Dear Dr. Lisa,

Over the holidays my dog, Tiki, a pomerian/eskimo mix ate a whole plate of freshly cooked Toll House chocolate chip cookies. Of course, this happened over the weekend and my vet was closed. We stressed for days thinking Tiki was going to get sick from the chocolate. What is the best way to get information if your regular vet is closed and something like this happens??

Thanks and happy new year!

Hollyann from Westampton

 

Dear Hollyann,

Happy New Year to you as well! Of course, emergencies, especially toxicology emergencies, always seem to happen at night or on the weekend. Luckily, milk chocolate isn’t horribly toxic for dogs and your pet probably just ended up with a little gastrointestinal distress and increased thirst. However, if you had used baker’s chocolate, a small amount of chocolate can be life threatening.

There are a number of local vet clinics that are open 24 hours that can help you afterhours. These include: Red Bank of Cherry Hill, South Jersey Emergency Clinic in Mount Laurel, and Northstar Vets in Jackson. If the emergency is purely toxicologic it is worth calling Animal Poison Control for a consult. Animal poison control has the data and ability to calculate the toxic dose for food, medications (human and pet), plants, etc. Once they determine if the toxin ingested was a toxic dose for your pet they will help your veterinarian develop a treatment plan to follow to help minimize the problems your pet may encounter. Keep this number on hand: Animal Poison Control 1-800-213-6680.

Hopefully, you wont need the number in the future. Next time put those cookies up higher! : )

Happy New Year everyone and have a great week.

Lisa Aumiller, DVM

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