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My dog ate wall paint. Should I take him to the vet for lead?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | unneutered | | 5 lbs

Should I take my dog to the vet ? I turned around for about 2 minutes and he was chewing on the corner of a wall lol lil guy actually ripped off piece of the wall and ate some he later pooped it out I'm worried he might have led paint poison , he's acting normal not sick . Wat should I do

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Christie Long, DVM

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Published on April 24th, 2017

One additional thought to add to Dr. Melanie's excellent advice: lead-based paint fragments would show up on an x-ray, so if you are unable to verify the age and thus suspected lead-content of the paint that Thor ate, you could take him into your vet for a set of abdominal xrays, which should confirm the presence of lead, if it's there.

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    That was naughty of Thor to chew the wall! A lot of paint these days is non toxic and will not be lead based unless you live in a very old home that hasn't been updated in a while. Thor should be fine, and it's a good sign he's acting normally. Ingesting a small amount of non-lead based paint is unlikely to cause any problems. If he did ingest lead based paint, you would see signs such as seizures, blindness, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, and a painful abdomen. If you do see any of those signs, I would take Thor into a vet immediately. Otherwise, he should be ok. Good luck, I hope this helps!

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