Does your vet tell you to call pet poison control?

[Anonymous]

My dog got into a Vitamin D bottle. The little gel pills were everywhere and I didn’t know if he ate any.

Google said Vit D can be lethal to dogs so I called our vet’s office. They told me Vit D was bad for dogs (I figured that out which is why I was calling) and to call pet poison control.

I was not expecting that. Is this normal for a vet? I’m thinking it’s time to change vets but want to make sure this isn’t the norm first. BTW- pet poison control charges you $75 for any advice they give.

[Anonymous]

Yes our also did when my dog ate an entire bag of chocolate chips from Costco. They don’t handle emergency care.

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure you can call human poison control too.

[Anonymous]

When I took my dog to the emergency vet after he swallowed a bottle of cough syrup they called poison control and billed me for the call. They did first ask if I would authorize the charge.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely normal. Sometimes the human ER calls poison control too, FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dog got into a Vitamin D bottle. The little gel pills were everywhere and I didn’t know if he ate any.

Google said Vit D can be lethal to dogs so I called our vet’s office. They told me Vit D was bad for dogs (I figured that out which is why I was calling) and to call pet poison control.

I was not expecting that. Is this normal for a vet? I’m thinking it’s time to change vets but want to make sure this isn’t the norm first. BTW- pet poison control charges you $75 for any advice they give.

Yes this is absolutely normal. Dogs get in to so many medications and other substances that it's impossible to keep up with all of the toxic doses. Basically think of every medication ever and a dog has eaten it. The Poison Control database is thr most robust b.c of the research and caseload they can access.

I'm a vet and I can treat chocolate and some other common ones on my own like ibuprofen, rat Poison and MJ but Vit D nah I would make you call

[Anonymous]

Yes normal. The $75 fee was waived when I gave my dog’s microchip #.

[Anonymous]

This Op, thanks for the replies.

I guess I was expecting them to at least walk me through what to do or bring her in for a physical exam or want to induce vomiting or give something that might block the absorption. Everything I read online said taking a wait and see approach was not the right method since it could be lethal if it started to get absorbed and digested.

I was on hold waiting for the pet poison control people for over 15 minutes and finally hung up. Decided to just wing it and induce vomiting on my own before too much time passed. Really a little guidance from the vet would have been nice, it was during regular office hours not an off time or anything, but thank goodness for the internet.

[Anonymous]

So did he eat vit D?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So did he eat vit D?

Didn’t find any whole Vit D capsules in the vomit. Did find cicadas though, yuck. If he actually chewed any pills up and swallowed the gel then I don’t think he would have had time to chew up enough to be dangerous.

His mood was a bit off yesterday but I think he’s okay.

[Anonymous]

Yes, totally normal.

[Anonymous]

Poison control has a vet on staff and they provide exactly the kind of guidance you said you’re looking for (whether to induce vomiting or not, how to induce vomiting, what symptoms to look out for, etc.)

Hope your dog is ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This Op, thanks for the replies.

I guess I was expecting them to at least walk me through what to do or bring her in for a physical exam or want to induce vomiting or give something that might block the absorption. Everything I read online said taking a wait and see approach was not the right method since it could be lethal if it started to get absorbed and digested.

I was on hold waiting for the pet poison control people for over 15 minutes and finally hung up. Decided to just wing it and induce vomiting on my own before too much time passed. Really a little guidance from the vet would have been nice, it was during regular office hours not an off time or anything, but thank goodness for the internet.



What to do depends on the advice from Poison Control. Next time stay on hold. You got off lucky. It would take far more than 15 minutes for the vet to have seen her, BTW. But it sounds like you need a new vet as you clearly don’t trust this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did he eat vit D?

Didn’t find any whole Vit D capsules in the vomit. Did find cicadas though, yuck. If he actually chewed any pills up and swallowed the gel then I don’t think he would have had time to chew up enough to be dangerous.

His mood was a bit off yesterday but I think he’s okay.

Dogs usually do not chew small objects. I imagine he did not eat any pills. Good boi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This Op, thanks for the replies.

I guess I was expecting them to at least walk me through what to do or bring her in for a physical exam or want to induce vomiting or give something that might block the absorption. Everything I read online said taking a wait and see approach was not the right method since it could be lethal if it started to get absorbed and digested.

I was on hold waiting for the pet poison control people for over 15 minutes and finally hung up. Decided to just wing it and induce vomiting on my own before too much time passed. Really a little guidance from the vet would have been nice, it was during regular office hours not an off time or anything, but thank goodness for the internet.

I am not sure how much you are aware but vet's office are slammed right now. Going to am ER would have been the best idea if you wanted advice expediently. Do you call you pediatrician and get to talk with the doctor immediately? No. If you need that level of care, you are sent to the ER. They gave you the right advice - call poison control - because vets cannot be expected to remember all of the treatments for all of the drugs for all of the species.

I hope your pet is okay.