How to Tell if Your Dog is Poisoned: Important Notice for Owners

Seeing your lovely dog get poisoned by someone might be very painful and terrifying. You will never know what is happening outside, it is either someone who hates the presence of your dog or your dog accidentally eats something it is not supposed to eat. Honestly saying, your dog is easily exposed to poison. Also be aware of these poisonous holiday plants for dogs.

As an owner, then you should be aware to notice the symptoms of your dog getting poisoned. Every minute is very important as it may put your dog to life or death.

Here are the ways how to tell if your dog is poisoned which is a very important notice for owners. Poisoned dog is one of signs that you must take your dog to the vet. It means it is really urgent!

What Can Poison Your Dog?

Poison is not always in the form of liquid or drugs. It can be anything that is not supposed to be consumed by dogs as it might lead to death. Here is the list of things or food that can poison your dog.

Chocolate
Raisins
Alcohol
Gasoline
Tobacco
Antidepressants
Fungi
Yew trees
Spring bulbs

Those are the common things that can poison your dog. Make sure you put them away from your dog. Beware of these delicious foods that actually are toxic for your dog. Feeding healthy food is more important than the delicious ones.

Symptoms of Dog Poisoning

There are some symptoms of dog poisoning that you can figure out immediately. Here are the symptoms you should notice:

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is a common symptoms of almost all health problems experienced by dogs. Diarrhea can be caused by some food, see the foods that cause diarrhea in dogs.

Diarrhea happens as the body is flushing out the toxins by producing a lot of water. Diarrhea because of poisoning can occur with or without blood. You may see whether the stool is green, black or yellow in color.

Vomiting

Vomiting is the first reaction something strange is coming inside your dog’s body. It is not said that every time your dog is vomiting, then it is getting poisoned.

Vomiting can be caused by various factors, such as mentioned as symptoms and cause of hyperlipidemia in dogs. The vomiting might include blood as some toxins, such as rat poison is causing internal bleeding.

Loss of Appetite

Loss of appetite can be a sign of other health problem. However, it can be a symptom of poisoning. If you dog skips meal for several days, then contact your veterinarian directly.

You can also read best dog food for dogs with skin allergies.

Being Sensitive to Light

Your dog might experience sensitivity to light once it gets poisoned. Some poisons lead to photosensitive to dog. As a result, your dog will tend to find a dark area to avoid light. If your dog is getting a poison affecting the nervous system, then your dog might be sensitive to touch and sound as well.

Loss of Consciousness

This is one of the severe symptoms of dog poisoning. Your dog will not be able to respond to you. If your dog loses its consciousness, try to check its heartbeat by putting your hands over its heart and contact your vet immediately.

Unable to Coordinate Well

Some ingested toxin affects the brain. That’s why it is possible to make your dog lose coordination. Your dog might bump into objects, fall down or feel difficult to move and walk. Xylitol (a substance you can find in peanut butter) is one of the example that leads to loss of coordination after ten minutes of ingestion.

Lethargy

Lethargy can be caused by several reasons, but poisoning might be the one. It will affect your dog’s heart muscles. As a result, your dog doesn’t feel that it wants to get up or do anything for the whole day.

Your dog seems to lose its energy. Contact your vet immediately once this condition lasts for more than 24 hours, especially if it is also followed by diarrhea.

Dog poisoning is a really serious condition you need to take care immediately. Because if you miss even one minute, you may lose your dog. Here are some things you need to do as the first aid in case your dog gets poisoned:

Don’t get panic as if you get panic, everything will be messed up. For example, if you see your dog consumes chocolate, you can see the tips on what should you do when your dog eats chocolate.
Contact your vet immediately. Your vet knows everything about handling dog poisoning. Ask for his/her advice. Never do something without any advice from your vet as it might make the problem worse.
Bring the sample of the poison before going to the vet. This is done so that your vet can decide the best way of treating the poisoning based on the type of poison your dog consumes.
Put your dog away from the poison.
For prevention, make sure you are aware of the list of things your dog is not supposed to consume. Do research and make sure your dog doesn’t get any access to those items.