Plant Smart

emergency

Your pet ate something. What now?

This page is for right now. Work through it in order. It takes about a minute.

Call first. Your veterinarian, or one of these services.

  • Australia
    Animal Poisons Helpline 1300 869 738 24 hours, every day · From $75
  • Austria
    Vergiftungsinformationszentrale 01 406 43 43 24 hours, every day
  • Belgium
    Centre Antipoisons 070 245 245 08:00 to 22:00 on weekdays, 10:00 to 22:00 at weekends · Human calls come first. The centre has no funding for animal work.
  • Canada
    Pet Poison Helpline (855) 764-7661 24 hours, every day · $89 for each incident
  • France
    Centre National d'Informations Toxicologiques Vétérinaires 04 78 87 10 40 08:30 to midnight, every day
  • Germany
    Giftinformationszentrum Bonn 0228 19240 24 hours, every day · Germany has no dedicated animal service. Human calls come first, so an animal call can wait.
  • Ireland

    Ireland has no animal poison service for owners. Call your veterinarian. An Irish veterinarian can consult the Veterinary Poisons Information Service in the United Kingdom.

  • Italy
    Centro Antiveleni di Milano 02 6610 1029 24 hours, every day
  • Netherlands
    Nationaal Vergiftigingen Informatie Centrum 088 755 8000 Veterinarians only 24 hours, every day · Call your veterinarian. Your veterinarian calls this line.
  • New Zealand
    Animal Poisons Helpline 0800 869 738 24 hours, every day
  • Sweden

    Giftinformationscentralen stopped answering questions about animals on 1 July 2018. Call your veterinarian or an animal hospital.

  • Switzerland
    Tox Info Suisse 145 24 hours, every day · From outside Switzerland, call +41 44 251 51 51.
  • United Kingdom
    Animal PoisonLine 01202 509 000 24 hours, every day · £35 from 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday, £45 at other times
    Veterinary Poisons Information Service 020 7305 5055 Veterinarians only 24 hours, every day · A members only service. Your veterinarian calls this line.
  • United States
    ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (888) 426-4435 24 hours, every day · A consultation fee applies
    Pet Poison Helpline (855) 764-7661 24 hours, every day · $89 for each incident

While you wait to be connected

  1. Take the plant away. Move your pet into another room, away from what is left of it.
  2. Check they are breathing and behaving normally. If they are struggling, collapsed or having a seizure, go straight to a vet.
  3. Photograph the plant. Or, keep a piece of it, put it in a plastic baggy along with the label from the pot if there is one.
  4. Write down the time. Note roughly how much they ate.

Do not

  • Do not make your pet vomit unless a vet or a poison service tells you to. Some things do more damage coming back up than they did going down. There is no safe way to make a cat vomit at home.
  • Do not give a home remedy. No milk, no salt, no hydrogen peroxide, no charcoal and definitely no human medicine. Many home cures make things worse.
  • Do not wait to see if it passes. Some plants take hours to show and by then the damage has started.

Have this ready when they pick up

  • The plant: its name if you know it, your photograph if you do not.
  • How much they ate and how long ago.
  • Your pet's species, breed, rough weight and age.
  • Anything you can see: drooling, vomiting, tremors, swelling, unsteadiness.

Not sure which plant it was?

Search all 281 plants By botanical name or common name Match what you are seeing Pick the symptoms, we rank the likely plants

The steps on this page follow the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center and Pet Poison Helpline. We do not write our own clinical advice. This page is a starting point for a conversation with your vet, not a diagnosis.