Spritzhenry's Blog

10 Sep, 2007

7 comments

Dangerous plants - to dogs

We had a fright with our Labrador last week. Labs eat anything – and he ‘hoovered up’ a number of yew berries lying by the stream up the lane before I could stop him. On phoning the vet for advice, we took him rapidly off to the Vetinary Hospital where they consulted their handbook…. Fortunately, the only part of the Yew tree NOT fatal to dogs is the red berries. If he’d eaten any leaves he would have been very ill – or dead. This got me thinking about other plants in the garden and locally whch might also be toxic. I found a very useful list and additional links from a site called ‘D is for Dog’. There are some unexpected perils lurking in YOUR garden!

Please take a look if you have a dog – they are too precious to lose! Somewhere there must be a similar site re.cats – (not having one, I don’t know).

Comments

Tussiemussie

11 Sep, 2007

Hi Spritz, there are other things besides plants to be aware of, never use cocoa shells as a mulch, it's toxic to dogs and smells so good they might well eat it.

Spritzhenry

11 Sep, 2007

Hallo Tussie, yes, you're right. That's one of the perils mentioned on the site. Luckily, I don't use cocoa shell mulch, he would certainly eat it! There's a useful list of foods to avoid as well as plants/bulbs/mulches etc. I don't know why vets don't produce a list, I think they should - not just assume we know what may or may not be OK. Have you got a dog?

David

13 Sep, 2007

I agree that vets should, in this day and age, produce a list of poisonous plants for animals. Surely it would not be too difficult to research and put together? After all, we have them for many human ailments such as nut allergies and gluten intolerance? I found a plant on this site with an appropriate name for our WizardofOz garden - Emerald Fern - but on research via Google found that it is poisonous to domestic cats (we have one), so I cannot have it. Someone should be employed to compile a list of plants dangerous to domestic animals, especially when we are being encouraged to keep pets, livestock, grow our own, etc.

Joey

21 Sep, 2007

Hi Spritz and David - have a look at this list for some hints http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/dogs/index.html

Spritzhenry

21 Sep, 2007

Thanks Joey - this link comes off the D for Dog website, so I knew about it!! It's a helpful one, isn't it.

Maisymulcher

4 Oct, 2007

we have an 11stone newfoundland who nearly came to grief drinking water that a toad had been sitting in, his back legs :went: and he could not focus vet called but no treatment, just water to drink.

Spritzhenry

4 Oct, 2007

That is so scary - a big dog being affected by a small amphibian. We don't get toads in our stream, but the dog drinks from any old water while we are out walking, puddles, ponds and other streams! No way to stop him, either, short of keeping him on his lead - but that's cruel. :-( Is your dog OK now? How did you know it was the toad made him ill?

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