Garden crops which are bad for your dog.

[tedln]

Interesting information but my garden is pretty simple. I only have vegetables which we and our friends and family will consume. The interesting part of the toxicity of garden vegetables is some are toxic to my dog, but not to me. If onions were toxic to me, I would have been dead long ago.

Living in the country as opposed to a manicured residential sub division; our pets are exposed to many toxic or dangerous substances such as Poison Ivy and Poison Oak and other harmful plants as well as venomous snakes, skunks, and coyotes. I really have no control over what nature produces with the exception of my ability to manicure the immediate area around my house and garden and then contain our pets within the manicured area.

I am a little surprised with all the information furnished about toxic plants, no one mentioned Castor Bean plants. Many people grow them for decorative purposes and the beans are very attractive and potentially harmful to children.

While some plants have the potential for harm, others seem to have beneficial effects I don't understand. We have many flower pots and containers with everything from Hibiscus to Day Lillie's growing. One long planter was full of Rose Moss last summer. The Rose Moss draped over the edge of the planter almost to the floor of the deck. Ants set up an assembly line from the ground, up some support beams, and across the second floor deck to the Rose Moss. I don't know what they were transporting back to their den, but they sure were industrious about it. I later noticed pieces of Rose Moss broken off and laying on the deck. It took me awhile to figure out what was breaking the Rose Moss stems, but I noticed our Labrador would sometimes stick his entire head into the Rose Moss and rub it all over his head. He would then rub his entire body against the moss hanging over the edge. I don't know what is in Rose Moss that a dog would want to smear over his body, but he sure likes the stuff. He doesn't eat it, he just uses it like a body lotion.

Ted

[cynthia_h]

Interesting information but my garden is pretty simple. I only have vegetables which we and our friends and family will consume. The interesting part of the toxicity of garden vegetables is some are toxic to my dog, but not to me. If onions were toxic to me, I would have been dead long ago.

Living in the country as opposed to a manicured residential sub division; our pets are exposed to many toxic or dangerous substances such as Poison Ivy and Poison Oak and other harmful plants as well as venomous snakes.

I am a little surprised with all the information furnished about toxic plants, no one mentioned Castor Bean plants. Many people grow them for decorative purposes and the beans are very attractive and potentially harmful to children.

Ted

Responding in order to these concerns:

1) Dogs developed from wolves and other Canidae, who were hunters and scavengers. If a food was part of a prey animal's diet or was a normal part of the leavings that the canids scavenged, there was no survival value in having a strong toxicity reaction to it. This is my theory of why so few fruits, vegetables, and grains are toxic to dogs. All of us came up with only a few items in these categories. The dangers of grapes and their dried version, the raisin, were discovered only within the last 10 or so years, and the active factor isn't yet isolated. Dogs have munched on apples ever since we domesticated both dogs and apple trees, I suspect, but the number of apple seeds a dog will eat is naturally limited by the bulk of the apple surrounding them. Macadamia nuts are native to Hawaii; no canids encountered macadamia nuts until the 19th century, hardly enough time to evolve immunity to them.

Interestingly, cultivated mushrooms after cooking are safe for dogs to eat. But all wild ones must be treated as deadly. Mushrooms are found everywhere and are still evolving. Even as I write this, the [url=https://www.akcchf.org/canine-health/your-dogs-health/death-cap-mushrooms.html]Death Cap mushroom[/url] (Amanita phalloides) has expanded its range in California, changed its odor to that of dead fish--very attractive to dogs!--and decided to grow under pine trees in dry conditions up to 6,000 ft. as well as its traditional habitat: under oak trees in wet conditions under 1,000 ft. Treat all wild mushrooms as if they are Death Caps, esp. where dogs are concerned--children can be told "no" for the critical few seconds it will take you to pick the mushrooms, but dogs are very fast.

2) I know from multiple, painful personal experiences that dogs do NOT react to poison oak or poison ivy. They can carry the urushiol on their coat back to their people, though, and the people will break out, sometimes without even knowing they've been exposed until their entire body is involved.... Your concern about snakes is well-founded, esp. in light of what happened the other day!

3) True enough about Castor Bean plants, but with castor bean oil having been on the market for so many years in the past (I don't know whether it's still available), it doesn't strike everyone immediately as toxic. And, again, with children you can put them in a playpen if they're young enough, or--with a truly impetuous toddler--find other means of restricting his/her wandering or your own activities outdoors if you (a parent) do not feel the child will be safe in your yard otherwise. (Says the aunt, who did do some baby-sitting of niece/nephews at the relevant ages.)

With regard to the ASPCA's list of toxic plants, in some cases it overstates the situation, and in others it doesn't state the toxicity emphatically enough, IMHO. Anything that might provide a warning sensation in the mouth (e.g., a hot pepper's warm/hot sensation in people) is listed as "toxic," even though the animal might not fall ill from it. But chocolate is listed like any other item, and it takes very little to elicit a reaction.

Cynthia
remembering also Donato...

[Canoe]

Thanks for the heads up on the things not to feed my dog. I only knew about the chocolate. But my little girl did tell me that Max(our dog) is not a vegetarian, becuase he would not eat any of the veggies she tried to give him. He mostly gets dog food, other then when I cook outside and drop a hot dog or two for him. guess he still have a lot of that wolf blood in him.

thanks again

Canoe

[Odd Duck]

[url]https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2878/[/url] Toxic Plants- What Does That Really Mean
[url]https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/414/[/url] Plant-related food toxins of the Holidays and your pets
[url]https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/395/[/url] Toxic Plants of the Winter Holidays, from a Veterinary Perspective

He's another vet who used to let his pets eat fallen grapes, but is now faithful about preventing them from doing so due to more knowledge of how dangerous that is.

Excellent articles and very thorough, jives with my experiences also. I agree with pretty much all of his points. I see far more cases of toxicosis from owner induced problems - rodenticide ingestion, chocolate toxicosis, dropped medication ingestions or deliberate dosing by the owner with medications that pets cannot handle (ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc), or recreational drug ingestions, etc, than I have with any plant toxicosis.

I've never personally seen a case of toxicosis from grape/raisin ingestion but I know vets that have. Because of what I know, I would never risk my dogs lives by giving them one. I have seen 1 cat with Heinz body anemia (from the tiny amount of powdered garlic in the meat baby food the owner was feeding). I've not seen it in any dogs, but it is well documented.

Cynthia, some pets will react to poison ivy or poison oak. It seems to be less common than in people, but I've seen it. The owners always seem to get it worse, though!

[gixxerific]

As stated dog are carnivores or at least were in the past. Which means they ate the stomach of other animals which may have had plat material in them.

So always in moderation. I give my dog garlic sometimes but not much , heck it is in most dog food even the good ones. But some things to steer clear of is a lot of chocolate and grapes seem to bad for dogs but than again that is in large amounts and on a case by case deal.

Carrots, sweet potatoes most greens are beneficial.

[jal_ut]

Post subject: Garden crops which are bad for your dog.

That would be any he messes with!!!!!

[gixxerific]

I feel you there Jal! My puppy likes to sneak into my smaller garden through my hodgepodge fence I have.