What to do if your pet has an upset stomach

Picture this: it’s Thanksgiving evening and your mischievous pet managed to get some of the masterpieces you’ve been cooking up all day. Now they’re having diarrhea—maybe they’re even vomiting—and it’s long past your veterinary hospital’s business hours. What do you do?

Follow these steps to help your chowhound feel better after their food blunder:

1. Decide if it’s serious. The first order of business is to determine if it’s time to visit the emergency hospital. If your pet is lethargic, too nauseated to drink water, vomiting (which includes non-productive heaving) or has blood in their stool, don’t try to deal with this at home. Also, if they ate food that is dangerous to pets, like chocolate, grapes, raisins or artificial sweeteners, head straight to your nearest veterinary emergency room.

2. Start a bland diet. Assuming that your pet is still in fairly good spirits, not vomiting and has no blood in their diarrhea, you are set to try to soothe their belly at home by starting a bland diet. This can be made by mixing boiled white rice with boiled chicken breast. Do not add spices, oils or other flavoring of any kind, since many of these can be harmful to pets. Several small meals of this combo will be easiest for your pet’s belly to digest.

3. Monitor and reassess. Your pet’s diarrhea should improve on the bland diet over the next one to three days. If the diarrhea persists for more than three days or if at any point your pet’s condition worsens, take your pet to see your veterinarian. 

4. Wean off the bland diet. Once your pet has normal stools again, wean them off the bland diet by slowly mixing in their regular food over the course of a few days. 

Be prepared in case your pet filches part of your Thanksgiving feast with unlimited 24/7 Live Chat through the myVCA app where our licensed veterinary professionals are ready to answer your questions, day or night. Download the myVCA App Today >>