How to help a cat be sick?

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This is a question which asks how a cat owner can make their cat sick so that their cat vomits up a poison that she has just ingested. This is not about preventing sickness but encouraging it to try and save a cat’s life. I am spelling it out because Google doesn’t understand the question! There are instances when a cat owner should try and make their cat sick although it sounds tricky at best and it probably is. I have never tried it. You’ll need 3 percent hydrogen peroxide in your cat first aid box.

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Before reading on, the advice that I am given is that you should not, positively should not induce vomiting under the following circumstances: the cat has already vomited, the cat is in a stupor and breathing with difficulty and appears to have neurological problems, the cat is convulsing or unconscious, the cat has swallowed acid, alkali, cleaning solutions, household chemicals or petroleum products, the cat has swallowed a sharp object that could perforate her stomach or get stuck in her oesophagus and you don’t induce vomiting if the label on the product which has caused what you think is the poisoning says “do not induce vomiting”. Like I said, it is complicated and if in doubt simply rush your cat to a veterinarian and don’t attempt it.

Whether you try it or depends on (1) the time between your cat ingesting poison and the time you notice that she is poisoned and (2) how far your veterinarian is from you and therefore how long will it take to get your cat to a veterinarian.

If your veterinarian is very close then you should rush down them there where the vet will pass a stomach tube into your cat’s stomach and remove the contents and then wash out the stomach with water.

If your veterinarian is quite a long way away and you have just seen your card ingesting poison then you might try and make her sick. My book on the subject, which is a highly reliable book written by four American veterinarians, tells me that you induce vomiting in a cat by giving her hydrogen peroxide. You use a 3 PERCENT SOLUTION (3 parts per 100). I’d check the label carefully, Apparently drug store hydrogen peroxide in the US is 3 percent but there are other stronger concentrations depending its purpose. Give one teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide per ten pounds body weight of the cat with a maximum of three teaspoons.

If the first attempt fails you should repeat every 10 minutes up to 3 times until your cat vomits. The further advice is to try and get your cat to walk around or gently shake her in your arms after giving the hydrogen peroxide. Both of these can help to stimulate vomiting. I am not sure how you give a cat a 3 percent solution of hygrogen peroxide other than using a syringe and squirting it into the side of her mouth. You have to be careful and (as a reminder) the solution is VERY DILUTE at 3 perent.

If that’s been successful you give her activated charcoal.