Pet Poison Control Hotlines & Emergency Vet Contacts by Country
If your pet may have eaten something toxic, the single most important thing is speed, not research. This page exists so you don't have to search for a phone number while you're panicking. Every entry below was checked against the service's own official page (not a search-result summary) — where that wasn't possible, we say so plainly rather than guess.
🚨 If your pet is unconscious, having seizures, or struggling to breathe, don't wait for a hotline callback — go straight to the nearest emergency vet.
⚠️ Phone numbers, hours, and fees change over time. We verified each one as of August 2026 — always confirm details when you call. Nothing here replaces calling your own regular vet first if you have one.
United States
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — (888) 426-4435 — 24/7. A per-incident fee applies (the exact amount isn't published on ASPCA's own page).
- Pet Poison Helpline (private service) — (855) 764-7661 — 24/7, flat $89 per incident, includes follow-up calls. Also covers Canada and the Caribbean.
🔎 Verified against each service's own page: aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control and petpoisonhelpline.com.
United Kingdom
There's no free public poison hotline in the UK. Animal PoisonLine (run by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service) takes calls directly from pet owners — 01202 509 000, 24/7. £35 per case (8am–8pm Mon–Fri) or £45 (all other times, including bank holidays); refunded if your case is escalated to a vet.
🔎 Verified against vpisglobal.com, corroborated by PDSA (a major UK veterinary charity).
Canada — no dedicated national center
Canada doesn't have its own national animal poison-control center. Pet Poison Helpline (US-based) explicitly covers Canada too — (855) 764-7661, 24/7, $89/incident. Your own vet or nearest emergency clinic is always the right first call for anything urgent.
🔎 Verified against petpoisonhelpline.com's own page, which states its coverage area as "the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean."
Australia
Animal Poisons Helpline — 1300 869 738 — free, 9am–5pm AEST/AEDT, 7 days a week, with an after-hours on-call tier (fee for the after-hours tier not confirmed).
🔎 Corroborated by multiple independent sources quoting the service's own published number and hours; the service's own domain blocked automated verification, so treat the after-hours fee detail as unconfirmed.
New Zealand
Animal Poisons Helpline — 0800 869 738. New Zealand's own National Poisons Centre officially refers pet owners to this number and confirms that charges do apply.
🔎 Verified against poisons.co.nz, New Zealand's National Poisons Centre, which lists this number directly.
Germany — no national center
Germany has no single national animal poison hotline. The closest verified option is Giftnotruf München — 089 19240 — a regional (Bavaria) center that explicitly takes animal-poisoning calls from the public (about 2% of its call volume), 24/7, free for private individuals. For finding a vet rather than poisoning advice, tieraerztliche-notdienste.de is a regional on-call-vet finder.
🔎 Verified against the center's own page (toxikologie.mri.tum.de).
Austria — no hotline
Austria has no national animal poison hotline — the Vergiftungsinformationszentrale only covers poisoning of people (including by animals, e.g. a snake bite), not poisoning of pets. Emergency vet coverage is organized regionally by each state's own Tierärztekammer rather than one national number. Call your own vet or nearest emergency vet clinic directly.
🔎 Verified against gesundheit.gv.at's own listing of what the Vergiftungsinformationszentrale covers.
Netherlands — no hotline
The Nationaal Vergiftigingen Informatie Centrum (NVIC) explicitly serves physicians, vets, and pharmacists only — its own page tells private individuals to contact their own vet instead. There's no dedicated public animal poison hotline in the Netherlands. Call your own vet or nearest emergency clinic directly.
🔎 Verified against nvic.umcutrecht.nl's own contact page.
France
CNITV (Centre National d'Informations Toxicologiques Vétérinaires) — 04 78 87 10 40 — daily, 8:30am to midnight (not 24 hours). Takes calls directly from pet owners, not just vets.
🔎 Verified against cnitv.fr's own contact page.
Belgium
Antigifcentrum (Belgian Poison Centre) — 070 245 245. Free, 24/7 for humans; for animal cases specifically it's staffed weekdays 8am–10pm and weekends/holidays 10am–10pm, with human calls prioritized — staff give best-effort advice but stress that only your vet can confirm treatment.
🔎 Verified against antigifcentrum.be's own animal-poisoning page.
Spain
Servicio de Información Toxicológica (Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses) — 91 562 04 20 — 24/7, 365 days a year. Explicitly takes calls from the general public about animal poisoning.
🔎 Verified against the Spanish Ministry of Justice's own page (mjusticia.gob.es).
Italy
Italy has no single national animal hotline, but Centro Antiveleni di Milano (Niguarda Hospital) — 02 6610 1029 — operates 24/7/365 and is documented as a nationwide reference center for animal-poisoning cases (about 65% of its calls come from outside the Milan region). A separate number, 011 2470194, exists but is for veterinarians only, not for pet owners calling directly.
🔎 Verified against centroantiveleni.org and Niguarda Hospital's own published material.
Switzerland
Tox Info Suisse — 145 (or +41 44 251 51 51 from outside Switzerland) — 24/7, free. Its own page explicitly invites pet owners to call directly for a risk assessment and first-aid guidance (detailed treatment protocols are reserved for vets).
🔎 Verified against toxinfo.ch's own English-language animal-poisoning page.
Czech Republic
Toxikologické informační středisko (TIS) — +420 224 919 293 or 224 915 402 (backup: 725 103 658) — 24/7. Explicitly serves both laypeople and vets for animal-poisoning cases.
🔎 Verified against tis-cz.cz's own contact page.
Singapore — no verified hotline
We couldn't independently verify a dedicated poison-advice hotline for Singapore — the one number we found for this couldn't be confirmed against its own official page. If you suspect poisoning, go straight to the nearest 24-hour vet clinic rather than waiting on a hotline.
Hong Kong — no treatment-advice line
SPCA Hong Kong runs a 24-hour hotline — 2711 1000 — but its own page says this line is for reporting a poisoning or bait incident so inspectors can respond, not for treatment advice. There's no verified poison-advice line for pet owners in Hong Kong. Call your nearest emergency vet clinic directly for treatment.
🔎 Verified against spca.org.hk's own page on preventing dog poisonings.
Finland — no hotline
The Finnish Poison Information Centre's own page states it stopped taking public calls about animal poisoning in 2006 — it now answers vets only, and tells owners to contact "your own vet or a vet on call." There is no national animal poison hotline in Finland. Call your own vet or nearest on-call clinic directly.
🔎 Verified against hus.fi, the Centre's own official page.
Sweden — no hotline
Giftinformationscentralen's own page states it stopped answering pet-poisoning questions on 1 July 2018, and now tells owners to "contact veterinarian/animal hospital" directly. There is no national animal poison hotline in Sweden. Call your own vet or nearest animal hospital directly.
🔎 Verified against giftinformation.se's own page.
🏥 See the full verified exotic-vet hospital list for all 18 countries →
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first if I think my pet ate something toxic?
Call your regular vet or the nearest emergency vet clinic immediately — don't wait to see whether symptoms show up first. If you're not sure who to call in your country, use the list on this page. Bring the packaging, plant, or a photo of what was eaten if you can, and don't induce vomiting unless a vet or poison-control service tells you to.
Is there a free animal poison hotline in every country?
No. Several countries — including Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden — have no dedicated animal poison hotline at all, and even where one exists it's often a paid service (as in the US and UK). In those cases, your own vet or the nearest emergency vet clinic is the right first call, not a hotline search.
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