Who'd have dogs...! (Don't read if you're eating anything!)

[Granca]

We've just returned from the vet! The dogs were enjoying pottering around in the lower part of the garden as they usually do while I'm gardening. All was well, sniffing around, eating some blackberries in the hedge, just mooching around while I was busy until, just as I was about to take the last of the brambles and rose prunings to the garden bin, they suddenly seemed intent on eating something in the grass! D***, I thought, they're either eating grass or Tuppy has pooed and Wispa's got there before me. But, to my horror, when I went to investigate they were busy chomping on some mushrooms/toadstools that had appeared unnoticed in a patch of grass.

I rushed them indoors and phoned the vet, in a bit of a panic, as I knew I needed to make them sick but had no idea how to. The vet said to take them in, so I promptly did. They each had an injection to make them sick, then it was a waiting game. Wispa needed a top-up, as although Tuppy started vomiting, Wispa didn't, but after the top-up she eventually managed one enormous heave... of extremely smelly vomit, having apparently also found some Tuppy poo too.

They're now perking up again at home, having had some ID food and charcoal tablets instead of their normal supper. My evening out is cancelled - and it was an expensive gardening session! Better safe than sorry, though.

Can anyone identify the culprit?

 

[Selina27]

Oh no @Granca , I,m not very knowledgeable about fungi, but I should think you'd find it online or in a book. I hope they are ok this morning, shame about your evening out, isn't it always the way.
Only yesterday while in the woods Cass briefly picked up a black thing and put it down straightaway, when I looked it was a leathery piece of fungus, made me think I must be alert to the possibility of mushroom eating.

 

[Lab_adore]

Oh no! I'm so sorry for the worry and for your missed evening. These dogs huh? Thank goodness they are ok

 

[HAH]

Golly @Granca, what an evening you had. And fast thinking on the mushrooms, it’s a useful reminder to all of us to keep alert. Sorry you were so disrupted, but at least the hounds are fit and well x

 

[Boogie]

Oh my word!



Thank goodness you saw it happen, sometimes they snaffle so quickly we miss it.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Hope they are ok xx

 

[Joy]

Hope they are both OK this morning. It sounds a really unusual thing for dogs to want to eat.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Oh dear....no idea about mushrooms either......likewise I hope they are fine this morning

 

[Atemas]

I don’t know what they are @Granca but I am pleased Tuppy and Wispa are ok. How scary. This last week I have taken to scouring our lawn in the garden as it’s that time of year when they are springing up in the grass. I have found a few. On the front lawn there are fairy circles of them.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Yikes! Glad they are OK due to your quick action, poor pups.

 

[Shaz82]

Fungus seems to have been around a lot earlier this year, but it grows so quickly, please check the same spot again as more could appear each day. What a good job you caught the dogs in the act, hope they are ok.

 

[snowbunny]

So scary! In Andorra, we have all sorts of poisonous fungi and I have always been paranoid about them; I don't even like the dogs smelling near them. This is completely mad, but I don't even feed my dogs mushrooms I have at home in case it makes them more likely to eat them in the wild! I don't know anything about mushrooms but have a friend who is very knowledgeable on the subject so I can ask him if you want? It might be difficult to tell with it not being a perfect 'shroom, but I can try. Can you give some idea of scale?

 

[SteffiS]

Saw this one on our walk yesterday, fly agaric I believe , definitely poisonous.

 

[Granca]

Thanks, everyone. Fortunately both dogs are fine today. They were both ready for breakfast and have just enjoyed a walk in the woods.

I've been down the garden to check this morning, only to find more, including some tiny ones - and there's no way I can check the whole garden for all the ones of that size! Sadly, I think they won't be able to do any gardening with me at the moment, hard though it is to shut them in the house. I'll just have to sneak out!


The type they ate is the one to the right of this photo, but there are also lots of those larger, flatter ones hiding amongst the shrubs.


Here are two I've just put in a dog poo bag, to give some scale.

Do all please be vigilant - it's not nice seeing them go from being 'normal' to having to induce vomiting and making them feel unwell - but it could all have been so much worse if I hadn't noticed.

 

[Candy]

Oh, what a worry for you. Thanks for the reminder, I've seen loads around recently so will make sure I'm extra vigilant with little Joy. So glad your two are both OK.

 

[HAH]

fly agaric I believe

Eek - yes, beautiful but very toxic

 

[Kelsey]

Yikes! Glad it was a happy outcome, even though it cost you money, but it was money well spent.

I hate mushrooms. I am so crazy when it comes to mushrooms as Odie almost passed away from eating one as a puppy. Even though he threw it all up on his own, 30+ times, and had awful diarrhea, he still had to be put on IV fluids for 48 hours at our vet.

Axel never used to be a scavenger but he has started in the grass so now I’m always worried! I check the grass every two days for new mushrooms. When I bring Axel to someone’s house I always pick the mushrooms in the yard before letting him outside. Like I said, I’m a tad crazy but I don’t want to go through that ever again. Granted Odie was 3lbs and Axel is 100lbs, so I may be slightly over doing it but I won’t chance it.

 

[Stacia]

What a worry for you, pleased all turned out well. It is something I rarely think about, one year we came across many little yellow ones and mauve ones, the dogs ignored them, then I must admit, fungi has gone completely out of my mind. I will now keep a wary eye out.

 

[Jacqui-S]

We almost always have some fungi around in the garden and Lilly has never shown an interest.
She loves carrots (bear with me) and swede, cabbage, loads of veg and will hover in the kitchen for fallen items, but onion chopping time, she just walks away. Sometimes I think she instinctively knows what is not for doggy consumption.
Though clearly rotting seagulls are fine........
Not that I'm complacent. I guess I kind of know my dog.

 

[Granca]

We almost always have some fungi around in the garden and Lilly has never shown an interest.

Yes, I’ve lived here for a long time, with several dogs over the years as well as other animals. The fungi must have been around for all those years too, but I’ve never been aware of dogs taking any interest before, so I’m not sure why these two decided that snacking on some would be a good idea. They’re usually more intent on the apples and blackberries!

Like Lilly, too, they love vegetables and seem to appear like magic in the kitchen waiting for peelings, etc, as soon as they hear the fridge and the cutlery drawer open!