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Dogs and cats are naturally curious and they explore their environment using their noses and mouth. This makes them particularly susceptible to potentially ingesting something toxic to them. The signs of a poisoning can come on suddenly, within minutes to hours or sometimes a couple of days of ingestion. Some common signs may include drooling, vomiting or diarrhea. Neurologic signs such as stumbling. Maybe muscle twitching and tremors. Depression or hyperactivity or even seizures or unconsciousness. You may also see bleeding or ulcers of the mouth and skin. If you suspect or know your pet has been exposed to a poison, you want to contact your veterinarian or the ASPA's animal poison control hotline as soon as possible. In the case of some uncommon toxins, your veterinarian may request that you contact poison control for more information. When contacting your veterinarian or poison control, there's some information that's helpful to have on hand. What does your pet get into or what he, what might he have gotten into? How much of it could he have been exposed to? For example, how many pills were left in the bottle? How long has it been since the exposure or potential exposure? How much does your pet weigh and what behavioral signs or vital sign abnormalities is your pet showing? Having this information can greatly assist your veterinarian in providing prompt veterinary care.
In this lesson, we're going to dive into how to recognize when you dog or cat has ingested a toxic substance and is now showing signs of poisoning. We're also going to supply you with some important information for your pet first aid kit.
Dogs and cats are naturally curious. They typically explore their environment using their mouths and noses. This makes them particularly susceptible to potentially ingesting a substance that is toxic to them.
The signs of poisoning can come on suddenly within minutes, or those signs can occur hours or even days following the ingestion of a toxin. Also, as you're about to see, those signs of poisoning are numerous and incredibly varied.
Some of the more common signs of poisoning can include the following:
If your pet has been exposed to a toxin, he or she might also display some neurologic signs of poisoning. These can include:
Other possible signs of pet poisoning can also include the following:
Pro Tip #1: If you suspect or know that your pet has been exposed to a substance that is poisonous, contact your veterinarian immediately and/or call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Hotline at 1-888-426-4435 as soon as possible.
If you call your vet first, in cases involving some of the more uncommon toxins, your veterinarian may request that you call poison control for more information. They are, after all, the experts on such matters. More so than even your vet.
If you do suspect your pet has been exposed to a poison or toxin, when you contact your vet or poison control, there is some information that will be extremely helpful to have on hand.
Try to determine the following, if you can:
Pro Tip #2: How can you tell how much poison your pet ingested? Well, it depends on the poison. If your pet got into a pill bottle, how may pills were there before and how many are there now. If your small dog just got into a large chocolate cake, how much is left and how much was there before?
Having this information on hand can greatly assist your veterinarian or poison control in providing prompt and effective care and treatment solutions.
Pro Tip #3: If you don't already have the number for the Animal Poison Control Hotline in your first aid kit, you may consider doing that now. Remember, contact information is one of the more important items in your kit and it helps if that contact information is complete.