Are gel ice packs toxic to dogs? The Ultimate Guide

What happens if my dog ate an ice pack?

What happens if your dog ate an ice pack depends on what type of ice pack they ate. There are two basic types, reusable ice packs and disposable. Let’s take a look at what happens if your dog eats a disposable ice pack.

Disposable ice packs are certainly convenient, but they can be dangerous for your pooch. These ice packs contain water, and a chemical that creates a chemical reaction. This chemical reaction is what makes the ice pack cold.

The chemical in these ice packs can be either ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, or urea.

Ammonium nitrate is the most dangerous ingredient found in ice packs. If your dog ingests it, it causes the blood vessels to dialate. When this occurs, blood pressure is lowered. If blood pressure drops too low, there’s not enough blood flow to your dog’s organs.

It can also affect the red blood cells. This causes shortness of breath, dizziness, and fatigue. Your dog’s gums may turn blue due to the lack of oxygen. Severe cases can cause loss of consciousness or death.

ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, or urea. Of these, the most

Calcium ammonium nitrate is a mix of calcium carbonate and ammonium nitrate. Calcium carbonate is nontoxic. In fact, it’s commonly used in antacids.

This combination is less dangerous than pure ammonium nitrate. It can still cause the same symptoms of toxicity as ammonium nitrate, but a larger amount is needed to cause illness.

Urea is safe for dogs. In fact, it was once used in pet safe ice melting products. This was discontinued because it’s ineffective for melting ice, but it is effective for cold packs. How’s that for irony.

Urea can cause stomach upset in larger amounts, due to stomach irritation. However, there’s no real risk of toxicity.

Can dogs chew on ice packs?

Ice packs, in general, are not a concern. They contain mainly cellulose (starch), urea (not a concern in monogastrics like dogs), and propylene glycol (ppg). Ppg is much less toxic than ethylene glycol. Generally, unless you see signs of inebriation, the ppg is not a concern.

The vet takes almost 45 minutes to call back. Usually they are very good but I guess they had trouble locating a vet that particular evening. She recommends contacting Animal Poison Control. She tells us that Animal Poison Control has the ingredients of most ice packs (which we could not find anywhere on the package or on-line).

On this particular Super Bowl night, Ike decided to shred the ice pack. Why? Because he was bored. He’s not a football fan. (And don’t send me hate mail. We had taken him for a 1 hour walk earlier in the afternoon. He gets plenty of exercise.) I caught him after I heard a giant rip. I thought it was his toy rabbit. It wasn’t. I immediately jumped up and grabbed the pack. It was ripped open but the majority of the contents were still in the bag. He generally doesn’t eat things. Just shreds…but you never know.

We call Animal Poison Control. I didn’t know such a place existed. They inform us of the $65 fee. I DON’T CARE. GIVE ME ANSWERS. (The fee ended up being waved because we have Ike micro-chipped through Home Again.) They looked up the ingredients in the ice pack. Luckily this brand contained only a small amount of propylene glycol which in small doses is not toxic to dogs (versus older packs that may contain ethylene glycol which is very toxic). They recommend giving Ike a half slice of bread to soak up any of the propylene glycol in the case that he did ingest some. (They would have been more concerned if he ingested most of the contents.) We were to watch for any signs of vomiting or “drunkenness.” Luckily he did not experience anything that we could tell.

I panic. Are ice packs bad for dogs? I’m sure they are. Why didn’t I think of this 5 minutes ago when I tossed in on the ground? I start Googling “dog eats ice pack”. Because Google always has the answers. Answers that include “My dog dies.” “Dog dies.” “Dog must got to emergency room within 1 hour to avoid kidney failure.” I break into hysterics. Nate is trying to be calm but I could tell he was extremely worried. I make him call the vet because there is no way they would be able to under my hysterics. “Dog. *sob* Ice pack. *sob* Dying.”

He was humping my leg while Nate was on the phone with poison control. I fed him bread (which he loved because he very rarely gets human food). Played with him. Babied him. Let him sleep in bed and kick me throughout the night. I also vowed never to leave an ice pack out…and spread the word so no one else does a dumb, dumb thing like I did.

Make Your Own Gel Ice Pack In 30 Seconds – Dr Alan Mandell, DC