What is food poisoning?
Food poisoning in dogs occur when they eat something having toxin, bacterial or any other infectious agents. E.g. garbage, spoiled food, raw fish, undercooked meat and eggs.
Primary treatment for food poisoning is to induce vomiting and other supportive treatment. For inducing vomition there are some home remedies available.
Treatment of food poisoning in dogs with home remedies
PROVIDE PLENTY OF WATER
The dog will react to the presence of toxins with vomition or diarrhoea or both. It will make the dog dehydrated so you will need to provide plenty of water first 24 hours after food poisoning.
If your dog shows the signs of recovery then you should start blended diet. E.g. yoghurt, buttermilk, etc. Solid food should be avoided.
If the vomition or diarrhoea did not stop after 24 hours then you should immediately bring your dog to the veterinary doctor near you. It is important to know how much of the toxic food has been ingested by the dog. If the quantity is little then symptoms will reduce automatically but, if large quantity of toxic food has been ingested by the dog then it might cause damage the internal tissues of the intestine. If blood came in the diarrhoea or vomition it is a serious issue and you should immediately visit to the nearest emergency veterinary doctor.
Generally vomition did not continue more than several hours, if it continues more than that there might be other life threatening medicinal conditions like foreign body obstruction, canine pancreatitis or bloat in dogs.
INDUCE VOMITION
It is not advisable to do it very frequently but in some cases it might be helpful to induce vomition to take the poisoning substances out of the stomach. It is helpful only when vomition is induced within 2 hours of ingesting toxic substance. After 2 hours of ingesting toxic substance it might be useless because by this time toxin might have entered the blood and internal organs.
Vomition could be induced at home by following method
1 cup of water+ 1 tea spoonful of baking soda (dosage will depend on the size of the breed)
Stay near your dog until he/she complete the process of vomition.
If your dog did not vomit then stop giving the mixture of baking soda it might be toxic in excessive amount. If the dog did not vomit after 20 minutes of ingesting the mixture stop the process and get your dog to the emergency vet near you.
Ginger tea: (1 teaspoon of ginger powder+ ½ cup of coconut oil) store this mixture for about 10 minutes. Give 1 to 3 teaspoon every 1-2 hours.
STOP DIARRHOEA
Sometimes in food poisoning in dogs and cats diarrhoea could be seen as symptom. It could be cured with following home remedies.
Following mixture can be fed every 3-4 hours:
- 1 cup of cooked white rice
- 1/4 cup of canned coconut milk
Dosage:
- Small dogs: 1 to 2 tablespoons every 3-4 hours
- Medium size dogs: ½ cup every 3-4 hours
- Large size dogs: 1 cup every 3-4 hours
After having a deep discussion on home remedies to stop the symptoms of the food poisoning we will discuss what are the causes of food poisoning in dogs? Remember home remedies are just to give immediate relief to the dogs and they are not the substitute of the veterinary doctors. You could visit the best veterinary doctors from our website clik4pet.com.
Causes of food poisoning in dogs
There might be many causes of food poisoning in dogs from cheese, chocolate, and onion to garbage and spoiled food. We will dig deeper in the causes of food poisoning
Cheese and other milk products
Many dogs might be lactose intolerant. Milk and other milk products like cheese might cause the lactose intolerance. It will result in vomiting in most cases.
Garbage
Dogs have the habit of sniffing everything and try if they find it interesting. Garbage might appear delicacy to the dogs. Garbage have toxins like aflatoxins which causes food poisoning. So you should ensure that garbage is out of reach of your favourite and lovely puppy.
Faecal matter
Dogs many times eat faeces of other animals. Faeces have harmful bacteria and other infectious agents. It causes stomach upset.
Dead animals
You should ensure that your furry friend should not have access to the dead material which will have many infectious agents like bacteria, virus, protozoa and parasites. It will cause problems in the stomach of the dog and might cause many other illnesses also.
Raw or undercooked food
Raw or undercooked meat and eggs could have live bacteria or other infectious agents which might cause food poisoning. Proper cooking of food is essential to ensure that most pathological bacteria and other infectious agents are dead.
Routine food that might cause food poisoning
Some routine food of humans is toxic to dogs. It should not be given to dogs regularly. Following is the food which might cause food poisoning if given in large amount.
Following is the food ingredient which are toxic to the animals
- Alcohol
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Macadamia nuts
- Nuts
- Milk/dairy
- Onions, chives and garlic
- Salt and salty snack foods
- Xylitol (often found in sugar-free gums and candies)
- Yeast dough
- Cat food (very high in fat)
Now we know that what are the home remedies for food poisoning in dogs? Which are the causes of food poisoning in dogs? So now let’s talk about the signs and symptoms of food poisoning.
Symptoms of Food Poisoning in Dogs
It is very tricky to determine whether the dog has food poisoning or not. Symptoms of food poisoning might distract the vet from doing a confirmative diagnosis without proper history. However there are some common symptoms of food poisoning in dogs.
- Lethargy
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Cramping
- Dizziness
- Abdominal pain
- Decreased appetite
- Uncontrollable shivering
- Whimpering in pain
- Aggression
- Increased drooling
- Fever
How can we prevent food poisoning in dogs?
Causes of Food poisoning in dogs are spoiled food, undercooked meat and eggs, ingestion of dead contaminated material, etc. so you can do following things to keep dogs away from above things
- Garbage bin or dustbin should be covered
- Don’t keep soiled food in fridge
- Throw away the expired food in home
- Train your pet to throw away the things that smells toxic
Usually symptoms of food poisoning resides within 24 hours of ingestion of toxic material. If they persist for more than this you should immediately consult the emergency veterinary doctor near you. You can visit our website clik4pet.com to find the emergency vets available near you.
Author: Pashupati Animal Care Services
Pashupati Animal Care Services