As a part of National Pet Wellness Month, it seemed a good time to revisit the issue of vomiting. A dog vomits more easily than nearly any other creature. So why in the world would a pet parent want to make pets vomit? When dogs or cats eat the wrong thing that could cause harm, you can save your pets’ lives by inducing vomiting.
Pets vomit for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it’s because of illness, while other times the dog vomiting or cat hairball upchuck is more innocuous. Some pets eat grass to induce vomiting, or they get into dangerous candy that makes them sick. However, sometimes making pets vomit means life or death. That means you need to know how to make pets vomit.
With a new puppy in the house, we had to be better about puppy proofing. Shadow-Pup likes to play with cat toys–but they’re so small, they present a choking risk for big dogs like Bravo. When dogs swallow the wrong object, getting rid of it prevents more dangerous risks. Here’s how to make dogs vomit.
Key Takeaways
- Inducing vomiting can save pets’ lives when they ingest harmful substances or foreign objects.
- Not all cases require inducing vomiting; sharp objects or certain chemicals demand immediate veterinary attention.
- To make pets vomit, first feed them a meal, then administer 3% hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting.
- Always follow up with a veterinarian for further instructions after inducing vomiting, especially in poison cases.
- For a comprehensive guide, refer to the author’s book on pet first aid.
Why You Should Make Pets Vomit
Most often we think of cat or dog vomiting as a bad, scary thing, but learning how to make your pet vomit could actually save his life. I’ve written about this before, but lately, I’ve had a number of messages from frantic pet owners along the lines of:
“HOLY SHITAKE! My dog just ate (raisins, Old Spice deodorant, chocolate, extension cord…) what do I do?”
Of course, a vet visit is needed, but pets seem to “indulge” in these activities after the clinic has closed. And frankly, sometimes you need first aid immediately to reduce potential problems or even death.
When Should You NOT Make Pets Vomit
There are cases where you should NOT make your pet vomit. Sharp objects need a vet’s attention immediately, and solutions like laundry detergent and drain cleaners, or petroleum products can burn coming back up just as much as going down. And it can become a choking danger with some poisons that cause swelling of the throat. Also, the stomach typically empties into the intestines in about 2 hours, and after that, vomiting won’t help.
Small foreign objects may pass within 24-72 hours, and you need to examine the stool to be sure everything comes out all right. *ahem* With swallowed coins, though, do NOT wait for them to pass. The metal made to create coins, once hit with digestive juices, can cause copper or zinc toxicity–these items need surgical removal.
But for many toxic substances and non-sharp foreign objects, making them vomit can save pets’ lives. You can find more first aid help in my book, THE FIRST AID COMPANION FOR DOGS AND CATS, with advice from 70+ veterinarian ER specialists.
Veterinarians will tell you to call them first. In a perfect world, that’s exactly what you SHOULD do. There are times, though, when a veterinarian isn’t available and first aid is just that–FIRST aid, that saves the life of the pet until you can get professional help. Here’s what to do in those instances.
HOW TO MAKE PETS VOMIT
- Give him a meal. That dilute poison, delays its absorption, and for solid objects, may increase digestive juices to get rid of rough edges, or simply pad the object. It’s also harder to induce vomiting when the pet’s stomach is too empty.
- Give 3% hydrogen peroxide with an eyedropper, syringe without a needle or even a squirt gun or turkey baster. It tastes nasty and foams, and that combination usually prompts vomiting in about five minutes. You can repeat this dose two or three times, with five minutes between doses.
- You’d think cats would be easy to induce vomiting (they “whoops” regularly with hairballs, after all) but they can be tough. Don’t wait for kitties if they don’t empty their tummy after one dose. Get them help.
- Syrup of Ipecac is effective for dogs. Ipecac takes longer to work than hydrogen peroxide, though, and the dose should only be given once. Give one teaspoon for dogs less than 35 pounds, and up to a tablespoon for larger dogs. DO NOT give to cats.
- Call the veterinarian for further instructions after the pet has emptied his stomach. If you can’t induce vomiting after a couple of tries, prompt veterinary care is even more important. In cases of suspected poison, take a sample of the vomit with you to the veterinarian to analyze and offer an antidote or other follow-up measures.
Has your dog or cat ever eaten something they shouldn’t? What was it? And what happened? How did you prevent a repeat of the episode? Do tell!
I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions. Do you have an ASK AMY question you’d like answered? Do you have a new kitten and need answers? Stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter.
Stay up to date with the latest book giveaways and appearances related to my September Day pet-centric THRILLERS WITH BITE! Amy Shojai, CABC is a certified cat & dog behavior consultant, a consultant to the pet industry, and the award-winning author of 35+ pet-centric books and Thrillers with Bite! Oh, and she loves bling!
Yes as mentioned in your write up for Dare or Die, my Airedale Keighley (the winning dog in your book) had learned to open the upright freezer door. So one Sunday morning I came down to kitchen to find her nibbling on one frozen piece of chicken but the remaining 3 of a bag of 8, were nowhere to be found and her son Guinness waiting for his mom to stop nibbling frozen chicken and leave it for him. Course neither wanted to eat and all I could think of was the food poisoning my daughter had gotten from uncooked chicken. So being a dog breeder, I knew about the H2O2 so we all went out to the “X” pen for their “treat”. Within 3 minutes the foaming mouths turned to vomiting. Keighley just a few little bits BUT her son Guinness brought up the other 3 WHOLE pieces of still frozen chicken. I don’t know if he swallowed them whole because of the cold or just anxious to eat them. He was, after all a counter surfer and had eaten many loaves of bread. The trickier one was the 4 peaches from the counter. I walked into a very sticky kitchen floor and immediately found one partially eaten one and plastic bag and fortunately the pit still intact. Then I found another whole pit and one broken pit but two solid pieces. That left one more pit. So after checking with Emergency vet, who got the H2O2 – Guinness – who within 2 minutes brought up nearly the whole peach with the pit intact. How that boy ever managed to swallow everything whole I’ll never know but he lived to be 15 1/2 and I miss him so much. Yup always make sure you have H2O2 on hand…Oh and be sure it is fresh as when it ages it becomes nearly water. Keighley was not totally a good girl either. Once while I was recovering from foot surgery, my husband fed the dogs and then put them in ‘X’ pens in basement until our daughter arrived 2 hrs later to care for me rest of day. What he didn’t see was the box of mice box brickets on basement steps AND he didn’t count on Keighley pushing pen over far enough to create a hole to get out of pen and meander around the basement since she couldn’t get in pen with her son. She found the box and they looked just like big pink treats so she ate them. Unfortunately this was not discovered by our daughter when she arrived – just that she had freed herself from the pen. So she let them upstairs again for rest of day til her dad got home. But 12 hrs after keighley would have ingested this poison was when my husband discovered this when he went to put them in their pens for the night. I freaked when he told me as being a nurse I knew what could happen to my champion dog. I must say at least she had eaten them right after eating her big breakfast. I think that was a saving grace. So with much struggling I got down to the van and our daughter came and got us to emergency vet hospital. Course the pest people weren’t happy to be called late at night to get the exact contents in this poison and in the end nothing was done but to follow thru with regular vet. He just watched her blood and any other signs of an issue and she had nothing. Just a happy healthy dog. Our pest person got in trouble, though, for leaving a box instead of taking time to load them into their little mouse containers. Thank goodness she had a full stomach to start with. and passed many little pieces of pink for the next day or so. AAHH we love our pets but we gotta be so vigilant!!!
Oh where to start? Schipperkes are food-oriented. Our pair have eaten chocolate on more than one occasion. Mostly H2O2 worked. Once when we had a visiting dachshund & we had to give them both H2O2. Worst was when Wolfie (18 lbs) got hold of super dark chocolate and in the 15 minutes it took to get him to the vet his heart rate was well over 200.
He also got into a visitor’s trash and consumed *six* tampons. We had no idea how many or how serious, and being July 4th, we hit the emergency vet. It took all day.
The very worst was when we were in temp housing with wooden fencing. In 10 minutes, Emeril dug under it and escaped. He found what we believe was a large rodent poisoned by a neurotoxin. It’s a very long story, but it was nearly 24 hours before they could get his seizures to stop in order to operate to remove a quart ziplock of rodent and he was in a coma for 4 days and not expected to live, or might live but be severely brain damaged. Amazingly, he woke up and was fine. Expensive? Oh yeah, and worth every penny.
Oh my goodness, you’ve had way too much experience with this! Hopefully, the gulping days are done, thanks for sharing your experiences!
Always have to think whether it’s going to cause more damage when coming back up. Once we had to make Cookie throw up when she found outside and ate something which might have been a brownie. While talking to a vet about the amount of chocolate for Cookie’s size she just springs the question if I’m sure it was not a pot brownie. Ugh. I wasn’t sure enough … Cookie did not enjoy that.
Jana, exactly right. There are some kinds of ingested substances that are equally (or more) dangerous coming back up.
We’ve done the hydrogen peroxide thing. Also, when my dog Tucker chewed on a pool thermometer, the folks at ASPCA poison control told me to feed him bread to absorb stuff as well.
–Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
Yep, some specific items are helped with bread, some with milk or water. Very true! Glad Tucker was okay!
My Katie is the queen of wanting to eat things she shouldn’t. A 3′ piece of skinny pink ribbon when she was just 2 years old resulted in emergency surgery. Very traumatic, very scary and very expensive. I have to be diligent about keeping small enticing objects tucked safely away. Fortunately I’m very close to 24 hour emergency care, but knowing how to quickly induce vomiting is SO helpful. thank you!
Prim and proper Katie does that? Hoo boy…those string-type objects are very dangerous.