Animal Health 10/29/20 - What not to feed your dog

Dr. Karen Emerson of the Emerson Animal Hospital in West Point tells us what foods are unhealthy for your dog, she also warns how easy it is for dogs to eat rat bait.

Speaker 1: good morning, sunrisers.

I'm dr. karen emerson and today i have with me my receptionist, stephanie.

This cute little girl right here is her pug, daisy, and then this cute little boy is actually my personal dog, ollie.

We're basically going to talk about today things your dogs should not eat.

I've had a lot of clients calling lately saying that they're feeding their dogs grapes a little bit more than normal.

And then of course, i want to talk about chocolate because halloween's coming up.

Speaker 1: you do not want to give your dogs a large amounts of grapes because that can cause some kidney and bladder issues and then chocolate can actually make your dog have seizures if they eat a lot of it.

So if your kids are going trick or treating or you've already started buying the halloween candy, when your kids get home from trick- or-treating, make sure you put it up on a counter and they can't get to it.

And if for any reason they do ingest it, that is an emergency and please call your veterinarian immediately and get them to an emergency center.

Speaker 1: another thing i want to talk about that we're seeing a lot of is rat bait ingestion.

I know right now, a lot of people are putting out rat bait because we have mice and stuff that are coming in due to the weather getting a little cooler.

Dogs love the smell of rat bait.

It tastes good to them and they can find it.

You will think, "oh, i'm just going to put it under this counter right here."

They can actually smell it from underneath the counter and open the counter.

Our dogs have never been introduced to rat bait, but we had a poor baby come in yesterday that had eaten a whole block of rat bait.

Of course, we got the dog to vomit and then we started her on something called vitamin k.

Speaker 1: there are many different types of rat bait, so you really need to play close attention if you're going to put it in your home, that you check those areas daily where you put the rat bait.

They actually make protective cases that you can put rat bait in that the dogs cannot get into, but i still don't recommend leaving those out in the open because some of the larger dogs can chew and get into these plastic containers.

They also make glue traps you can use.

They're a little bit safer, but that is just something that's so important to look at that rat bait daily, make sure you know how much has been eaten, and then check your dog.

Speaker 1: if you think your dog for any reason has eaten rat bait, go ahead and call your veterinarian.

We will teach you how to get your dog to vomit and then bring your dog in immediately.

Rat bait actually blocks the clotting cascade in the liver, so your dog actually has to be on a vitamin k supplement for a whole month after they ingest it.

So basically, these are just some other things just to try to let you know during all these seasons what to feed, what not to feed.

Of course, if you have questions, give us a call.

Make an appointment.

We can even do an exam and talk to you about what your dog eats.

And remember, your pets will thank you.

I hope you have a great day.

Announcer: wcbi animal health with dr. emerson was brought to you by emerson animal