If your dog drank mop water, your next actions depend on the type of household cleaner used. Dog poisoning symptoms include vomiting, trembling, diarrhea, and ulceration. Rinse out your dog’s mouth and call the nearest vet or animal poison control center immediately.
You scrubbed the floor with bleach water and turned around to find your dog slurping out of the mop bucket.
Can mop water kill your dog? Should you rush him to the vet? Call the animal poison control center? Or should you give your dog a home remedy?
Here is what to do if your dog drinks mop water.
Bleach is corrosive. Pine-Sol can cause poisoning. Know how to identify the signs of canine poisoning and act fast. If you suspect that your dog has swallowed toxic cleaner, take him to the vet immediately or call the Pet Poison Helpline at (855) 764-7661 for quick assistance.
Note: This article is not a substitution for a qualified veterinarian’s advice. Always talk to your veterinarian about your dog’s health before administering medication or home remedies.
How Do You Know If Your Dog’s Been Poisoned?
Swallowed poisoning symptoms include:
- Agitation
- Tremors
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Burns
- Red ulcers around the mouth
- Convulsions
- Seizures
- Heart issues
- Kidney failure
- Coma
- Death (severe cases)
If your dog accidentally breathed bleach or household cleaners, inhaled symptoms include:
- Breathing issues
- Passing out
What Do I Do If My Dog Drank Mop Water?
Call your local vet. You can find the closest vet here. Or contact animal poison control here.
How Do You Flush Poison Out of a Dog’s System?
1. Induce vomiting with a small squirt of non-expired hydrogen peroxide. Do not induce vomiting if your dog swallowed bleach.
2. Wash out his mouth with water.
3. Give him milk to dilute acidic cleaners (note that some pets may be lactose intolerant).
4. A vet can administer activated charcoal to bind the toxins and prevent intestinal absorption.
5. A vet may give your dog a gastric lavage to expel hazardous substances.
What Happens If My Dog Drinks Mop Water?
1. Your dog may experience nausea or vomiting.
2. Your dog might paw at her mouth.
3. Concentrated bleach can cause mouth ulcers and throat lesions.
4. Blood may result from internal burns.
5. Your dog might start shaking. Move her to a safe place where she won’t bump into furniture or fall downstairs.
What Happens If a Dog Drinks Mop Water with Bleach?
Do not induce vomiting.
Bleach is corrosive, and vomiting can cause esophageal burns.
The American Veterinary Medical Association warns that swallowing products containing bleach can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and drooling. If the bleach is concentrated (over 10% bleach), it can irritate the respiratory tract or cause severe internal burns.
Here are several recommendations if your dog ingests bleach water.
1. Rinse out your dog’s mouth and lips with water.
This will wash surface chlorine from the area.
2. After rinsing, you can give your dog 30 ml. of milk for every 6.5 pounds of weight.
Milk helps neutralize and soak up any bleach that made its way to the stomach. You can feed milk to your dog with a needleless syringe.
3. Wash mouth ulcers with gentle dog shampoo or a mild dish soap solution.
4. You can give your dog a Pepcid AC (famotidine) antacid tablet.
5. Take your dog to the vet.
Depending on how much bleach your pet ingested, he might require hospitalization, an IV drip to fix sodium and chloride electrolyte imbalances, or stomach ulcer medication.
What Should I Do If My Dog Drank Pine Sol?
1. Clean your dog’s mouth with water.
2. Give her milk to stimulate mucus production to protect her throat and GI tract.
3. Get her to the vet within 24 hours since Pine-Sol metabolizes quickly and can be fatal to the heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys.
4. The vet may put your dog on IV fluids and activated charcoal to absorb and flush out chemicals.
5. The vet may also need to perform gastric lavage to remove toxic pine oils.
What Do I Do If My Dog Drank Mr. Clean?
1. Make your dog swallow lots of water to dilute the cleaner.
2. Unless your dog is small and drank a lot of undiluted cleaner fluid, Mr. Clean likely won’t cause any serious issues.
3. Give your dog 10 mg of famotidine, available over the counter at pharmacies, every 12 hours for 3-5 days. Do not give your dog Pepto Bismol.
4. Monitor your dog’s symptoms.
5. Call the vet if you notice any worsening symptoms.
How to Keep Your Pet Safe at Home – And Ensure That They Don’t Drink Mop Water Again
- Keep bleach and other cleaning products out of reach.
- Use non-toxic and pet-safe cleaning products in areas that your dog may enter.
- Use a pet-gate or other barricade to fence off the cleaning area.
- Read the instructions on the bottle carefully. Correctly diluting a product makes it less toxic.
- Always open a window to allow any bleach fumes to dissipate. This is advised both for your pet, yourself, and any children in the house.
- Close the lid after scrubbing the toilet.
- Thoroughly rinse all bleached areas.
Will My Dog Recover?
In most household product poisoning cases, the majority of dogs don’t swallow concentrated bleach. Most mop water contains diluted or color-safe bleach rather than concentrated liquid. Concentrated bleach can kill a dog. Even if your dog only swallowed a mild bleach solution, always call your vet or reach out to the Pet Poison Helpline for professional assistance.
There are a few things that you can do at home, such as rinsing your dog’s mouth with water or giving him an antacid tablet.
What happens now?
At the vet clinic, your dog will receive monitoring for several hours to check for further issues such as continued vomiting or lesions. Once your dog is released to go home, it is best to feed him a bland diet such as rice, pumpkin, or cottage cheese for a few days. This helps avoid activating too much stomach acid.
Next steps
Take immediate steps to ensure your pet’s safety by putting away all toxic products, working on crate training, and making cleaning areas off-limits for your dog. The good news is that dogs that are treated quickly and correctly will usually make a full recovery.
