Pet Poison Awareness Month

Imagine you come home after leaving your house for 5 minutes to go pick up a carton of eggs because your husband forgot to tell you he ate the last one and little Jimmy needs his birthday cupcakes tomorrow for school. You tell little Jimmy that you’ll be back in 5 minutes, “please keep an eye on Fluffy, your 2-year-old Chihuahua, and to BE GOOD!” You arrive back home, walk into your house and see a catastrophe. Little Jimmy and Fluffy got into the Easter candy and there is chocolate everywhere. I mean everywhere. You see a mixture of wrappers and brands. Reese’s Pieces, dark chocolate, Hersey kisses, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, Milky Ways, Rolos, and those god awful Milk Duds. You start to panic, but then you remember this blog and now you know what to do. Golden retriever sitting in front of a mess

Call the Pet Poison Helpline at 1-800-213-6680. Have your credit card ready because there is a fee of $59.00. The helpful staff will guide you through the next steps. They will ask you a number of questions, which will help them figure out if Fluffy got a toxic dose of chocolate. Depending on how much chocolate was consumed or you think was consumed because poor Little Jimmy is on a sugar high and can’t tell what is up and what is down. They will tell you how to treat at home or to call your veterinarian. If a toxic dose was consumed, they will fax and call your veterinarian while you are driving Fluffy in and let them and you know the next steps to help Fluffy.

There are a number of things that are harmful to your pet. If you visit the pet poison website, http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com, you can find a list of things that can potentially be, or are, poisonous to our pets, whether it be a cat or dog. There are things that we have around our house that are dangerous to pets that we don’t even know about. Chocolate is one of the most common pet poisons we see at our hospital.

For more information stop by Leesport Animal Hospital today and ask for our client hands outs on pet poison!
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