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Allowing the dog to develop a taste for alcohol is a very bad idea. A small amount of alcoholic beverage that would not intoxicate humans would already have very serious effects that can even lead to the death of the dog because the systems of these animals do not process alcohol well. In humans ingestion of alcoholic beverages will result to vomiting, frequent urinating and uncoordinated movements but in dogs the effect would be more serious. Dogs that have ingested a sizeable amount of alcoholic beverage can go into coma or have cardiac arrest and if the dog does not receive urgent treatment the condition can result to the dog’s death

Not many people are aware of the dangerous effects of alcohol to dogs and those that knew about alcohol’s toxicity would associate the poisoning to the ingestion of alcoholic beverages. Apart from alcohol ingestion there are other situations where the dog can be poisoned by alcohol. Most medications have ethanol as this substance is used as a solvent. Knowing the indiscriminate eating habits and the curious nature of the dog, the interesting smell of a bottle of medication would entice the dog to investigate - to smell and to taste. Ingestion of the medication would result to alcohol poisoning. Dogs can get poisoned by ingesting yeast dough. Ethanol is produced when the yeast dough ingested by the dog ferments inside the stomach and produces ethanol.

Signs of alcohol toxicity will be easily apparent about 30 minutes after the dog has ingested alcohol. The swaggering movement of a drunk person will be mimicked by a dog intoxicated with alcohol. The dog that would be noticed to have the strong smell of alcohol in the mouth would drool and vomit. A drastic change in behavior will be noticed and in about a day or two the dog would either be sluggish or very excited.

Dogs that have downed more alcohol would need a trip to the vets to be treated for alcohol poisoning. The nervous system of the dog will be affected if sizeable amount of alcohol was consumed. Tremors, slow respiratory rate can get the dog into coma. The dog can die if the condition progressed to cardiac arrest.

Alcohol poisoning needs urgent medical attention. The dog will be given supportive treatment. Activated charcoal is administered to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract of ethanol so as to prevent the toxic substance from being further absorbed by the body. Intravenous fluid therapy is administered to replace fluid and electrolyte lost because of diarrhea.

Don’t drink and drive. But does this also go for dogs? Learn more about dog alcohol poisoning at Sarah’s Dogs. Also you can read about first aid for dogs.

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