My puppy ate a cigarette butt and vomited, what should I do now?

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.

While cigarette butts do contain small amounts of nicotine, which can be toxic to dogs in large enough doses, a single cigarette butt in an 80 lb dog would not be expected to cause any significant issues. It's possible that you might see some mild GI upset if it irritates his stomach, but otherwise I would not expect to see any symptoms of a problem, and no specific treatment on your part should be needed. :)

Good question. Look for tremors, drooling, constricted pupils, diarrhea, seizures, and an increased heart rate. Typically symptoms of nicotine poisoning occur within one hour of ingestion, but I'd watch him tonight to be safe. If you see any of the signs I mentioned above, please take him into a vet immediately. I hope this helps!

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.

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.

If the vomit episode happened few days after the cigarette ingestion is unlikely that the two episode are linked. Just monitor Tater and if she vomits again I would heve her checked by your local veterinarian. You could give her some bland food for today (boiled breast chicken and rice) divided in 4-5 tiny portion to administer throughout the day. Good luck. Please post again if you would like to discuss it further. I hope my answer was helpful.

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.