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Dog ate spoiled food, now sick

My 5 month old Bulldog ate ham from the garbage. It was starting to spoil when I threw it away. It was a baked ham and he ate maybe 6-8 slices. Today- 2 days later he has started with watery diahrea and some vomiting. He is just throwing up water. He can keep water down most of the time but has thrown it up a few times. Other than these symptoms he is playful, seems ok. We gave him 1 tsp of pepto a few minutes ago but it hasn't been long enough to see if it worked. Is this something we should rush him to the vet tomorrow or is this pretty normal and should we give him 24 hours or so to recover on his own? Any other home remedies we can do to keep him comfortable? We are watching him for dehydration.
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441382 tn?1452810569
It's not likely that your dog has food poisoning, because dogs can eat almost anything and not get sick.  Between their saliva and their stomach enzymes, no bacteria can really survive it, and coupled with the fact that dogs have a very short digestive tract (only about 8-10 hours between "in" and "out"), there's really no chance for what we call food poisoning to occur.  There's no way the ham would still be in him after two days.

What is far more likely is that your puppy is not used to "people food" and may have a sensitive stomach, and now he's paying the price for the pilfered ham.  Some dogs have cast iron stomachs and can eat almost literally anything and not get sick.  Others, like my collie, can eat a single bit of something and have diarrhea for two days.

Do not feed him while he's vomiting and has diarrhea.  Make sure he has plenty of water, but let his stomach rest for a day or so.  Then make him some rice with chicken buillon (use the buillon instead of water so that it soaks into the rice) and feed him about a cup of that and see if he keeps it down.  When Kate eats something she should not have, the upset stomach/diarrhea usually last about two days.  If he is still not right or if he gets worse, get him to the vet because it could be that he ate something besides food while he was rooting around in the trash.  

Give him some Gatorade or Pedialyte to drink to help keep his electrolytes in balance since he's vomiting, and just keep an eye on him until tomorrow.  He should start to improve, but don't give him any food at all until at least tomorrow night to give his stomach a chance to calm down.

Ghilly
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks. I will follow your sugggestions. He did well last night and did not get sick anymore. He got up once overnight and peed. He got up this morning more like himself and hubby felt bad and gave him a little dogfood. He ate it and had a closer to normal BM. I'm going to keep him off all treats and food the rest of the day and try the diet suggestions you made for this evening. I think he only got the ham because hubby caught him red handed. You are right though this dog has had a sensitive stomach siince the day we got him. We go out of town and he poops all over himself (and this was soon after we got him- not attached yet) He may just be a wimp! lol. Maybe he learned his lesson. Thanks so much
Helpful - 0
441382 tn?1452810569
I'm glad to hear that he's doing better.  Unless he is one rare dog, though, chances are he won't learn his lesson.  You'll have to keep a very close eye on him to make sure he doesn't do it again, but if he does, at least you'll know that it's his touchy stomach and not something sinister.   :)

Ghilly
Helpful - 0
306455 tn?1288862071
I have 2 dogs that will eat just about anything. The Rotty actually will eat everything..rocks..blankets etc.  But for some reason, Ham upsets their stomachs. Dogs that I had in the past have also reacted badly to anything more than a bite of ham.
Go figure...Rocks are  ok, ham not so much.
Hope your baby is feeling better.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
PLEASE don't allow your pup to have ham or any other cured or processed meats.  They are entirely too salty, among other things.
Avatar universal
Well, he ws doing much better, almost normal. Tonight the diahrea started again today and there was blood in it. Now it is getting very watery again. I guess we are off to the vet. He had worms in Nove. when we got him but he was treated twice. Perhaps he has something else now.  Thanks for your help. I'll let you know what they say.
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Avatar universal
my dog ate left overs in a tupperware that was a week old... He took it out of the garbage what should we do
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
What kind of food was it that he ate? If it was spoiled meat, then, like Ghilly said in the top comment here, it's unlikely it will make him really ill. It is possible he will vomit it back up. But that's not always such a big deal for dogs. If that happens, don't feed him again for a good few hours, give his tummy chance to recover, but make sure he gets fluids.
If it was anything with onions, then speak to your vet as onions are not good for dogs. If it was anything very fatty, that could cause inflammation of the pancreas. If it was anything with splintery cooked bones like chicken, ask your vet's advice as soon as possible.

If it was just meat, if it's any consolation, dogs do sometimes eat spoiled meat and get away with it, because their digestive systems are very different to ours. It depends of course, and if you get any signs that your dog is unwell, take him straight away to the vet. If he vomits once, and then is ok afterwards he'll most likely be  just fine. If he vomits more than once, and does not improve afterwards, he may need some attention.
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Avatar universal
My pekingese is almost a year old now and he ate ham that was very old. He has been vomiting slime the whole day and drools extremely,which is very unusual, should I consult a vet or will he be fine in a day or so?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
The dog's digestive system may kill the bacteria.   Until that point, however, the bacteria will have been producing toxins in the rotten meat.  This is the reason why it is dangerous for humans to cook and consume rotten meat.  The bacteria may be dead, but the toxins remain, and they can easily make a dog or person sick.
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Avatar universal
My dog just eat rotton venicin and has had diarea for two days should I be worried?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hello ghilly
It sounds like you know what your talking about re dogs and food poiserning so I just want to pick your brains , my dog just ate rice from my wormary, it had been left to sit a day at room temperature and frozen for a month then defrosted, I know rice can cause food poiserning in humans, do you think this will be ok?

Thank you

Hannah
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
my dog ate meat fat and now seems sick and has stopped eating. What can I do?
Helpful - 0
462827 tn?1333168952
Welcome...What size dog & how much fat??? My first thought is Pancreatitis  which is very painful and must be treated by your Vet, for the best outcome....

If it continues tomorrow, call your Vet for an appointment.....Pancreatitis can be fatal if left untreated....

Let us know what happens, please....Thanks
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I gave my dog some ham that was in the fridge for maybe a week or a week and a half and hes been having diarrea for the past two days but I also had made some chicken alfredo from stoffers the kind that is frozen and you trow it into the oven. Well I gave him a person size piece cause he always eats people food with and the ham that night and the next day me my husband and my dog had diarrea and now its the third day and hes puking slime and his dog food up.... what should I do?
Helpful - 0
675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
Okay, it's not necessarily the end of the world that he puked. Throwing up once or twice and getting everything out of his system might do the trick. It's nature's way of getting rid of bacteria etc. Likewise with diarrhea. So long as a dog is basically fit and well, a vomiting/diarrhea episode won't do any harm.

But there are a few things to watch out for here. Signs of pain, vomiting that goes on and onto the following day, dehydration, throwing up blood, extreme lethargy...or any other symptoms.
A healthy dog who throws up once should be basically OK in a few hours and behave normally, and if this doesn't happen, that is the time to go to the vet.

You could try fasting him COMPLETELY for 24 hours. But he must have water, in small, regular amounts, or he's in danger of dehydrating, especially with diarrhea as well. Don't just put the water bowl down and let him guzzle, or he could end up vomiting it all back, and on and on, so the dehydration could get critical.
If he starts to throw up the small amounts of water too, then he MUST go to the vet, as he may need IV fluids.

A better option would be to use unflavored Pedialyte, or if you haven't got that, then water in which a little bit of honey has dissolved.

24 hours without any food at all may give his belly chance to settle.
On the 2nd day try plain boiled rice -small amounts at a time, and see if he keeps that down. If so, try adding plain boiled fresh chicken or white fish(no seasoning/sauces etc and beware of bones if you give him fish.)

Any continued vomiting, inability to hold down water, any other symptoms, or if this doesn't clear in 24 hours -please get him to the vet!
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Avatar universal
my dog on a raw food diet ate some food that may have been spoiled. it's been 20 hrs. and now he's throwing up. what do I do??
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Avatar universal
My dog ate a bread with a mold.  She seems weak but she can still walk and when we call her name, she wagged her tail. She vomited and had diarrhea. She doesn't have a appetite to eat but she drinks water. Today in the morning, she vomited again. The color was yellow. And right now, I think she vomited again because there was a clear bubbles in her mouth. What should I do? My parents doesn't want to send her in the vet :(

P.S My mom made her drink water with a dextrose powder. Is this the reason why she got clear bubbles in her mouth? ANSWER ME PLEASE, I REALLY NEED YOUR RESPONSES/HELP.
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