INDUCING VOMITING IN A DOG
Dr
Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First Written:
03 August, 2010 |
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Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
Xylazine IM injection
normally causes a dog to vomit. But nothing happened in
this Jack Russell that ate swallowed half of his
mistress' white tablet (around 2.5 cm in diameter).
"This Japanese-made tablet is to keep my medication
dry," the lady in her 30s wrinkled her nose and her
brows.
After waiting 10 minutes, the dog dozed off inside the
crate. Not a tinge of vomit. When I do not want a dog to
vomit after xylazine sedation for anaesthesia, it will
vomit. Now, this Jack Russell does not vomit. This is
the second case it happened to me. The recent case was a
case of the dog swallowing a condom.
What to do? I got some salt from the restaurant behind
my surgery as I had run out of stock and such cases are
rare in my surgery.
"What to do now?" I asked my assistant Mr Saw and intern
Ms Lai. Both shook their heads in amazement as to why I
need salt.
I wanted my assistant to be hands on. "Put some salt at
the back of the dog's tongue," I said. But easier said
than done.
"What if the dog bites me?" Ms Lai stood back a bit and
did not volunteer. Male Jack Russells can bite and his
long canines are sharp and brand new. He is around one
year old but is actually a gentle dog.
"How to put salt at the back of the tongue?" I asked. I
took out a dropper which is used for eye drops. No use
as not much salt could not stay inside. In any case, how
to drop salt to the back of the tongue?
"Can you get a long spoon?" I asked Mr Saw. He could not
find one.
"Just pinch some salt, open the dog's mouth and rub the
salt onto the tongue," I advised. It is easy to advise.
However, I wanted to train Mr Saw to do it. Hands on
experience is the only way for him to learn if he wanted
to start his own practice in Myanmar. He had never heard
of this method nor the use of salt and so he did not
know exactly what to do.
"The dog is tranquilised," I told Ms Lai. "He will not
bite." But I did not want Ms Lai to do it as she looked
worried. Mr Saw tried. No reaction. "Try again," I said.
He placed more salt at the back of the tongue. Nothing
happened.
"Rub the throat a bit," I said. I demonstrated. "Then
give 2 ml of water in a syringe." Ms Lai walked away to
fill a syringe with water. The dog was outside the
surgery on the table.
After what seemed like an eternity, she returned. Mr Saw
squirted the syringe of water inside the dog's mouth.
The dog swallowed. We waited. Nothing happened.
"This will take time," I said to the two people whom I
hope, had trust in my professionalism. Sometimes the dog
vomited immediately in my other cases, but this Jack
Russell just would not do it. "Give another 2
ml of water," I asked Ms Lai who was kept on her toes
during her internship.
This was dutifully done by Mr Saw. We waited. Holding
our breath. Both of them must think I have a whacky way
of inducing a dog to vomit.
 After a minute, the dog gurgled and wrinkled his muzzle.
Mr Saw tilted the Jack Russell's his head downwards. The dog vomited three
times, the last time being white froth. Brown rice
grains and pieces of white tablets spilled over the grey
table where the dog was positioned.
I showed them to the lady owner and she was very
relieved.
She
had gone home first as she noted that the dog had not
vomited after tranquilisation with xylazine 2% but I
asked her to come back to see the evidence and bring the
dog home. I had initially wanted to put the dog on an IV
drip to dilute the poison but this was now not necessary
as the dog had swallowed the half tablet only 2 hours
ago.
Does salt work? Well, it does. It is not an elegant way
and is quite messy. In times when xylazine does not
work, I used this method effectively and I remembered
this strange incident. Once a young lady bought in a dog
who had swallowed a condom. I gave a xylazine injection
IM as usual. No reaction. The dog blinked at me.
The young lady said: "I am responsible for this. What if
the condom jams up the small intestine and the dog need
an operation to get it removed?"
"Please don't worry, " I said. I just placed salt on the
back of the dog's tongue as what Mr Saw did today. I
rubbed the back of the tongue with my finger three
times. I syringe in a bit of water for the dog to
swallow. The lady was pleased on seeing the condom out
of the stomach.
Veterinary
medicine is full of surprises. There is never a dull day
and challenges presented. I read a lot of inducing
vomiting in dogs. With all those modern drugs for
vomiting, a simple solution of using salt may be used.
Don't try this if the dog has swallowed bones or stones.
X-rays and surgery will be highly recommended. |
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