Poisonous Food

The ASPCA has a collection of pages dedicated to animal poison control. It has lists of common people food which are toxic, plants which are toxic, the 10 most common toxic household plants, common seasonal items which are toxic, etc.

It's important to educate yourself on what is poisonous to your pets. I find it's good to visit the site every so often to refresh my memory. There are certain foods I like to eat which I don't give my dog. These items are either highly toxic, or have an unknown toxicity (I'd rather not take chances).

• grapes (apparently relatively small amount of grapes have been known to cause renal failure in some dogs)
• chocolate (the closer it is to pure chocolate the more toxic it is)
• garlic and onion (while not highly toxic, are so common that I make an effort not to give my dog any)
• avocado (I don't know how toxic this is)
  
• large amounts of fat (surprisingly can cause vomiting and pancreatitis)

If your dog eats something which is toxic don't panic you have some options. The first thing you should do is try and contact your regular vet. They will (hopefully) be familiar with your dog and give you the most pertinent advice on how to deal with the situation. In most cities there are also emergency veterinary clinics which are open 24 hours a day. Call or go immediately if possible. In most cases you will want your dog to vomit the toxic substance. DO NOT induce vomiting if the substance your dog ate was caustic, if your dog is having seizures, shock or lethargy. I have induce my dog to vomit once so far in the 2 years that I've had her. I did so with 2 teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide that I splashed in the back of her mouth. She vomited all the food she had eaten out of the trash within 5 minutes. DO NOT induce vomiting regularly. Hydrogen peroxide is an irritant to dogs.

Remember that it's not a good idea to feed your dog your people food unless you are familiar with the effects the ingredients will have an your pet.