My dog has swallowed pills

A friend of mine phoned me on Tuesday evening just as I was about to turn off my phone and enter the Manoel Theatre to attend a musical concert. This is not a common occurrence for me, but there were strong family ties on this particular occasion.

The caller was in quite a panic and it was a genuine emergency. His sister’s dog Mindy had just swallowed a handful of painkillers and they urgently needed a veterinarian.  I asked how large the dog was and how much time had elapsed since she had swallowed the painkillers: it had been more or less 10 minutes.

I told him that they were to immediately administer half a glass of water with a small tablespoon of salt. This would make the dog want to vomit and hopefully by vomiting, the bulk of the tablets would come up again.  I then instructed to contact the Emergency Veterinarian Service and have the dog seen to as soon as possible.  Well it worked.

 I met my friend this morning and he said Mindy had brought up most of the pills soon after swallowing the salted water; she had continued to vomit for a while but was now really fine and back to normal.  Unless they are purposely intended for dogs and cats, medication which is particularly toxic to dogs and cats are Non-Steroidal Anti–Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), since these can cause severe adverse reactions, even if taken at normal human doses.  In Mindy’s case, the amount swallowed was described as a handful, so the main worry was intoxication resulting in severe liver damage. 

Occasionally, dogs suffer from accidental or malicious forms of intoxication. Salt and water are the first things you should think of, especially within the first half-hour of ingestion and, obviously, the sooner the better. This also holds true when dealing with non-caustic substances like rat bait, snail bait or, as in this case, pills.

In the meantime, phone your vet to seek better advice and to have your pet seen to as soon as possible. Remember to take with you as many details as possible of the suspected poisonous substance.  Different intoxications require different treatments and, as happened in Mindy’s case, it may vary according to how much time has elapsed. Time is always of the essence.

I suggest that whenever you have an emergency and your regular vet is not available at the time, you inform the attending emergency veterinary surgeon that you would like to take with you the medical details of the consultation so as to be able to transfer the case back to your regular vet as soon as it is feasible.

This would help your own veterinarian to treat your pet in the correct and desired context, and would also avoid any awkward situations arising later.

Important emergency numbers that you should always have at hand:

5250 2000 is the Malta Veterinary Association 24-hour service. This offers the possibility of taking your pet at any time of day or night to have it seen to and treated by the roster vet on duty (each call costs €5).

7940 4030 is a new veterinary helpline being run on an experimental basis and is intended to give immediate professional advice on how best to deal with emergency situations.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon
thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com