Counter surfing canine ingests cooking seasonings

Last year, right before Thanksgiving, Kiana Sutherlin was frying chicken wings on her stove and was adding both garlic and onion powder to the food to give it an extra kick. While this would be a treat for any humans ingesting her cooking, her dog Snoopy would get a trip to the emergency room instead.

“Snoopy is a notorious counter surfer,” Sutherlin explained, in an news release.¹ “We’ve tried to train him, but it’s his way or no way. I was cooking some fried chicken wings, and I added several ounces of both onion and garlic powder. I also used a full bottle of cooking oil, and what was left of a second bottle. After I was done cooking, I placed the pan full of used oil at the back of the stovetop and covered it so Snoopy couldn’t get to it. I then left it to my husband Joe to clean up the next day.”

However, the following day when her husband Joe came to dump the oil, he had to stop for a few minutes to answer a phone call, which gave Snoopy the perfect opportunity to jump on the counter. When Joe came back, Snoopy had licked almost all of the oil, which contained a large amount of seasoning. Snoopy began vomiting oil and continued to do so into the next day; Sutherlin said he was whining, crying and still vomiting. This resulted in her calling an emergency veterinary clinic, who recommended Pet Poison Helpline.

Once on the phone, Sutherlin told Pet Poison Helpline experts the list and amounts of seasonings that were in the oil. After considering Snoopy’s size and other factors, the experts recommended he be taken to a veterinarian.

“Onions and garlic can be deadly to pets if ingested in a large enough quantity, with garlic being 5 times as potent,” explained Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Medicine at Pet Poison Helpline.¹ “Snoopy consumed used cooking oil that contained large amounts of onion and garlic powder, which is even more concentrated and therefore more dangerous.”

Snoopy’s medical team was concerned about gastrointestinal upset, aspiration risk, and pancreatitis from the cooking oil, plus potentially red blood cell damage from the powders. At the hospital, Snoopy was treated with antiemetic to stop the vomiting, fluid therapy to rehydrate, and gastrointestinal protectants to help minimize risk of diarrhea and gastrointestinal irritation.¹ The team then addressed the onion and garlic concerns with bloodwork to be performed every few days to keep his eye on red blood cell count for a week following admission.

With the work done by the medical team, Snoopy has made a full recovery and is acting as normal.

“Snoopy is very sweet, but he’s a bull in a China shop,” Sutherlin concluded. “No matter what we do, it’s his way, so we had to change our habits. We make sure all garbage is secure and we clean up right after we cook. In fact, now that I think about it, the whole thing was so traumatic that we haven’t fried anything since then.”

All pets featured in Toxin Tails have been successfully treated for the poisoning and fully recovered. According to Pet Poison Helpline, these stories are shared to educate both veterinary professionals and clients the many different types of poisoning dangers pets face year-round.

Reference

1. Counter-Surfing Pooch Poisoned by Poultry Seasonings. News release. Pet Poison Helpline. November 5, 2025. Accessed November 13, 2025. https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/toxintails/counter-surfing-pooch-poisoned-by-poultry-seasonings/