My Dog Ate Drugs: What To Do

The thing that most often costs these dogs their lives is not the drug. It is an owner too embarrassed to say what happened.

Let us deal with the awkward part first, because it is the part that actually costs dogs their lives.

Tell the vet exactly what your dog got into. Your vet treats animals. They are not interested in anything else, they are not going to report you, and they have very likely seen it already that week. Owners who hedge, or who say the dog "found something on a walk" when they know precisely what happened, force the vet to guess. Guessing costs time, and time is the only thing you are short of.

What to do

1. Ring your vet or a poison line now, and be direct about what it was.
2. Bring the product, packet or patch so the type and strength are clear.
3. Go in. Do not adopt a wait-and-see.

In the US, the Pet Poison Helpline or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. In the UK, the Animal PoisonLine.

Opioids: watch the breathing

Opioids include prescription painkillers, illegal forms such as heroin, and skin patches. They are absorbed by almost any route, which means a fentanyl patch is dangerous without a single tablet being swallowed. A used patch still holds a substantial amount of drug, and dogs find them in bins, on floors, and discarded on the ground during walks.

The danger is not the sedation. It is what happens to breathing.

• Pinpoint pupils
• Heavy sedation, hard to rouse
• Walking as though drunk
• Slow, shallow breathing that can stop altogether
• Coma

Watch the chest. A deeply asleep dog breathing slowly and shallowly is far more urgent than one that is merely dopey. There is a specific reversal agent that vets use for opioid poisoning, which is precisely why saying "it was an opioid" matters so much.

Stimulants: the opposite picture

Cocaine and similar stimulants produce the reverse. Dogs are rarely poisoned by finding a stash; they lick a table, chew a jacket pocket, or nose a towel with residue on it. The dose needed to affect a dog is small, and every exposure is an emergency.

• Hyperactivity and agitation, a dog that cannot settle at all
• Dilated pupils
• Twitching and tremors
• Seizures
• A racing heart
• Collapse in severe cases

Wired, restless and hot, rather than sedated and glassy-eyed. Knowing which of the two pictures you are looking at genuinely helps on the phone.

Do not make a sedated or seizing dog vomit

Do not try to make your dog sick unless you have been told to. Never when it is heavily sedated, and never when it is twitching or seizing. A dog in either state cannot protect its airway and will inhale what comes up.

Where it happens

Most exposures are not the owner's. They are a discarded patch or a bit of foil on a park path, a festival field the morning after, or a holiday rental where whoever stayed last left something under a chair.

The preventable ones happen at home, in bedside drawers, handbags and open wash bags. Used fentanyl patches need a sealed bin a dog cannot open, not a wastepaper basket.

If you are staying somewhere unfamiliar, a wipe of the low tables and a look under the furniture before letting your dog roam is not paranoia. It takes a minute and covers several of the hazards in this section at once.

Sources

This article was written using guidance from Pet Poison Helpline, a 24/7 animal poison control service for North America; and ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, a leading 24/7 animal poison control resource in the United States. This guidance is for general information and does not replace a consultation with your own veterinarian. In an emergency, always contact a vet. Read [how we write our health guidance](https://rochsociety.com/how-we-write-our-health-guidance/). Last reviewed July 2026.