This week, on another forum I'm a member of, a lady's dog ingested rat poison. The family was visiting a remote cabin, and it took 45 minutes to reach the nearest vet. Fortunately, the dog had food in her stomach, which slowed the absorption of the poison (warfarin) so it looks like she is going to be okay.

In the case of a known poison like this, every minute can count. EVERY dog owner needs to know how to induce vomiting. (And every parent, for that matter!)

Copy this info and put it somewhere where you can find it in an emergency:

How to induce vomiting:

Note that it is very important NOT to attempt to induce vomiting in an animal that is unconscious or barely conscious and then to induce it ONLY upon the direct advice of a veterinarian. Never induce vomiting if there is a chance that the animal has ingested caustic substances (e.g. cleansers) or physical injurious objects (e.g. bones).

» For very young (less than 12 weeks) or very small dogs (less than 6 lb.), induce vomiting ONLY under the specific guidance of a veterinarian.

» You will be administering hydrogen peroxide (3%, available over the counter at any drug store -- NOT hair bleaching strength) by mouth, using a dose syringe. For larger dogs, a turkey baster is convenient. Give a small amount of food first (approximately double in volume to the amount of peroxide that you use, so there is something to bring up along with the peroxide and stomach contents.

» Administer the recommended dose (see below) and if the animal has not vomited in 15 minutes, repeat the dose of peroxide (not the food). If, in another 15 minutes, vomiting still has not occured, repeat the dose only one more time. Make sure you inform your veterinarian if vomiting does not occur.

Dog's weight Amount of hydrogen peroxide
6 to 10 lbs.
1 tsp. (equiv to 5 cc or 5 ml)
11 to 20 lbs. 2 tsp. (equiv to 10 cc or 10 ml)
21 to 40 lbs. 1 Tbsp. (equiv to 3 tsp., 15 cc or 15 ml)
41 to 60 lbs. 1½ Tbsp.
61-100 lbs. 2 Tbsp.
over 100 lbs. 2½-3 Tbsp.


Source of information:  http://www.i-pets.com/rdog3.html

Phone number for poison control: 

Illinois/ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center:
The only animal poison control center in the country; handles thousands of cases of poisonings or suspected poisonings; has been operating for over 20 years; flat fee of $45 per case includes consultation with owner and/or vet and covers any follow-up phone calls
PHONE #'s:
1-888-426-4435 (toll free): charge is placed on a major credit card
1-900-680-0000: charge is placed on your phone bill.
Web site: http://www.napcc.aspca.org/

Last year, my GSD bitch helped herself to some very rotten meat I'd put out in the garbage, and accidentally left by the front door. Using a syringe with no needle, I slowly injected 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide between her cheek and teeth, and held her head up so she couldn't spit it out.  15 minutes later, the steak bits came back up, along with some of her breakfast, saving us a nasty bout of 'garbage gastritis'!

Good advice, Sunsilver. Might I also suggest a good Doggie first aid class and be proficient in the procedures...just in case!

Good information Sunsilver.

Thought I'd add another way to induce vomiting in a dog. Put 1 teaspoon (tsp) of table salt in the back of thier mouth. You will get them to vomit in less than 5 minutes (took my dog less than 1 minute the only time I had to do this). As always, contacting a veterinarian is a priority and these methods should ONLY be used in an emergency. As sunsilver said, never induce vomiting on an uncoscious dog or barely conscious dog as that puts them at risk for aspiration.

By the time you waste time calling anyone the poison has done its toll....just induce vomiting...I have done it many times....
after I learned about it...I was in my 50's before I found out what Peroxide did...

t will not hurt your dog  ...the vet uses the same thing immediately when he knows poison is in dog..then they pump out the tummy and use the proper vit . K ingesting to counter act...my dogs got nasty meat one day also...I used the peroxide , got it up and put in kennel...turned around an the female grabbed the throw up and I had to douse her....two times on same nasty meat...

..boy  ,


,,these guys are fast...anything to eat ....they are very high food drive here in Texas at my house...

today it is  so hot...no one wants food...just water

Yes, this is what most vets will tell you to do IF they need your dog to vomit immediately, however you need to be sure what your dog has injested, because, depending on if it was a certain type of chemical, it can do more harm than good having it come up.  Working as a vet tech for 8 years, I've seen a few cases where the owner took it upon themselves to induce vomiting, only to have it rip up the esophagus.  Sometimes we only give a dog activated charcoal to prevent a large amount of absorbtion and then carefully monitor the dog, instead of inducing vomiting (even when we do induce, we still give charcoal, due to the fact there will still be some toxin in the dogs stomach).

Hope that helps a little! 

If you have peroxide on hand, it is a good solution.  If not, most people have a box of table salt or some sort of container of salt.  Pour the salt directly down the dog's throat.  It will induce vomit.  I did this when a dog I once had went under my husbands car and drank the just drained anitifreeze.  He caught the dog right away and yelled for me.  I grabbed the box of salt out of the kitchen cupboard and he held the dog with jaw open and I poured salt down the gullet.  Dog vomitted and we threw him in the car and off to the vet who immediately filled him up with charcoal.  Vet said we saved his life and he never had any internal damage from the incident.

I have had to do this before.  My puppy ate rat poison when he was 14 weeks old.  We rent and our landlord gives us a deal if we do the lawn care, so we use their supplies from a shed.  Since it's their stuff, I've never really bothered to look around much.  The doors were open while we were raking and I saw my dogs go in.  I ran over right away, but noticed Nikon had already spilled and eaten something.  I had no idea what it was but it was very bright blue.  I figured something that color can NOT be safe for a dog, so I immediately gave him hydrogen peroxide and he was puking up blue.  I could not see in the shed, so I took a picture with a flash, loaded it onto the computer, and saw this little plastic tray full of blue stuff.  I Googled the word on the tray and it was rat poison!  Immediately I called my vet AND the 24-hr e-vet.  Both said that my dog would be fine since I made him vomit right away.  They said the only thing more they could do was make him vomit again until no more blue came up, so I gave him more hydrogen peroxide and it was just phlegm.  The next morning I went to the vet - without my dog - and picked up a 30 day supply of the antedote, just in case (vitamin K, won't hurt the dog if they OD or don't need it).  I got some for my other dog as well.  The $2 bottle of peroxide saved me $300 if I had gone to the e-vet and they would have done the same thing, and maybe even saved his life.  He took the vitamin K and nothing ever happened.  I am an extremely clean, careful, thorough person and somehow I never thought to check my landlord's shed for poison.  The day after, I threw it ALL away.  After Nikon barfed I even scooped up the blue barf and 8" of the soil and threw all that away.  He had spilled the pellets so I had to pick them out of the cracks with tweezers but I got it all.

So I ALWAYS keep the peroxide on hand.

But like others have said, you need to know WHAT your dog ate because if they ate something like pool chemicals the peroxide could kill them.