pet-poison-triage

Use when a pet (dog/cat) may have eaten something toxic — species-aware hazard scoring with the first-30-minutes protocol (never induce vomiting unless told; fur decontamination for cats), chocolate theobromine mg/kg dose math across 7 product types, xylitol hypoglycemia (0.1 g/kg) and kidney-injury (0.5 g/kg) thresholds with the birch-sugar rename trap, grape/raisin unknown-toxin protocol, plant lookup (TRUE lily + cat = ER, sago palm, lily of the valley vs peace lily), and the pet poison kit + emergency card.

A dog eats a tray of brownies at 11 PM. The owner googles "chocolate dog" and gets a wall of contradictory advice — some of it genuinely dangerous (salt-induced vomiting, milk, hydrogen peroxide for cats). What actually decides outcomes is (a) knowing the species-specific hazard class within seconds, (b) doing dose math instead of vibes, and (c) not wasting the decontamination window on folk remedies. This skill is the calm first 30 minutes: what it is, how bad for THIS animal, what to do now, what never to do, and what to bring to the ER.

When to Use

• Pet just ate something suspicious (food, plant, medication, chemical)
• "Is this actually toxic?" — species-aware answer fast (cat vs dog differ dramatically: xylitol barely affects cats; acetaminophen kills them at tiny doses)
• Dose math for the calculable ones: chocolate (theobromine mg/kg), xylitol (g/kg vs hypoglycemia/AKI thresholds)
• Plant identification of risk: true lily vs peace lily vs lily of the valley — three completely different emergencies for a cat
• Building the pet poison kit / emergency card BEFORE anything happens

Always in parallel: call ASPCA Animal Poison Control [phone] or Pet Poison Helpline [phone], or your ER. This tool makes the call faster and better-informed — it is not a substitute. If gums are pale/blue/yellow, breathing is labored, or the pet collapses: ER now, skip everything else.

The Method

bash

# The generic entry point — hazard class + first-30-min protocol
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py triage "sugar-free gum" --species dog
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py triage "tiger lily" --species cat

# Dose math (the calculable toxins)
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py chocolate --product baking_chocolate \
    --grams 30 --weight-kg 10
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py xylitol --grams 3 --weight-kg 25 --pure

# Unknown-toxin protocol (no safe dose exists)
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py grapes --species dog

# Plant risk lookup + the poison kit checklist
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py plants "easter lily"
python3 scripts/pet_poison_triage.py kit

Dose Thresholds (what the math means)

Chocolate (dogs): theobromine mg/kg — <20 monitor; 20-40 mild (vomiting, restlessness); 40-60 moderate (tremors, arrhythmia → vet now); >60 severe (seizures → ER). Product theobromine: baking/cocoa 16-20 mg/g vs milk 1.5 mg/g vs white ~0 — 10× differences make "amount of chocolate" meaningless without the type.

Xylitol (dogs): ≥0.1 g/kg hypoglycemia (crash in 10-60 min); ≥0.5 g/kg acute kidney injury. Sugar-free gum runs ~0.3-1 g/piece — count pieces. Rename trap: "birch sugar" = xylitol.

Grapes/raisins (dogs): toxin unidentified, no safe dose, individual sensitivity — any confirmed ingestion = vet same day, ideally <6h for decontamination + 48-72h kidney monitoring.

Species Asymmetry Table (the lethal traps)

Toxin	Dog	Cat
xylitol	severe (hypoglycemia)	minimal
acetaminophen	severe	deadly (10 mg/kg)
ibuprofen	severe	deadly
true lilies	mild	deadly (pollen/vase water)
chocolate	severe	moderate (cats rarely eat it)
permethrin (dog flea spot-on)	ok	deadly — never share

Common Pitfalls

1. Inducing vomiting yourself. Wrong method (salt, ipecac, finger) causes harm; right method (3% peroxide, dogs only) needs dose and timing and is contraindicated for some toxins (corrosives, hydrocarbons). Only on professional instruction.
2. "He seems fine." The deadly toxins have lag: antifreeze has a fake-recovery phase, sago palm and grapes show signs at 1-3 days, rat poison at 3-5 days. Asymptomatic ≠ safe for these.
3. Cat treated as small dog. Cats differ in direction AND degree (lilies deadly for cats/mild for dogs; xylitol reverse). Species selection matters more than weight math.
4. White chocolate panic / milk-chocolate complacency. Both wrong: run the math on product type + amount + weight.
5. Ignoring fur contamination. Cats are poisoned by grooming (lily pollen, antifreeze on paws). Wash with dish soap; that IS the intervention.
6. Losing the wrapper. The ER needs the product (xylitol content, rodenticide type — three classes with different antidotes).
7. Waiting for the hotline fee to be worth it. $75-85 vs a $3,000 ER visit or a dead pet; the fee is trivially worth it whenever dose math lands in a severe band.

Verification Checklist

• Species confirmed (drives everything)
• Weight in kg actually measured (doses are per kg)
• Product type identified from packaging (not memory)
• Ingestion time noted (decontamination windows)
• Hotline/ER called for any moderate+ verdict
• Wrapper/product in the bag for the ER
• Kit restocked: unopened 3% peroxide (it expires), syrup, numbers

References

• references/toxin-reference.md — the full toxin table with doses, onset windows, decontamination rules, what to bring per toxin class, hotline numbers by country, and the toxic-vs-safe plant shortlist.