First Aid - How & When To Make Your Pet Puke

A bandage eaten by a dog. The ironic part?
It was from his tail amputation, which
resulted from his attempts to eat said tail.
He was not to be deterred.

Pets eat stuff. Sometimes things you, I, or even your average indiscriminate 3 year-old would never dream of eating. This first-aid article is about how to make your pet vomit that stuff back up again; but that's pretty simple (I know what you cat owners out there are thinking: all I need to make Muffy puke is a nice pair of shoes). The tough part is knowing when it's okay to do so - because in many situations inducing vomiting can make things WORSE. On the other hand, quickly getting certain toxins out of your pet could also save their life. So, this article is mostly about knowing the difference between those situations. Then we'll wrap up with quick instructions on inducing vomiting, without ruining your favorite shoes.

First thing's first - if your pet has eaten something you think may be harmful, call your vet or Animal Poison Control before attempting anything on your own. That's the guaranteed way to make sure you don't wind up doing more harm than good. It's also very possible your pet will need to go in for further treatment or monitoring. Oh, and one other thing - don't panic. That never helps, eh?

When You Should NEVER Induce Vomiting

• Your pet is in any way sedated, confused, weakened, or mentally altered: If their consciousness is altered, they may not be able to keep the vomit from getting into their windpipe - making a bad situation far worse.
• Household chemicals (detergents, cleaners, pesticides, etc): many of these are inherently caustic and can do much more damage coming back up again. Pesticides usually aren't harmful coming back up, but many can cause neurological effects (see #1) that predispose to aspirating stuff back into the lungs.
• Petroleum products: if they get into the airways on the way back up, they'll wreak all kinds of havoc.
• Anything sharp, or potentially sharp: It could puncture the esophagus or stomach in the process. Vomiting can be a good way to deal with ingestion of small foreign bodies, but it's best to leave that call to your vet - I generally recommend x-rays first (who knows what else is in there) and in-hospital monitoring (in case of choking) if we're going to try this.
• Your pet recently had surgery. 

Looking around the web for other's thoughts on the subject, I noticed many warnings against inducing vomiting if...they're already vomiting. Kinda seems that would go without saying - I guess my readers are smarter than theirs. Many also recommend against inducing vomiting if it's been over two hours; that's a textbook number for how long it should take to digest something. I haven't caught a dog reading a textbook yet, but I have seen more than a few toss stuff up long after it "should" have been digested. Often folks don't know when it happened, for that matter, and I wouldn't obsess over that 2 hour mark - though it's a good rule of thumb.

When TO Induce Vomiting

If you've ruled out all the above contraindications, and talked to your vet or APC, it's likely a good idea to induce vomiting if your pet has recently eaten the following:

• Potentially harmful foods.
• Prescription medications (yours, or overdoses of theirs)
• Antifreeze (caveat - this needs to happen fast, as it is absorbed very fast)
• Rodent poisons

What To Do AFTER Inducing Vomiting

Yes, we'll get to inducing vomiting in a minute. What you do next is extremely important, and I don't want you to stop reading after the punchline (like I would). 

• Obtain some of the vomit for potential ID by your vet.
• Gather the packages or product inserts for whatever you think they got into. We need to see the ingredient lists - I've got no idea what's in "Super Cleaner X."
• Closely monitor your pet.
• Unless you've talked to them and they told you not to, head to your vet's office or the nearest pet ER. Your pet's life could depend on further treatment; this isn't the time to "wait and see."

How To Induce Vomiting

Okay, here's the moment you've all been waiting for! 

• If your pet is a cat, stop reading: Don't try this unless specifically instructed by your vet. Peroxide makes kitty guts very unhappy.
• If your pet hasn't eaten much recently, offer a small meal: Bread is good, since it sponges stuff up. It's tough to vomit thoroughly when there isn't much in the stomach.
• Grab some 3% hydrogen peroxide - DO NOT use anything other than 3%: Stronger peroxide formulas like the stuff beauticians use can kill your pet.
• Get 1 milliliter per 2 lb into your pet: There's about 5ml in a teaspoon, so that's 1/2tsp for a 5lb chihuahuah or 4tsp for a 40lb border collie. Don't exceed 45ml per dose. You can use a syringe or turkey baster, but often if you just mix it in some ice cream or milk they'll do the work for you. You can repeat that dose once if it hasn't worked in 15 minutes.
• Get a towel: Put it in the back seat of your car. It's probably going to take 5-15 minutes to work, and you should be on your way to the vet. Yet another reason you should only do this if your vet tells you it's necessary, eh?
• Do all those things listed above in "AFTER Inducing Vomiting": Seriously.

Lastly, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (!) induce vomiting on your own if your pet ingests large denominations of money. Leave that to the professionals - call me at home, I'll take care of it. I'll need to keep the evidence, of course - you don't want a bunch of nasty vomit-covered hundred dollar bills anyway, right?