Recently I received a comment on www.MyPetsDoctor.com from Xandra in the Philippines. She was unfortunate enough to have had her dog ingest rat poison and to not have access to emergency after-hours pet care where she lives.
Xandra was fortunate in a couple of other ways, though.
One, she has Internet access, and was able to find a method of making her dog vomit the poison he had ingested.
Two, she was able to find a dosage that was not incorrect.
A recent study shows that sixty-four percent (64%) of the medical information on the Internet is either wrong, or outdated. Sixty-four percent! You have a better chance of being right by just guessing!
To help reduce that percentage a minuscule amount, here is the correct method of making your dog vomit:
- Administer 3% hydrogen peroxide at a rate of 2.2 milliliters (mL) per kilogram (Kg) of body weight. That is equivalent to 1.0 mL of hydrogen peroxide per pound of body weight. Never exceed a total dosage of 45 mL .
- To weigh your pet, step on a scale, weigh yourself, pick up your pet, weigh again, then subtract the difference.
- To convert your pet’s pound weight to kilograms, divide the pound weight by 2.2.
- To use common household instruments for measuring, a teaspoon is approximately five (5) mL, a Tablespoon is approximately fifteen (15) mL . Most modern measuring cups have both metric and English measuring marks.
- One liquid ounce is equal to approximately 30 mL .
This method of hydrogen-peroxide-facilitated vomiting will work in most dogs. If he hasn’t vomited in five (5) minutes, repeat the dosage. Never exceed a total dosage of 45 mL .
Do not induce vomiting if your pet has ingested caustic, acidic or otherwise erosive materials, which will cause further damage to the esophagus, pharyngeal and oral structures as it comes back up.
Hydrogen peroxide is safe to use in cats at the same dosage, but is not as efficacious. Prescription medications work more effectively and will be available at your pet’s doctor’s office or at your local emergency hospital.
Fortunately, cats are far more fastidious than dogs, so their likelihood of ingesting damaging materials is much lower.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
MMVOMIT
After hearing the wonders of Vitamin D4, I went and bought some… I gave myself a part of a 1000 I U. gelcap of Vitamin D3 along with some fish oll caps, and gave my 5 lb, 15 year old Poodle a drop, if that, of each. Three days later I was sick as a dog, and felt that like every bone in my body was hurting, my muscles, my appetite was gone, and all my teeth hurt at one time for no apparent reason. I had no idea what was wrong. I’d used supplements before which threw my mineral balance off and some odd thing would occur and so I had lost my desire for supplements but this constant advertising for Vitamin D3 got to me, along with Fish Oil and I tried again to give my self some sort of a boost.. this time for extra energy. It took at least 2 weeks to get back some sort of feeling of normalcy. But it still was not as good as I’d been before. Well about that time a small spot on my tooth became a large hole and another tooth just broke off at the gum line. I went to the computer and found that Vitamin D3 is also used as a Rat Poison and takes Calcium out of the bones and deposits the Calcium into the soft tissues. When I called the Poison Control line, the so called expert made some what ridiculed me and said How could Vitamin D be a poison. Finally she admitted in small amounts it shouldn’t hurt a person. My poodle…… I didn’t even think about how she might be feeling. But a few months later she got bloated and the vet said she had a leaky heart valve. I asked could calcium build up in the heart valve cause the valve not to close, and he said it was possible. She lasted about 2 months after that.. and had to be drained fairly often of the fluids that were in her abdominal area. After that I’ve noticed you cannot buy dog or cat food without Vitamin D3 in it. If Vitamin D3 builds up over time, why would the pet food manufacturers put Vitamin D3 in to accumulate in our precious pets? And it’s in baby formulas and other things for children. I don’t understand any of this… Can you help me?
Many foods are supplemented with Vitamin D, but in proper amounts, not huge overdoses. Thanks for reading our blog, Dr. Randolph.