Cathy Moon
Well-known member
We've just been through the scariest experience with our India. On Wednesday evening last week, I let our three dogs outside in the back yard after feeding them. It was the first nice day after several days of very stormy weather. India likes to sniff around under the large pampas grass plant we have; however she had disappeared inside it, so I was calling her and rustling the grass to get her to come out. She finally came running out, munching on something and swallowing it, then I saw a piece of pampas grass hanging out of her mouth with a rust-red colored mushroom hanging off it.
I grabbed her and ran inside to call the vet's office, and they gave me a pet poison control number to call. The person who helped me told me to how to give India hydrogen peroxide to get her to vomit. I did that twice - she didn't vomit, then I called the vet to say I was bringing her in. The emergency vet got India to vomit using hydrogen peroxide and a teaspoon of salt, but by the time India vomited, no mushrooms came out... it was just over an hour after she ingested it.
She was admitted into the ICU and was given activated charcoal every four hours; she also had an IV and drugs to protect her liver. By the second day in ICU, India's blood electrolytes were so far out of balance that we were told it could lead to brain swelling and death. Her IV fluid was changed to gradually correct her electrolytes. A day later another blood test showed her electrolytes were good, but the same test showed the mushroom toxicity was affecting her liver, and they had to send her blood to an outside lab, because her liver numbers were higher than their equipment could read. They had to change her IV fluids back again and treat her for toxicity. I thought we were going to lose her, but she has pulled through so far and we got to bring her home Saturday night. Her latest blood test showed her liver numbers are twice what they should normally be, but we're giving her 3 different prescription medicines and a special diet. Tomorrow evening we're taking her back to the vets for another blood test. I'm not sure what her prognosis will be - I didn't want to ask because I only want to deal with her present condition this weekend. But I think we might be ready to ask about it tomorrow night after her blood test.
In the meantime, India is not quite her old self, but she's very much improved from how she was on Thursday and Friday. One of her medicines is causing terrible diarrhea, so the emergency vet told me this morning not to give her any more until we see her vet on Monday night.
Today I am going outside to cut the pampas grass down and remove the roots. Colin had hand surgery on Friday, so he can't do it. On Thursday he inspected the pampas grass, and he found more rusty-red colored mushrooms growing in the dead section in the middle of the plant.
The poison control person told me there are over 40,000 varieties of mushroom, so it would be very difficult to identify the ones India ate. She told me to wrap them in a clean paper towel and store them in a ziploc bag marked "do not eat" in the refrigerator in case I can find a professional to identify them. We also took photos, but we don't have the right kind of camera lense for closeups, so they're not very good photos.
Does anyone know if there is some kind of an antifungal treatment I could safely use outside to prevent mushrooms from growing?
Edited to add: What I would have done differently - looking back on what happened. I wish that I would have given her a bigger dose of peroxide to begin with, and instead of waiting 10 minute intervals at home for her to vomit, I would have loaded her into the car and gotten her to the vet sooner. You'd need 2 people in the car though, in case the dog vomits on the way... to clear away the mushrooms so they wouldn't be re-ingested!!!
I grabbed her and ran inside to call the vet's office, and they gave me a pet poison control number to call. The person who helped me told me to how to give India hydrogen peroxide to get her to vomit. I did that twice - she didn't vomit, then I called the vet to say I was bringing her in. The emergency vet got India to vomit using hydrogen peroxide and a teaspoon of salt, but by the time India vomited, no mushrooms came out... it was just over an hour after she ingested it.
She was admitted into the ICU and was given activated charcoal every four hours; she also had an IV and drugs to protect her liver. By the second day in ICU, India's blood electrolytes were so far out of balance that we were told it could lead to brain swelling and death. Her IV fluid was changed to gradually correct her electrolytes. A day later another blood test showed her electrolytes were good, but the same test showed the mushroom toxicity was affecting her liver, and they had to send her blood to an outside lab, because her liver numbers were higher than their equipment could read. They had to change her IV fluids back again and treat her for toxicity. I thought we were going to lose her, but she has pulled through so far and we got to bring her home Saturday night. Her latest blood test showed her liver numbers are twice what they should normally be, but we're giving her 3 different prescription medicines and a special diet. Tomorrow evening we're taking her back to the vets for another blood test. I'm not sure what her prognosis will be - I didn't want to ask because I only want to deal with her present condition this weekend. But I think we might be ready to ask about it tomorrow night after her blood test.
In the meantime, India is not quite her old self, but she's very much improved from how she was on Thursday and Friday. One of her medicines is causing terrible diarrhea, so the emergency vet told me this morning not to give her any more until we see her vet on Monday night.
Today I am going outside to cut the pampas grass down and remove the roots. Colin had hand surgery on Friday, so he can't do it. On Thursday he inspected the pampas grass, and he found more rusty-red colored mushrooms growing in the dead section in the middle of the plant.
The poison control person told me there are over 40,000 varieties of mushroom, so it would be very difficult to identify the ones India ate. She told me to wrap them in a clean paper towel and store them in a ziploc bag marked "do not eat" in the refrigerator in case I can find a professional to identify them. We also took photos, but we don't have the right kind of camera lense for closeups, so they're not very good photos.
Does anyone know if there is some kind of an antifungal treatment I could safely use outside to prevent mushrooms from growing?
Edited to add: What I would have done differently - looking back on what happened. I wish that I would have given her a bigger dose of peroxide to begin with, and instead of waiting 10 minute intervals at home for her to vomit, I would have loaded her into the car and gotten her to the vet sooner. You'd need 2 people in the car though, in case the dog vomits on the way... to clear away the mushrooms so they wouldn't be re-ingested!!!
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