1. My dog ate a pencil. Although lead was used to write with in times gone by and would indeed have been toxic, the ” lead ” used in our pencils today is actually a combination of graphite and clay. Our pencils today contains a mixture of graphite and clay in different amounts to achieve the desired writing hardness hb1 hb2 etc. As such the chances are that the ” lead ” element this will not be poisonous to your dog in any way and should do no harm in terms of toxicity.

2. However, the chances are that your dog will have eaten fragments of wood etc. as well as the ” lead “. In this case, the best thing to do here is to just sit it out, monitor your dog and see what happens. In my experience, most dogs will get way with this type of thing and you will see no ill effects. Hopefully, the fragments will just pass straight through his or her alimentary tract without causing any great harm. Although some dogs might experience a minor bout of vomiting and/or diarrhoea due to the wood fragments irritating the digestive tract. However, should this occur it is likely to be very minor and in any case, it should just pass on its own.

3. Of course, if more severe symptoms occur or if you become further concerned then you should have your vet check your dog over just to be on the safe side.