Poisons and keeping your Dog Safe

   I was introduced to pets and poisons at a very early age…THE HARD WAY! And here’s how… My childhood home was surrounded on three sides by heavy bush and ragweed fields which butted up to woods. In order to control weeds, dad would spray and cut down a wide strip of these weed- fields from around our house. Another reason for controlling the weeds around our house was…MY MOTHER!

Why? Mom was hanging our clothes on the clothes line when she reached down to pick up a dropped clothe pin and very suddenly came into contact with…( in mom’s own words ) a mile long Snake! When dad got home he was informed in no uncertain terms that he had two choices… the first being… the weeds and snakes had to go… second choice was …if choice # 1 did not happen then she would go! So, to keep the peace… WAR WAS   DECLARED on the weeds and snakes!  First, we cut down the tall rag weeds and put them in a pile to burn later. Next, we mowed about a 30 foot wide strip around our house. After all this, mom still was not satisfied. So, Dad DECLARED BIO WARFARE on everything related to those “ mile long snakes” ( now remember this was according to my mom who was the only eye witness as to the snake invasion ).

Now enters the poisoning lessons of my youth! At this time I had a Brindle Bulldog named Pepper who loved to chase rabbits. That night after the spraying, I let Pepper out just like I did every night before bedtime. Guess what was waiting outside in our yard? A big juicy, high speed… RABBIT… which Pepper saw before I did! And off he went running and barking as usually he did when chasing a rabbit. A short time later he came back and we went to bed.

 

The next morning when I got up Pepper lay at the foot of my bed… shaking like he had swallowed a vibrator! Also, he was gasping for each breath in between body spasms. After racing to the vet’s office and waiting for what seemed a life time, the vet came out and told us Pepper would be alright, but would need special care. The poison had entered Pepper’s body through his exposed skin areas. These areas had to be washed and oiled daily to prevent infection.

Our weed spraying had almost poisoned my dog to death. Later, as I walked through the weed field and woods I saw other wild life that hadn’t fared so well. To this very day, I don’t use weed killers or household sprays without reading all the label’s product warnings.

Now that you have read about my experience with poisons vs. pets, I would like you to read this short list of common toxic plants you might find around your home or your neighbor’s home. Also, it might not be a bad idea to ask your vet about this or call your poison control center and ask for a list of common toxic plants.

Here are a few common toxic plants commonly found around homes: Angel’s trumpet, Azaleas, Avocado- just the leaves, Bittersweet vines, Buck eye nuts, Castor- beans, Cherries-both wild and domestic-seeds only, basically most lilies- esp. the bulbs, most ivy vines- esp. English, devil, Boston, poison!

These plants are the most common to the mid-west, but remember there plenty more! That is why at Doggy Dog Coats we advise pet owners to check with your vet… Remember the life you save, may be your pet’s!!

A Lesson about Poisons and Your Pet

My neighbor and I were talking one day and he happened to mention that his dog was getting sick all the time.      His Vet bills were really getting to be too much for him to pay.  As he began to tell me about his dog’s symptoms, it suddenly dawned on me, I had seen these same symptoms before when I was working  for a farming friend who had two dogs.

man with dog

One day I almost let Bill’s two dogs out while the crops were being sprayed for bug pest.   Luckily, Bill stopped the dogs before they got out!   Bill told me his dogs got really sick one day and he took them to a Vet who told Bill his two dogs were suffering from a mild case of contact poisoning.  Both dogs would be fit as a fiddle in a few weeks.   The Vet then told Bill that a rash of this type of dog illness seemed to happen around crop spraying time.   I told my neighbor about Bill’s two dogs and their contact type poisoning .  He asked me if I would help look around his place for a possible source of poisoning.

dog sleeping

  I asked my neighbor about Bruno’s habits, especially where he eats and sleeps.    I was told, Bruno eats in the kitchen where my neighbor eats.    Bruno eats every time my neighbor eats…Bruno even had his own dog food and water dishes!    At night, Bruno slept in the garage which was heated.    Also, whenever the weather got bad Bruno was place in the garage or let into the house.    I next asked my neighbor if he kept any plant, bug, or other sprays around the house.    His answer was yes and that these items were kept in his garage in a metal cabinet.

 

When we checked out this cabinet, we discovered a sprayer can had rusted through and allowed the liquid beetle spray to run out…GUESS WHAT?    Bruno had made his sleeping place right next to that cabinet!    We gathered everything up…especially Bruno’s bedding and disposed of it.    My neighbor told me three weeks later that Bruno was doing just fine because Bruno was now allowed to sleep in HIS master’s bedroom in his own specially made doggy bed.    This little story shows just how a taken for granted storage locker almost caused a pet to die!    The lesson should be… keep every type of pest killers sealed in a glass container and then kept away from any areas your pet may wander into!!     Please let me hear about any close-call poisonings you may have had with your pet or pets…  Thank you and be safe out there!  

My next article will be about common household plants which are toxic to pets!….John