your vet or an animal poison line before you try anything at home, and do not make them vomit unless a vet tells you to.

Why not just make them sick

Some people come to the same first step: call someone who knows before you reach for a home remedy. The reasons they give are specific.

Some things do more harm coming back up than going down, one person warns; a caustic cleaner, for one, burns again on the way back out. A vomiting animal can also breathe some of it in: one person warns that hydrogen peroxide breathed into the lungs can cause serious lung disease, and another warns that if one or two doses do not work, giving more can burn and scar the gullet. One person points out that hydrogen peroxide becomes poisonous to a dog at a dose only a little larger than the one used to make it vomit. Another correction says making a pet vomit is not the right move for every substance, and that follow-up care is needed even when it works. And vomiting is not proof that it is all out: one person explains that a pet does not always bring up everything, and that how fast a substance is absorbed varies.

Some people describe hydrogen peroxide, or another home remedy, as a sensible first treatment, and others say home remedies are often useless or dangerous and the only first move is a call. The UK answer is plain: the RSPCA says never try to make a dog or a cat vomit, and never use salt water, which it calls extremely dangerous. Elsewhere, some people say hydrogen peroxide can be used, with the timing and the dose critical, and others say it is sometimes necessary when a vet advises it. So the two do not say quite the same thing: the RSPCA’s rule is never, for a dog or a cat, and these accounts say a vet sometimes asks an owner to do it. What they share is who decides. Do it only if a vet tells you to, for that animal, at that moment — never as a guess, and never to a cat.

Activated charcoal gets the same answer. Some people keep it at home as a remedy, and a worker in a veterinary emergency room here corrects that: overdosed, it can kill, and it belongs under a vet’s supervision. Other cautions add that it can be breathed into the lungs, that it does not bind every poison, and that it takes large, careful amounts. One more correction agrees that it needs a vet’s monitoring.

Why not wait and see

Because some poisons show nothing until the damage is done. One person names onions and grapes, which can harm the organs before there is anything to notice, and another warns that for some substances the outlook is poor once signs appear. The RSPCA puts it in four words: never watch and wait. For xylitol, the sweetener in sugar-free gum and some peanut butters, the US Food and Drug Administration says a dog’s blood sugar can fall dangerously within ten minutes to an hour.

The money question

Here is the part people argue about, and it can be what stands between an owner and the phone. The poison lines charge for the call, and emergency vets are expensive. One person calls the fee a rip-off; another says a search engine gives the same information free; a third says local emergency vets can often be rung free for advice.

The answers from the other side are worth hearing before you decide. Some people answer that general sources, and even general vets, often do not know the toxic dose of a particular human medicine, which is what the poison specialists are for; one person says vets call the poison lines themselves. One person says calling first can save money, by telling you no treatment is needed, or by giving you a case number your own vet can use to speak to the poison specialists about your pet. In the UK, the Animal PoisonLine says that if your pet then needs a vet, and the vet charges you for calling its professional service, it refunds your call. Some people say some pet insurance policies or product makers cover the call, and one that a microchip membership included it; worth checking which you have. And one person is honest about the other half: even with the right advice, treatment such as a drip can cost a lot, which is the argument for an emergency fund before you need it.

One person suspects emergency vets over-treat minor cases to protect themselves. That is one person’s view. Either way, the order on this page stands: the call comes before the home remedy, whoever you ring.

What this page does not cover is what to do if you cannot pay for treatment at all. That is a real hole in this page. If that is where you are, tell the vet on the phone at the start; it is better said than not.

Who this page is not for

If your pet is choking or not breathing, this page does not cover choking first aid; get to a vet now. If a dog is biting or fighting, that is a different subject, and the methods people shared for making a dog let go are not taught here. If your pet is a cat, the first-minute rules above still apply, but the people who shared this were mostly talking about dogs; the RSPCA’s cat guidance is the place to read more.