In case of emergency, you may sometimes find yourself scrambling to figure out how to make your dog throw up. That can be for a variety of reasons, but it’s most likely going to be due to your pooch accidentally eating hazardous materials. While the situation can be stressful, it’s important to know what to do in an emergency situation.
What kind of knowledge could help you make that kind of decision, though? It’s vital not only to know how to induce vomiting in your dog but also when you should be doing it.
More than anything, it’s important to know when you shouldn’t be, and when you should be contacting veterinary assistance.
How to Make Your Dog Throw Up: Holding Back
When you’re afraid that something is wrong with your pooch, it’s natural to want to immediately do anything and everything to help them. But it’s vital to suppress this urge so that you can make the proper decision. Often times, this could mean refraining from inducing vomiting.
Sharp stomach
Sometimes your dog might find their way towards solid, sharp materials that are unsafe for eating. That might be metal, glass, nails, rigid plastic, or something else hard and capable of cutting.
When this happens, inducing vomiting can and will make the issue significantly worse.
These foreign objects may cause scratches, gashes, or cuts along the esophagus and digestive tract as they travel to the stomach.
Inducing vomiting will simply cause these objects to travel the same path again, causing significantly more damage. It’s vital to seek emergency veterinary assistance to deal with this issue.
Corrosive contents
There are plenty of corrosive chemicals that a dog might find themselves wandering towards in a household. Chemicals such as gasoline and motor oil, as well as cleaning substances and batteries, can cause burns and other injuries.
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As with sharp objects, inducing vomiting is extremely dangerous.
Letting these corrosive substances travel back through the esophagus can cause more harm, whether it be chemical burns or other such injuries. So, forcing your dog to vomit will undoubtedly make the situation worse.
In this situation, you must ensure your pooch is given veterinary attention.
Sleepy pup
A situation may have arisen where you feel that you need to induce vomiting while your pup is lethargic, asleep, or unconscious. That may be because of strange sounds or previously seeing them eat something they shouldn’t have.
You should never induce vomiting if your dog isn’t fully conscious.
Inducing vomiting while they’re asleep or unconscious can cause the vomit to become caught in their respiratory system, blocking breathing, and essentially suffocating your dog. Immediately seek medical veterinary attention to see the best plan of action.
How to Make Your Dog Throw Up: Taking Action
With all of the do-nots out of the way, let’s examine when a situation may call for you to know how to make your dog throw up.
It can be from a myriad of situations that require your emergency action.
Unsafe, but not volatile
We’ve previously mentioned volatile or corrosive substances, but what about a middle ground?
There are plenty of things that your pup might consume that are unsafe for them without being as volatile as dangerous chemicals. That can be because of food or unsafe poisons and medicines.
It’s perfectly fine to induce vomiting if your dog has consumed foods that are dangerous, such as chocolates. Additionally, it’s fine to induce vomiting if they’ve consumed human medications, too much of their own medication, or delayed pest poisons such as rat poisons.
These objects will not cause more harm on the way out, as previously mentioned examples will.
Insatiable appetites
It’s far from uncommon for a dog to eat way more than they can handle. While more common in younger dogs and puppies, many dogs may develop an issue such as this. That can be due to stress, illness, or a recurring medical condition.
Often times, this problem will solve itself. Your dog may accidentally induce vomiting itself by eating more than they can handle.
If not, it’s perfectly safe to cause them to vomit, assuming all they’ve been eating is edible and safe.
Just make sure to contact your veterinarian and ensure that your pup is still getting the proper amount of food and nutrition.
How to Make Your Dog Throw Up: Steps to Take
Once you’ve assessed whether it’s safe and you know how to make your dog throw up, you need to know the proper steps to take. Knowing how to make your dog throw up and executing that method are two different things!
Contact authorities
No matter what the situation is, you should always try to get in contact with your veterinarian and or poison control before acting. That is the best way to know if you’re taking the right action or if action is necessary at all.
It’s vital to have professional assistance if it’s in any way possible.
Your veterinarian should be contacted no matter what. If you don’t have a primary veterinarian, call a local office and ask to speak to someone qualified to help you.
Poison control only needs to be contacted if you suspect that your pup may have ingested poisonous materials.
Go for safety
It’s important to go for the safest method possible. In a panic, some pet owners may induce vomiting by shoving their finger down the dog’s throat.
That can cause a reflexive bite as well as harm the jaw or mouth of the dog, and should never be done. Try giving him a small meal to see if that induces the vomiting naturally. Sometimes, this doesn’t work.
If that fails when trying to figure out how to make your dog throw up, a hydrogen peroxide solution is the next safest option.
A solution of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide is a safe and effective way to induce vomiting and should recover about 50 percent of what was consumed.
The proper dosage is accepted to be one teaspoon of this solution per 5 pounds of dog’s body weight — maximum 3 tablespoons. And be sure to stay with your dog while he vomits to ensure his safety.
How to Make Your Dog Throw Up: Back to Playing
If you’re ever in doubt on whether you should induce vomiting or if you’re able to, always play it safe and seek veterinary assistance.
Knowing how to make your dog throw up is only half the job. Ensure that you take all steps necessary to ensure that your best friend is healthy and happy no matter what.
Have you ever had to make your dog throw up? What happened? Tell us about it in the comments!