Hey there, Bill! I’m an artist, along with my partner, Smeargle. We usually end up painting together, but for my birthday, a friend got me some paints that weren’t Pokemon-safe by mistake, and I made sure to keep them separate from the ones Smeargle usually uses, but when I went to check on them, it seems my partner got to them before I did. I don’t believe he ingested any, but what safety measures should I take to make sure he’ll be fine?

First, stay calm and clean as much of the paint off your smeargle as possible. He may not like a bath, but you’ll need to make sure he doesn’t accidentally lick any of it off. You can encourage him to produce new pigments from his tail with a healthy diet later.

As you’re cleaning him, check around the mouth again, just to be sure he hasn’t eaten any. If you don’t see anything, you’re likely fine; unlike many other dog pokémon, smeargle are more interested in using paint than eating it outright.

Still, keep an eye on him for the next few hours. If he begins vomiting or displaying any other sign of digestive upset, take him to the pokémon center immediately or call your region’s pokémon poison control hotline—preferably the former, as a trained Nurse Joy will be able to handle his recovery from there.

Best of luck!