This is my first guest post! One of the smartest and skilled veterinarians I know they wrote this on one of their overnight emergency shifts.  It underlines the frustration many veterinarians feel when we are told the only thing we care about is money.  So often owners will turn to unqualified advice that can often lead to more harm and quite possibly an even bigger veterinary bill for us to undo your at home “fix”.  Our profession is to help pets and help pet owners make the right decision.

Dr Google.
I love Dr. Google. I’ve been known to use it numerous times – on the way to a large animal calving nothing is better than a quick google search on how to actually DO a c-section… I mean it’s been a while since I did any at school.  Wait…I never actually did any at school or got to see any!  But at least I know to take that information with a grain of salt (yes…intended metaphor  based on what’s to come).

The latest best Google advice is how to induce vomiting in a dog.  Google says use salt.  Google doesn’t talk about salt being potentially toxic, checking to make sure it’s actually really needed, or maybe calling your vet to see if this is really a good idea. Even at the emerg clinic we will give you the free advice of if you really need to induce vomiting.  Let’s say (this is all theoretical because in real life stuff like that doesn’t really happen, right?) a dog had a $3000 foreign body surgery at the emerg clinic about 7 days ago for sock removal and you notice your child’s sock is missing.  Of course you go stomping over to the dog, yell at them in a stern tone “did you eat that sock?? Did you?? I know it was you” and they give you the guilty dog look because obviously they did something wrong (I mean why else are you yelling at them).  You whip out that smart phone, pull up trusted Dr . Google and start typing… How do I make my dog puke. 21,400,000 results in 0.26 seconds.

First result is Justine lee, toxicology vet specialist who says call your vet or poison control first because you can do more harm than good by making them vomit,  Obviously she is just out to make money, so like most rational people we skip that advice and go to the second link.  Wikihow says use hydrogen peroxide and it has cute little pictures.  But for the fullness of search sake, we decide to click on another link (I mean let’s be thorough here)!  Perfect!  Yahoo answers.  Real people.  Ziggy says mix about a tablespoon of salt with warm water.  That sounds about right!  Let’s do that.  Ziggy obviously knows what she is talking about.  I mean she has a 33% best answer rating!  Get the guilty dog over and give her this mixture and wait to retrieve the sock.  5 minutes and nothing happens, 10 minutes later and the dog looks like it’s going to retch but still nothing happens.  12 minutes later your partner comes in from the house with the suspected missing sock… Guess the dog didn’t eat it after all!  15 min later dog is still looking miserable like it tries to puke but nothing is coming up,  at this point, maybe let’s call the emerg clinic for free advice…What you mean salt is toxic to dogs?  Ziggy said its ok…

I really do appreciate your business.  I mean firstly, your dog didn’t need to be made to vomit in the first place.  Now I get to explain to you all the scary facts about salt poisoning, whip out my calculator to see if this dose is toxic or not, scold you on inducing vomiting on a dog who just had surgery without asking a vet first and send you on your merry way with a good sized bill.  Damn those vets are so greedy you mumble to yourself as you leave the clinic.  No.  Because if you would have called me first, you likely would have found the sock before you induced vomiting and we wouldn’t need to see you for salt poisoning and all that advice would have been free over the phone.  But I really do appreciate your business.  It makes my night go by faster! 😉