Suspect poisoning? US: ASPCA Poison Control (888) 426-4435 · UK: 01202 509 000 · Severe symptoms → nearest emergency vet now.

Poisoning questions, answered

Every question has a direct answer, a symptom checklist and clear next steps — plus a matching tool that estimates the real risk.

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The four most-used triage calculators:

chocolate · open tool My dog ate dark chocolate — how much is dangerous? grapes & raisins · open tool My dog ate one grape. Should I panic? xylitol · open tool Dog ate sugar-free gum with xylitol — emergency? lily · open tool Cat licked a lily petal — is that fatal?

Full answer library

All pets Dogs Cats

Dogs · Emergency guide My 12 kg dog with heart disease just licked a piece of blue-veined cheese off the floor — could the mold be dangerous for him? Yes — moldy cheese can carry tremorgenic mycotoxins and aflatoxins, both of which are especially risky for a… Dogs · Emergency guide My 10 kg Cockapoo chewed open a jar of ground nutmeg about two hours ago — what signs should I watch for and when do they appear? Watch for vomiting first — it usually starts within 2 to 4 hours after eating the spice. After that, look for… Dogs · Emergency guide My 14 kg dog with a diagnosed heart murmur ate half a pseudoephedrine tablet from my nightstand — how dangerous is this for his condition? Very dangerous. Pseudoephedrine raises heart rate and blood pressure dramatically, and in a dog with an… Dogs · Food safety My 2 kg, 4-month-old puppy managed to eat a thumb-sized chunk of fresh durian about an hour ago — given his tiny size, what should I watch for? Even though durian is only a mild risk for dogs, a 2 kg puppy is far more sensitive to the high fat and sugar… Cats · Emergency guide My 3 kg one-year-old kitten just licked a thick smear of zinc oxide cream off my finger after I applied sunscreen — how worried should I be? You should be very worried. Zinc oxide is toxic to cats even in small amounts, and a thick smear on your… Dogs · Food safety My 14 kg older dog with kidney disease ate a quarter cup of cooked couscous prepared in chicken broth with a little salt — is this safe for him? Plain cooked couscous is safe for dogs, but the chicken broth and added salt are the problem here. Dogs with… Dogs · Food safety My 9 kg dog finished the bottom of my bowl where I had mixed plain canned pumpkin into a chicken and vegetable stew — is he OK? He is most likely fine. Plain canned pumpkin is safe and even helpful for dogs, and the small amount left at… Dogs · Food safety My 4 kg chihuahua snatched two Brazil nuts from the coffee table an hour ago — how much is too much for a dog that size? Two Brazil nuts is enough to worry about in a 4 kg dog. These nuts are extremely high in fat and selenium … Dogs · Emergency guide My 10 kg dog is 6 weeks pregnant and licked oven cleaner off the stovetop about 20 minutes ago — is this an emergency for her and the puppies? Yes — this is an emergency for both the mother and the litter. Oven cleaner contains sodium hydroxide, a… Dogs · Food safety My 12 kg golden retriever managed to steal a bowl of plain cooked spaghetti squash at a family BBQ — are there signs I should watch for? He is almost certainly fine — plain cooked spaghetti squash is safe for dogs. Watch for a loose stool or two… Dogs · Food safety My 3.5 kg teacup Yorkie licked a small piece of sugar-free gum at a holiday party — do I need to get her to an emergency vet? Yes, go now. Xylitol triggers a rapid insulin surge in dogs that can drop blood sugar to dangerous levels… Dogs · Food safety My 9 kg beagle ate four pomelo segments at a holiday dinner — is that too much and what should I watch for? Four segments is more than the recommended tiny amount, but most likely he will only experience mild stomach… Cats · Emergency guide My 4.5 kg indoor cat got onto the Thanksgiving table and ate pieces of autumn crocus bulbs I used as holiday decoration — what should I do now? This is an emergency — autumn crocus is toxic to cats in every part, and the bulbs contain the highest… Cats · Food safety My 4 kg cat ate three pieces of cantaloupe with rind left on the counter — what signs should I watch for and when? Cantaloupe is safe for cats, but the rind is hard to digest and the natural sugar content can upset a small… Dogs · Food safety My 2 kg chihuahua licked a single sprig of fresh dill off the cutting board — is that an emergency? No — a single lick of fresh dill is not an emergency and is safe for a dog of any size. Dill is classified as… Dogs · Emergency guide Can a 30 kg pregnant golden retriever who licked expanding polyurethane glue from the garage floor 30 minutes ago still be okay without going to the vet? No. Polyurethane glue reacts with stomach moisture and expands into a foam mass that blocks the gut, and that… Cats · Emergency guide Can a 7-week-old, 0.9 kg kitten get sick from licking a small smear of ground nutmeg off a baking spoon? Yes, even a small smear is dangerous for a kitten this young and small. Nutmeg contains myristicin, which… Cats · Emergency guide My 4.5 kg indoor cat ate a fragment of a dried hyacinth bulb she found in a potting bag — is dried bulb more or less dangerous than fresh? Dried is more dangerous. As the bulb dries, water leaves behind and the calcium oxalate crystals and other… Dogs · Emergency guide Is it safe to give my 12 kg dog a daily high-potency vitamin A supplement from a commercial treat brand? No, daily high-potency vitamin A is not safe for long-term use in dogs. Vitamin A is fat-soluble and builds… Dogs · Food safety My 14 kg dog with congestive heart disease accidentally ate two spoonfuls of beef gravy made with onion powder — is this an emergency? Yes, treat this as an emergency. Onion powder is a concentrated form of onion, and all members of the Allium… Cats · Food safety My 3 kg cat with chronic kidney disease ate two seasoned sushi seaweed sheets — is the iodine and salt dangerous for her condition? Yes, it is dangerous for a cat with kidney disease. Seaweed is extremely high in both iodine and salt, and… Cats · Food safety How should I store raw oyster shells after shucking so my 2.8 kg indoor cat cannot get to them? Store them in a sealed plastic container or a resealable bag inside the refrigerator, not in an open bowl on… Dogs · Toxicity calculator My 6 kg terrier ate a piece of expired nicotine gum I left on the counter overnight — is that dangerous? Yes — this is an emergency. Nicotine acts extremely fast in dogs, and leaving gum out overnight only… Cats · Emergency guide How can I stop my 3.5 kg cat from licking laundry detergent powder out from under the washing machine? Start by sealing the gap between the machine and the wall or floor — cats squeeze through openings wider than… Dogs · Emergency guide My 14 kg dog dug up a daffodil bulb from my flower box yesterday and ate it — could the bulb have gotten into my grocery store bags? That isn't how the danger usually spreads — daffodil bulbs are soil-bound and don't hide in packaged… Dogs · Emergency guide My 10 kg dog ate a commercial pecan-chew biscuit from the pet store yesterday — is this a safe treat or a pancreatitis risk? It's a real risk, not just a ‘feed with care’ situation. Pecan-flavoured dog biscuits typically contain… Dogs · Food safety My 11 kg dog got a small bite of avocado flesh but has a sensitive stomach — will this cause diarrhoea even though it wasn't toxic? It might — the issue here is fat, not poison. Avocado flesh is roughly 15 per cent fat, and a dog with a… Cats · Food safety My 4 kg cat picked up a chocolate chip cookie crumb from the kitchen floor — is the baked form less dangerous than raw dough? Baking doesn't neutralise the danger. Chocolate chips contain theobromine and caffeine, and heat actually… Dogs · Emergency guide My 7 kg terrier licked raw gasoline off a rag in the garage 45 minutes ago and is now wobbly — should I go to the vet or wait and see? Go to the vet now. Wobbly gait at 45 minutes means the gasoline has already depressed his central nervous… Dogs · Food safety My 4 kg Yorkie licked one ripe gooseberry off the garden path — does the size of my dog mean I should call the vet, or is one berry fine regardless of weight? One ripe gooseberry is fine for a 4 kg dog — you do not need to call the vet for this. Gooseberries are safe…

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The library keeps growing. Can’t find your situation? Open the matching toxicity calculator and enter weight plus amount for an instant risk level.