Podcast highlights persistent myths around toxic ingestions

A new dvm360 feature based on The Vet Blast Podcast is spotlighting a familiar but costly problem in companion animal practice: misconceptions about toxic ingestions. Published March 3, the piece features Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, senior veterinary toxicologist and director of veterinary medicine at Pet Poison Helpline, arguing that clinicians should resist reflexive, protocol-driven responses and instead assess each exposure in context. (dvm360.com)

The conversation arrives during Pet Poison Prevention Month and against a backdrop of steady toxicology caseloads across the profession. dvm360 framed the episode as an effort to dispel myths around activated charcoal, emesis, hospitalization, and diagnostics. At the same time, other veterinary outlets have been highlighting similar concerns. AAHA recently featured Schmid discussing the most common and surprising toxins affecting pets today, including familiar hazards such as chocolate and lilies, alongside newer risks tied to JAK inhibitors and human medications in the home. (dvm360.com)

The key clinical point from the dvm360 piece is that not every toxic ingestion belongs in the hospital, and not every case needs a battery of tests. In the transcript, Schmid said clinicians should “treat the patient, not the toxin,” using ibuprofen as an example of an exposure that can range from gastrointestinal risk to acute kidney injury depending on dose and circumstance. She also said some patients may be managed with outpatient support, oral medications at home, or limited fluid therapy when hospitalization isn’t feasible because of cost, patient temperament, or other barriers. (dvm360.com)

Schmid also challenged another common assumption: that laboratory diagnostics are always necessary right away. She noted that amphetamine exposures often don’t produce the kinds of CBC, chemistry, or urinalysis changes clinicians may be looking for, making routine testing less helpful in some cases. Likewise, she warned against drawing clotting profiles only hours after an anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in a patient that isn’t actively bleeding, because the timing may make the result clinically unhelpful while still adding cost and stress. (dvm360.com)

That message fits with broader poison-control trends. ASPCA’s Top 10 Toxins of 2025 lists food and drink exposures as a major category, with grapes, raisins, xylitol gum, onions, and garlic leading that group. Chocolate remained a major exposure category, plants and fungi continued to rank highly, rodenticides stayed in the top tier, and recreational drugs such as marijuana also remained on the list. ASPCA also reported that veterinary product exposures increased in 2025, in part because flavored chewables can encourage pets to ingest entire containers. (aspca.org)

Recent ASPCA background also shows how toxicology guidance continues to evolve as evidence accumulates. The organization said its toxicologists helped identify tartaric acid as the suspected toxic component in grape and raisin exposures, and it highlighted newer research on severe overdoses involving oclacitinib. That’s relevant because one driver of “misconceptions” in practice is that toxicology is dynamic: what clinicians learned years ago may not fully match the current evidence base, product landscape, or exposure patterns seen in homes today. (aspca.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is really a story about triage discipline and communication. A more individualized approach can help teams reserve hospitalization and diagnostics for cases where they’re most likely to change management, while offering realistic outpatient plans when appropriate. That can support better access to care, reduce friction in financial conversations with pet parents, and make poison-control consultation more valuable as a decision-support tool rather than a last resort. It also reinforces the need for staff training on exposure timing, expected toxicokinetics, and which tests are actionable at which point in the case. (dvm360.com)

What to watch: Expect continued discussion around spectrum-of-care toxicology, especially as poison-control groups and CE providers keep spotlighting emerging risks, including medication ingestions and newer household exposures, through 2026 education programming. (dvm360.com)