It was a tad traumatic. For Miss Stella and us. I was on my way home from work and one of my girls had taken Miss Stella out for some play time in the yard. Normal. No biggie. Just some time to chase, fetch, and do business. But….
This got in the way. Out of nowhere, this invader shows up. My daughter noticed Miss Stella sniffing and munching a little and not grabbing her ball. Not a good sign so she went to see what Miss Stella was nosing around in instead of grabbing up her ball for the next round of fetch. She found a few mushrooms and one seemed disturbed. She was not sure if Miss Stella had decided to dine a little early, and to dine on something other than her usual dinner fare.
Miss Maggie Mae, our sweet gorgeous lab, had gotten violently ill once on some mushrooms in mulch when she had decided to take a little jaunt off leash and without permission. She ended up ok, but only after a nasty bout of being very sick. Naturally, this flashed through our minds and we became slightly paranoid. Ok…REALLY paranoid. We called the vet.
Now, we have done research on mushrooms before when Mags got sick, but have not had any around here so we have not kept current on the information. Besides, it seems as if it would not matter because the information seems difficult to sort. Is it poisonous? Is it safe? What is the coloring? What is the size? Does it seem round or oval? Tall with a bulb? I. Don’t. Know!
When in doubt, err on the side of caution. The vet recommends that it is time to make the little gal get sick. This is when I really started to get a tad worried. Ok. REALLY worried. Make my dog drink what? Peroxide? Uuuhhmmm… is that not poisonous too? So we had to play the, “Which is the lesser of two evils?” game.
All of this is occurring in a span of about what seems to be two seconds in my head. My daughter in the meantime is searching for the peroxide. I called my vet three times to make sure I had heard correctly. I raised twins girls and never once had I the need to make one throw up because they ate something inappropriate. Believe it or not this was new to me. I am usually very confident when it comes to the care taking, but making a puppy that weighs well over 100 pounds throw up is a different story. And getting her to consume the peroxide provided the neighbors with some great stories to share around the fall campfires this year!
Eight piles of thrown up dog food later, this is what we had…
She snuck her way up on a bed, curled into a little disheveled mess, and started to take a nap. Not too happy of a camper.
I now go out every morning at 5:00 to search for mushrooms to remove from the yard. I repeat the process every time I let the pups out. I have always gone out with them when they go into our fenced (a.k.a safe) yard, but I never knew that I needed to conduct a search and seize maneuver before hand.
I will gladly do so just to do my best to keep my pups safe. Call me overprotective of my four-legged family members, but they are family. And life is way too short to not give them the best I can. Even if it means tromping through dewy clover, grass, and weeds with my pjs rolled up to my knees in rain boots.
Just Ramblin’
(Check with your own vet in your own situations. I am not recommending you do this same procedure for your pet. I am retelling a story based on what I was told by my personal vet. Also, please forgive my sporadic and lack of constant communication and posting. I am now having to do a blog with twitter for work. Trying to allow time for my personal interests, this, and keep up an intense work load is a juggling feat I have yet to master.)
Reblogged this on Tonya Garrett Pad.
Ah yes the peroxide treatment, Maia has had that treatment several times for things she should not eat and once Titan produced a sock with the treatment. The first time I ever used it on them Maia lapped it up out of a bowl but the next time she saw the bottle I had to chase her down and syringe it in to her.
I am glad Miss Stella is okay and I do wish they would learn from getting the treatment but however it doesn’t seem to connect. I do not think you are over protective at all and I agree to always err on the side of caution.
Oh my goodness… the whole thing sounds like quite an ordeal. And I think I would’ve done exactly what you did… call the vet a million times, made sure I had it right, and felt bad after
. I;m glad Miss Stella is alright
We are too! Amazing how we react in times of stress and concern especially when it involves ones we care so much for. I often wonder if my girls’ pediatrician knew and now my pups’ vet know my ring tone and think “Uh oh… it is her again!”
Sorry to here Miss Stella had to go through such a terrible experience but so happy she is going to be ok!
Thank you so much Sheila! We are so very glad she is ok. : )
Poor Miss Stella. She’s going to run the other way when she sees that peroxide bottle.
Good luck managing your new blogging responsibilities. It’s always tough to find enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do.
The bottle was sitting on the deck table the next morning and she sure was giving it ‘the eye’!
Thanks on the luck. You are so right. Trying to balance and manage all that needs to be done can be quite complicated. I vote for more hours in the day! (But knowing me, I would overfill those hours as well and still be stuck in the same boat!)
I am so sorry Miss Stella and Mom had to go through that its awful. We had to do that a few years ago with a cat that managed to eat the dog’s food with dog medicine in it. She also spent a while on an IV. We have all kinds of mushrooms in our yard and the woods. I try to pull up all the ones in the yard but I also show them to the dogs and tell them not to eat it will make them really sick. I have managed to convince Mica, Lexie,and my last two dogs never to touch. They have eaten things that made them feel sick and I always tell them its what they ate. I’m really persistent about chocolate, mushrooms,etc. that so far they don’t touch things that will “make them sick”. Its so very frightning and I’m glad she is doing well:)
Thanks so much. : ) We had not had mushrooms in the yard and I think she was just curious as it was new both in sight and smell. With her big ol’ snout, she could have just sniffed and then gotten part of the mushroom cap trapped in her jowl! Anyway, I have not seen her ‘nose’ around too much unless it is cut up yard clippings that she likes to ‘puff’ and with me standing by she tends to get the message not to eat something like that. Newfs are so smart and learn quickly. It is so scary when our ‘kiddos’ get so ill. Glad yours have listened to their Mamma and know not to eat the bad stuff. : )
Glad she is ok!
Thanks so much. : )
I’m so grateful to hear that sweet Stella is okay. What a scare! We occasionally get mushrooms in our yard, here in the desert climate of Phoenix!! So thank you for the post—we will be vigilant about obliterating/picking the mushrooms. Wow. I never even considered the danger to our sweet Kayleen!!!
Thanks so much. : ) I had not thought of them as so scary until now either. I just wish it would be easy to know and identify if they are poisonous or not. So very tricky!
I know! We don’t get thatmany—we get them if it rains for a couple of days. when that happens we might get 12 to 18 mushrooms. they are easy to pull out and pitch. never thought to do it til you saaid something. You probably saved mo dog’s life. I am giving you the sunshine award! http://believeanyway.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/ive-got-sunshine-award/
Poor Miss Stella and poor you!! I had to do this with Miss Delilah a few months back. I found the honey squeeze bottle worked okay for the purpose. Actually any squeeze bottle would probably due. Hope everyone is well on their way to recovery.
Ohhhh what a great idea! You are so smart. : ) I need to head to the store and keep some of those on hand! So glad to know that Miss Delilah is ok.
I have a forest of mushrooms that popped up in the yard and FOUR dogs. This post spurred me into action. So glad pup is okay.
Arrgghhh! That does not sound cool at all. They are scary and it is so hard to know if they are dangerous or not. From all the research I did, I could never quite tell which ones are and which ones are not. My vet said that we have been known to have both around here so it is best to clear the yard before the pups go out into it. Therefore, 5:00 a.m. most find me tromping through the back yard with rolled up pj bottoms, flip flops, two sleepy pups, and a big ol’ shovel and flashlight!
Poor thing! It’s good you reacted quickly though, it could have turned out much worse!
I am so glad my daughter has a watchful eye and did not hesitate to call when unsure!
Oh no, they make our mumma sick when she eats them too. I haven’t tried them, but the vet made me sick when I ate a block of chocolate. It wasn’t fun. Beary x
Yikes! Chocolate is just as scary for a pup. Glad you are ok! : )
We are happy Miss Stella is going to be okay. That was a scary situation for sure. Hugs and nose kisses
Thanks so much. It was definitely scary. I am sure the neighbors watching me tromp the yard every few hours with a big ol’ shovel is a bit scary as well!
Sup scary.poor pup, being made to throw up but rather safe than sorry
So very true. : )
Scary but the photo does look like a mushroom of the edible sort?
It does look like the average sort you could by at a local grocery but I have no idea. Trying to figure out which ones are poisonous is very tricky and difficult. I do not want to risk it. I myself became ill after eating some after years of no issues and now am reluctant to eat them myself even.
Scary! As a kid, I ate a mushroom and my mom had to administer ipecac. She kept it on hand after that.
Yikes! Glad she had that available. I remember having that around my house when I was little too.
Ugh, they do eat about anything they can don’t they. Glad she’s getting some rest.
She usually does well with leaving things alone, or when we say ‘Give’ but this was such a quick moment. She has recovered quite well thank goodness and is now snoozing on my feet while I try to play catch up with my comments.
The same thing happened to Sherman 2 years ago. He ate a mushroom from the backyard and started foaming at the mouth. I called the vet immediately and she said to make him vomit. After repeating and repeating giving him peroxide he never vomited! Luckily he was fine, and did not become ill at all! I guess he ate a nontoxic mushroom!
Glad Stella is doing ok:)
Glad Sherman was ok too!. Such a frightening thought to think they can eat something that is so dangerous… in our own yards! I now walk out and clear the yard every time they go out. I have not found as many lately so I am hoping the ‘growing season’ is passing on by.
My mom had a similar issue with her two dogs a few weeks back but they had got into an area off limits to them and got into some rat poison. She had to do the same peroxide procedure with her dogs and am happy to say it all turned out fine. Glad to hear your pup suffered no ill effects from her mushroom incident. I’m sure she will have no love of you approaching you with peroxide in the future.
I am sure she will hesitate if she sees that little brown bottle ever again. But I am glad we had it on hand!