What to do if your dog eats ibuprofen (e.g., Advil) | Dr. Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT, Board-certified Veterinary Specialist
In the past few weeks, I’ve had multiple dog owners bring in their dog for Advil (e.g., ibuprofen) poisoning. While this is “treatable,” the past few cases have been frustrating to treat. Want to know why?
Because the pet owners brought their dogs in too late…
The last two pet owners waited 4-12 hours to bring their dogs in. They tried to induce vomiting at home, and while they dogs vomited, they didn’t seek further care until hours later, when their dog continued to vomit. Little did they know that the sooner that you seek veterinary attention for treatment, the better the prognosis, the more your dog can be treated, and the less damage it will cause them! These owners didn’t know this, and ended up having to pay more for treatment as a result, with more damage to their dogs in the process!
If your dog eats ibuprofen, you want to seek veterinary attention immediately. Not 3-4 hours after your dog ingests Advil. Not after you’ve tried to induce vomiting several times and are waiting at home for hours to get him (or her) to vomit. Get to the vet now. Even if it means having to get up in the middle of the night to get to an emergency veterinarian.
First, why is ibuprofen poisonous?
Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that has anti-inflammatory properties. Common OTC human NSAIDs include active ingredients such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. Examples of human NSAIDs include Advil®, Aleve®, certain types of Motrin®, etc. NOTE: You should never give any of these human NSAIDs to your dog (or cat), as it is very poisonous! Instead, there are safer veterinary NSAIDs that we use; however, these ALSO can be poisonous if ingested in large amounts. Examples of veterinary NSAIDs include carprofen, deracoxib, etogesic, previcoxib, etc.
NSAIDs like this are very poisonous to dogs & cats! Get to a veterinarian immediately if your pet got into this!
With NSAID toxicosis, the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., stomach, ingestines), kidneys, central nervous system (e.g., brain), and platelets can be affected. Cats and certain breeds of dogs (e.g., German shepherds) seem to be more sensitive to NSAIDs, and should be treated aggressively. With cats, severe acute kidney injury (AKI) is often more clinically seen with NSAID toxicosis at lower doses (as compared to dogs). With dogs, signs secondary to GI ulceration (e.g., vomiting, diarrhea, black tarry stool, vomiting blood, etc.) are more commonly seen initially, followed by secondary AKI.
Clinical signs of NSAID poisoning include:
- Not eating
- Vomiting
- Vomiting blood
- Diarrhea
- Black-tarry stool (melena)
- A painful abdomen
- Lethargy
- Bad breath
- Dehydration
Treatment for ibuprofen poisoning in dogs & cats includes aggressive intravenous fluids
So how do we treat ibuprofen poisoning in dogs and cats?
Treatment should be initiated immediately, depending on what dose your dog or cat got into. This includes immediate decontamination (e.g., inducing vomiting if your dog isn’t already vomiting, and if the ibuprofen was recently ingested), administration of activated charcoal (to bind up the poison from the stomach and intestines), then getting blood work immediately. Depending on the dose ingested, further treatment will include anti-vomiting medication, stomach protectants (e.g., H2 blockers like Pepcid-AC, sucralfate), aggressive IV fluid therapy (to help maintain renal blood flow), and symptomatic and supportive care. If the dose ingested was a kidney failure dose (which will depend on what type of NSAID it is), blood work typically needs to be performed every 24 hours for 2-3 days while your dog is hospitalized to make sure that kidney failure hasn’t developed.
When in doubt, call your veterinarian, your emergency veterinarian, or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435 for life-saving advice (24/7!).
You can check out this video to learn more about human medications that are poisonous to pets here. Again, when in doubt, contact the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.
.my Dogg ate 200mg of advil I don’t have any money I just moved to this state .and I don’t know what to do! Within a 30 min ago
Depends on the weight of your dog. I would call ASPCA ASAP as they may be able to help you with inducing vomiting.
Is there any one out there who’s dog was given an Advil like dose appropriate? Its kinda scary to know how sick a dog can get….yet we are able to take this ( appropriately dosed) without our kidneys shutting down….Is this a sham for vets to make us cashcows?
Um no. As the only board-certified toxicologist and criticalist in the world, I can vouch and attest that there is NO therapeutic dose of Advil for use in dogs. You metabolize drugs differently than your dogs. There are dog-specific NSAIDS that are safer.
My dog (miniature schnauzer) ate three 200 mg of Advil. I got her to the Emergency Vet Clinic within about an hour. I had given her peroxide to vomit but she didn’t. Do you think I got her the treatment she needed in time??? I am praying I did before she got any gastrointestinal problems. Thank you.
Yes sounds like you got here there in time! Rest assured in that they can decontaminate and give charcoal, treat with IV fluids and stomach protectants and after 2 days of hospitalization, prognosis is generally good! Best of luck!
My dog ate a bunch of Motrin pills and I didn’t know that pills were poisonous to dogs so it took her a few hours to get to the vet, do you think she’ll be ok?
It depends on the dose – have your vet call ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center if needed. The longer delay in getting to the vet, the bigger the danger as it’s too late to decontaminate, so you want to get to an ER vet even in the middle of the night! Best of luck.
My dog ate 15 Advil last night and we took her to the vet and they induced vomiting and sent her home. She won’t keep anything down and keeps throwing up her food. What should we do?
You definitely need to et back to the vet right away – what weight is your dog and were they 200 mg tablets? It could still be very poisonous and IV fluids and antivomiting medication may be needed!
my shepherd ate quite a few 800mg ibuprofen pills and seems ok should i be worried? this was about 2 hours ago
When in doubt, you need to call ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center immediately – as German shepherds are at higher risk. In general, 50 mg/kg or above can cause stomach ulcers, and really high doses can cause kidney failure and worse. It depends on what dose your dog got into but at 2 hours, it’s too late to induce vomiting and I would contact your vet immediately.
My cat just ate one 200mg Advil. I don’t have any vet around! What can I do? Please inform me asap! It isn’t vomiting!
You need to get to a vet right away as that’s super poisonous and can cause kidney failure. There is NO safe medication you can give at home to induce vomiting in a cat and immediate veterinary treatment is needed.