All dog owners should have a canine medical kit, with vet wraps, antibiotic ointment, Benadryl, and a dozen other items. You can find good lists on many internet sites. Keep your dog’s kit beside your own Emergency Preparedness kit, with its minimum three–day supply of food and water, medicines, flashlight, and blanket. Etcetera. I admit I am not prepared. Come the Apocalypse, I will be drinking out of my hot water tank and eating raw oatmeal.

There is one thing I do have on hand, and you should have it too. And that is a bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. This is the time of year when your dog is likely to get into the Christmas turkey, chocolate or other toxic foods with unpleasant or dangerous results.

Let me share my story…My mother loved dark chocolate and one Christmas I bought her a one-pound block of it and left it on my kitchen island. Imagine my horror when I discovered my 12 lb. dog had stolen and eaten the whole thing! We rushed to the vet, where several magic drops in one eye caused spectacular projectile vomiting and cost me $100.

A few weeks later, my husband was given a large cookie tin of chocolates. The metal tin had a plastic seal around the opening. You know, the kind you have to use scissors to open. So how did a small but evil little dog without opposable thumbs manage to open it? And toss it on the floor to share with the other two dogs?

Did I want to drop another $300 at the vet? No, so I turned to Google, which suggested a dosage of 1 tsp Hydrogen Peroxide per 5 lbs of dog. Mixing the hydrogen peroxide with ice cream makes it palatable. Vomiting should start in 5–10 minutes. You can repeat the dose if you have a Rat Terrier with an iron stomach. When you have finished the clean up, you can eat the rest of the ice cream.