Tips to Avoid Emergency Visits to the Vets with Your Pets

The Poison Awareness Week happens yearly in March. It was established to help raise awareness of some of the day to day things that can be excessively poisonous to your pets. Many household products like detergents and other substances that can prove fatal if ingested.

Pets may become very ill very quickly when ingesting many common day to day foods and household products.

Here is a list of foods and other substances that can be poisoning for pets to help you be more aware:

• Alcohol

• Bone

• Caffeine

• Chocolate

• Citrus oil extracts

• Grapes and raisins

• Moldy foods

• Medicine/ supplements

Here are common house plants that are known to be toxic to animals:

• Azalea

• Cactus

• Creeping Charlies

• Lilies

• Ivy

• Mistletoe

• Philodendron

• Poinsettia

Spring and summer seasons can be a complete nightmare for pet owners when gardeners are fumigating and putting chemicals out. Be cautious and ask your gardener about the ingredients of the products. It may be advisable to keep your pets in a safe space for a few hours after an application of chemicals.

Symptoms of Accidental Pet Poisoning

Some poisons will result in immediate reactions in your pet, while others may take several days to manifest symptoms.

General pet poisoning signs to look out for include:

• Drooling and loss of appetite

• Vomiting and diarrhea

• Lethargy, weakness

• Pale or yellowish gums

• Excessive thirst or urination

• Nervousness and hyperactivity

• Muscle tremors, seizures, or coma

If you see your pet ingest anything that you are unsure of, make sure that you contact your vet immediately or take a trip to our emergency pet clinic to be sure.

Please bring the bottle of the product of you are aware of what they have ingested or make sure that you retrace the areas your pet has been to give the vet a clear understanding of the possible poison that they may have ingested.

If you're unsure, you can drop by the clinic for a vet consultation.

We are always here to advise you, even if you think it is not an urgent matter, to give you peace of mind.