My dog ate a cigarette butt. Is it toxic? What should I do now?

Unfortunately even one cigarette butt is poisonous enough to cause serious toxicity in a small puppy. If you have not inspected the vomitus of your puppy and found the butt in it then it did not come out and you need to take your puppy to a pet ER or a vet for an exam. Signs of nicotine poisoning occur within an hour of ingestion and include tremors, drooling, hallucinations, constricted pupils, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, increased heart rate and high blood pressure.

Good on you for reaching out for help and information! The toxic level of nicotine in dogs is 5 milligrams of nicotine per pound of body weight. In dogs, 10 mg/kg is potentially lethal. One cigarette contains 15 to 25 milligrams of nicotine depending on the brand. So two cigarettes would contain 30-50mg of nicotine. That means if your dog weighs 30kg (66lbs), she would have potentially consumed 1mg/kg to 1.67mg/kg. If she weighs 5kg (11lbs), she would have potentially consumed 6mg/kg-10mg/kg (potentially lethal dose). I'm not sure how much your dog weighs, but if she is a larger dog (over 50lbs), she likely did not consume enough to be toxic. The signs of toxicity are dose-dependent and generally begin within one hour of ingestion. Many dogs will vomit naturally after ingestion. I would monitor her for now. Watch out for tremors, weakness, stumbling, lethargy, drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, or difficulty breathing. If you see any of these signs, get Kai into your vet right away.

Do not allow Snickers any access to cigarette butts. Nicotine is toxic to dogs. If you smoke, throw them away when you are done in a can that has a lid on it and put it up out of her reach. When on walks, steer her away from discarded butts.

Hello, sorry to hear about Nala. It is common for dogs to vomit after chewing cigarettes containing nicotine. Typically, decontamination of nicotine, the toxicant, occurs during the vomiting episode and dogs do not experience other symptoms of toxicity. However if ingestion of nicotine does occur, dogs can experience other symptoms such as abnormal heart rates and rhythms, abnormalities in blood pressures and even seizures or tremors. After ingestion of nicotine containing products, it is recommended that patients get evaluated by a veterinarian to monitor their heart rate, blood pressure, and neurologic status. If you are concerned that Nala may have ingested the cigarette, then you should have her evaluated by a veterinarian. Otherwise, monitor for more vomiting, lethargy, weakness, and episodes of collapse, or trembling and seizing. If you note any, contact your veterinarian immediately. Hope this helps and best of luck.

These herbs are not considered toxic to dogs. Monitor for vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, loss of appetite or abdominal pain. If he chewed them up, they will likely pass uneventfully in the next 24 hours. See your veterinarian if any of these symptoms develop.

No need to be concerned about this amount being ingested. At much higher doses, this can cause a blood toxicity, but he would probably have to eat much more (30-100x more) than this in order for there to be a concern. I hope that helps and all is well with Wolverine.

Hello. I would be concerned that there is actually something else going on with Champion. It is good that he is still eating, but he may need just a bit more help recovering from this. I would have him evaluated by your veterinarian just in case additional treatment is needed. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.