Cane toads can kill your dog within 30 minutes. Here's how to save him.

When your dog decides to play tag with a cane toad, you have less than 30 minutes before the toxin reaches the bloodstream.

In that window, you can still do something.

Once it closes, there is nothing I can do to pull the toxin back out.

That single fact is what changed how I practice.

Because for years, the standard advice was: "Call your vet. Drive to the ER. We'll treat your dog when you get here."

The problem?

The average drive to an emergency vet is 20 to 40 minutes (hopefully).

But wait..

We forgot to add the panic, the phone call, time spent finding your keys.

Plus the time spent sitting in traffic, then waiting to be checked in.

The window is usually gone before your dog is even in the car.

I didn't feel good typing that, but it's the truth.

Now, let me tell you what to actually do with those 30 minutes.

If your dog was bitten by a rattlesnake, I'd draw up antivenom.

The antibodies would neutralize the venom.

Unfortunately, cane toad poisoning doesn't work like that.

There is no antivenom.

So, how do you save your dog?

Get as much of the toxin out AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.

The faster you can remove it, the greater the chances of your dog making it.

If you do nothing else, please just do this.

Rinse your dog's mouth out with water.

It's free, it's fast, and in the first 60 seconds it's the most important thing you can do.

Just try to avoid using a hose.

It forces water down the throat and into the lungs.

My favorite method is using a damp cloth.

Wipe the gums, the tongue, and the roof of the mouth.

Rinse the cloth out after every single wipe, or you're just putting the toxin back where you found it.

Keep going for ten minutes. It's going to feel like forever.

Do it anyway.

I wish I could tell you that your dog is now in the clear.

Unfortunately, this rinsing only gets rid of the poison that is still in the mouth.

Whatever your dog already swallowed is in the stomach.

And there's only one thing that gets to that.

Activated charcoal.

There's a reason activated charcoal has been used in human ERs for over a century.

When a toxin enters the stomach, activated charcoal binds to it like a magnet does a needle.

It grabs the molecule, holds onto it, and refuses to let go.

The bound toxin then gets carried through the digestive tract and eliminated in the stool, before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

It's not magic.

Although, sometimes I TRULY believe it is because of the wonders I've seen it do.

It's the exact same reason we use it inside the clinic when a poisoned pet arrives in time.

The difference is: inside the clinic, we're often too late.

At home, in the first few minutes, you're not.

I understand the instinct.

Someone reads about activated charcoal, sees a $20 bottle of capsules on Amazon, and figures they've solved the problem.

I'm going to walk you through why that plan falls apart the moment you actually need it.

You see, the CORRECT dose of activated charcoal for a poisoned dog is about 1 gram per 1 pound of bodyweight.

Which means the answer is different for every dog.

So let's use mine.

Sorry, Bella. You're up.

60 pounds of lab.

She's a grand master at putting things in her mouth she knows she shouldn't.

Does it anyway.

She's my little hoover and I absolutely ADORE her.

Now let's pretend Bella has sucked up a cane toad on our walk (oh no!).

And I'm a responsible dog mom.

So I bought this bottle of activated charcoal.

Months before I ever needed it.

For exactly a day like this.

So we get home and I go straight to the cabinet.

I turn the bottle over.

And now I'm standing there doing math with a poisoned dog at my feet.

Bella is sixty pounds.

That's a little over two capsules for every pound (remember the correct dose is 1 gram per 1 pound of bodyweight).

The magic number? 133 capsules.

The bottle has sixty.

So I'd need three of them.

That's if I want it to actually work.

And I'd have to open every single one.

Now picture it.

Bella's foaming at the mouth. Her gums are bright red. She's shaking.

And my job, right then, is to...

• Twist open 133 capsules by hand
• Empty the black powder into a bowl without spilling it, because it stains everything it touches
• Find a syringe, which I almost certainly don't own
• Mix the powder with water so it'll actually go through without clogging
• Then pry open the mouth of a seizing dog and get all of it down her

All while the poison keeps absorbing and the clock keeps running.

Instead of going through that nightmare, you can buy premixed activated charcoal made for dogs and cats.

The one I keep at home, and the one I now recommend to every client in my clinic, is PawMergency by Vetanica.

It's made by toxicologists (vets who study animal poisons) with over 60 years of emergency experience.

No mixing. No measuring.

No worrying about giving too little or too much.

The instructions are printed right on the tube.

Simply twist the dial to your dogs weight and press the plunger into the corner of your pets mouth.

It starts binding toxins immediately.

It's the only product I feel comfortable giving to my own dogs because...

I've had families walk out of my clinic carrying nothing but a collar.

It's a scene that makes me want to go into a different line of work.

They go home to a house where the fridge opens and no nails come clicking across the floor.

Where there's a spot on the couch that nobody sits in.

Every one of them would have given ANYTHING to rewind forty-five minutes.

I'm telling you from first hand experience, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Click the button below.

Select the right amount of tubes for your dog.

Each tube covers a dog up to 30 pounds.

So, a 60 pound dog will need 2 tubes.

And purchase PawMergency today.

At the end of every checkup visit, I ask a new question:

"If your dog ate something toxic in your backyard right now, what would you do in the next 60 seconds?"

Most people don't have an answer.

They say things like "I'd call you" or "I'd Google it" or "I'd drive here."

None of those answers save the dog.

The answer that saves the dog is: 

"I'd give him activated charcoal immediately, and then get in touch with the vet or animal poison control."

That's the answer I want you to be able to give.