Puppy Nearly Dies After Chewing Open Bottle of Naproxen
Minneapolis – September 15, 2026 -- A 15-minute shower was long enough for an Italian Mastiff puppy in Columbia, South Carolina, to pry open a drawer, chew through a bottle of naproxen, and go into kidney failure, according to Pet Poison Helpline.
One tablet of a common painkiller can be fatal to dogs and cats
Owner Jim Wren said his puppy, Phaedra, got into an old bottle of his grandmother's naproxen while he was out of the room. Naproxen, an over-the-counter NSAID used by humans for pain and inflammation, has a very narrow margin of safety in animals -- as little as one 220mg tablet can trigger severe symptoms or death, per Dr. Renee Schmid, senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Medicine at Pet Poison Helpline.