My dog ate ham. Is it harmful? When should I take him to the vet?

You should not feed spoiled meat or other spoiled food to your dog. You are risking gastrointestinal problems such as gastritis, pancreatitis and diarrhea. That said, just because the "Best by XXXXX" date has run out, does not mean the food is spoiled. It is best to just feed your dog proper good quality dog food. It is possible that the ham was not spoiled,. but the spices and salt in the ham caused the tummy upset. If he is fine now (no diarrhea nor further vomiting) then there should be no reason to worry.

Ham is safe. At most it would cause an upset stomach, which could cause vomiting and/or diarrhea, but nothing serious. It's unlikely that buster will have any issues due to this, so no need to do anything drastic. It must have been a great Thanksgiving snack for him though. I hope that helps and happy Thanksgiving!

I am sorry Roxy is not feeling well. I would recommend taking Roxy to a veterinarian. She could have easily developed pancreatitis but she may just have a intestinal upset from it. Regardless a veterinarian can hydrate her and give her medication to stop the vomiting. I hope Roxy feels better soon and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Poor girl. She is likely trembling because she is in discomfort. Ham is high in fat and often-times salt, so this can irritate her GI tract and potentially her pancreas. If the shaking/trembling continues and she also seems unstable (falling over, mental depression, staring off in space, seizing, etc), then she may be fine for now. If she develops overt neurological symptoms as mentioned above, then it is best to get her evaluated by your vet right away and not wait until morning. However, the likelihood of serious neurological deficits following ingestion of ham is very unlikely. The more logical explanation for her shivering, is that she is sick to her stomach. Offer her a bland diet of boiled plain chicken and rice or cottage cheese for several days, but make sure to fast her for 12 hrs first before doing so. If she eats well and holds down her food, with no diarrhea, then she will likely be ok.

It's not recommended to feed your dog ham because it's very fatty and can cause both GI upset and pancreatitis. It sounds like he has an upset stomach, so I would withhold food for 12-24 hours, then feed a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) and white rice in small amounts several times a day. You can then slowly add back in his normal diet. If he vomits in the absence of food, he vomits the bland diet, develops diarrhea, stops drinking water, starts vomiting water, or becomes very lethargic, he will need to see a vet right away.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach- sorry to hear Boy got into the garbage! I would withhold food for him for the next 12 hours- he can still have access to water. You can then reintroduce him to his normal food. I'd give him about 1/2 of what he normally eats and see if he keeps that down before giving him more. If Boy continues to vomit or experiences diarrhea or lethargy then I'd recommend Boy see his veterinarian ASAP.

If there is no blood in the diarrhea and as long as Fate is eating and drinking normally with no vomiting it is probably okay to monitor her. Ham bones can cause bloody diarrhea, constipation or intestinal obstruction so if you see her straining to defecate or you see the signs above you should see a vet right away. If she doesn’t have any dietary restrictions you could try feeding a bland diet of 25% boiled chicken and 75% plain white rice for the next couple of days to help with the diarrhea.