Dog ate garlic

[pinkjellybelly]

I have a 16 week german shepherd/ husky mix. I went to pick my kids up and came home a few hours later, noticed it smelled like garlic and realized he maneuvered his way to jump on the counter and ate a whole bag of fried garlic cloves. I took him to the emergency vet clinic. They gave him an IV and pcv/tv test and things seem normal. They wanted to keep him for a day and do a lot of other things but the estimate was going to be over 2k which I can’t afford to pay upfront. I brought him back home and am making a vet appointment for him tomorrow morning. It’s now 2 am and it’s been about 8 hours and he’s showing 0 abnormal symptoms besides the serious garlic breath. What should I do at home? He’s a little over 20 pounds and he ate a good amount.

 

[hallstone]

@pinkjellybelly How much he actually eaten? Whole garlic or some cloves?

Garlic will be toxic if dog eaten 15-30 grams per kilogram of weight.

Clove of garlic is usually 3-7 grams, so he would need to eat several whole garlics to be sick.

Monitor him, if he starts to show sickness symptoms then go to vet again.

Most likely he will be fine without any symptoms as you said it passed 12 hours and nothing happened.

 

[jajejllc]

@hallstone I just did the math. If your puppy weighs 35 lb
and if he ate less than 80 gloves or less than 240 g he's most likely fine. Even 96 gloves or 480 g could still be fine.

 

[pinkjellybelly]

@hallstone It was a bag of fried garlic cloves. I can’t say how many were in there but there were a lot in the bag.

 

[hallstone]

@pinkjellybelly Ask your vet if you can give active charcoal to your dog. I remember 12 years ago when my dog eaten garlic my vet said that i should give him active charcoal as it absorbs toxins. I don't remember dosage so it's best to ask your vet for advice.

Did vet induce vomiting? I remember my vet did that as I took my dog as soon as I noticed he eaten garlic.

 

[pinkjellybelly]

@hallstone The vet said it was too late to induce vomiting since it was more than 2 hours since I took him to the Vet. I’ll ask about giving him active charcoal when I call this morning.

 

[omega2xx]

@pinkjellybelly Probably too late for that at this point- activated charcoal is effective when there's still toxic material in the stomach that hasn't been absorbed yet, so after 6 hours it won't be helpful.

For what it's worth, the toxin in garlic cause anaemia, so if he doesn't show signs of lethargy and is UTD on his worming, he'll probably have a dip in his red blood cells that will recover over the next few weeks. Follow your vets advice, avoid strenuous exercise, and do t book him in for any non-urgent surgery and he should be OK.

 

[jazzpiece]

@pinkjellybelly Was it like a snack bag? You should at least have how many grams were in there.

 

[trynhard]

@pinkjellybelly Hopefully fried garlics diminish the toxic effect.

 

[trynhard]

Forgot about what is making it toxic but h2s, hydrogen disulfit. When fried, this chemical should diminish.

 

[pinkjellybelly]

@trynhard Thank you for the information. He still acting normal, it’s been almost 12 hours but I’m told it may take up to 5 days for symptoms to show if there are any.

 

[mufudzi]

@pinkjellybelly I would monitor. Do leashed outings so you can monitor bowel movements to catch anything early and ask the vet what symptoms you should keep an eye out for. If it does take 5 days to present maybe do another blood panel on day 3? I would ask the vet though

 

[iacob36]

@pinkjellybelly Garlic is really not that toxic to dogs, in fact recent studies show it may not be toxic at all. Onions on the other hand…

 

[jajejllc]

@iacob36 Yes, in the original study, they gave an insane amount of garlic to dogs for an extended period of time. They did see some adverts effects but nothing dramatic.

 

[jhunnix]

@pinkjellybelly 2k for hematocrit and a little microscopy seems kinda bonkers

 

[briryan]

@pinkjellybelly I feed my dog garlic regularly to prevent fleas.

 

[heisalive1]

@briryan My Mom did this with our dog as kids.

 

[tuckertwo]

@pinkjellybelly Just watch him and as long as he is behaving normally, you’re fine.

I also have a husky/shepherd mix and when they’re puppies they can get into so much trouble. I recommend either crating or confining to a room where he can be safe when you’re not there. It’s not cruel if you use the crate properly and it can keep your puppy from eating dangerous things

 

[pinkjellybelly]

@tuckertwo I have an almost 2 year old German shepherd and usually the younger puppy does not do things like this. But after tonight Pet ER visit I’ll be locking everything up at all times.

 

[tuckertwo]

@pinkjellybelly Yeah, the husky bit can make thinks a bit unpredictable. I didn’t mean to sound like a know-it-all. I unfortunately learned this the hard way when my normally good husky shepherd mix chewed a baseboard while I was gone.

Likely, your dog will be absolutely fine. I’m sorry you are going through this stress.