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Never Again
This narrative is about dogs and poisonous mushrooms. It
is neither scientific nor emotional. My objective here is to warn people who
already are committed to the health and safety of their pets that their efforts
to safeguard their pets’ environment must be viewed as an on-going process
rather than as a periodic chore. I wish I could identify a specific course of
action one can take to alleviate the threat posed by mushrooms; but I cannot.
In early December of 2004, my husband and I were the adoptive parents of three
Scottish Terriers. We had had Cutty from the time she was eight weeks old and we
were looking forward to her fifteenth birthday in January of 2005. (Cutty’s
littermate died in 1999 from bladder cancer.) Angus, the lone male, was five
years of age and had been with us since he was a puppy. Stella, all of sixteen
weeks, had been with us only since early November.
We live in Sacramento, CA on a quarter-acre “urban” lot with a professionally
designed and well-maintained back yard. Pacific Redwoods, Hollywood Junipers,
different types of pine and a wide variety of flowers, shrubs and grass coupled
with fountains and hardscape give our yard a park-like appearance. Nothing in
the yard was “out of bounds” for our dogs and both Cutty and Angus had probably
sniffed and re-sniffed every square inch on a daily basis.
We have always been on the lookout for any type of “doggie hazard” and, as a
result, experienced very few instances where somebody developed an upset tummy
over something that was found in the yard. Our vigilance increased in October of
2004 because of Stella’s imminent arrival and the need to “puppy-proof” the
yard. We had seen mushrooms over the years; but only intermittently. Needless to
say, mushrooms survived in our yard only until one of us discovered them.
By her third week with us, Stella had mastered the doggie doors leading from the
house to the garage and from the garage to the side yard. Cutty and Angus were
apparently good teachers! While we let Stella roam when in the yard, we checked
regularly and limited the amount of time she actually spent there. If we had to
leave she was crated or confined to one area in the house.
Monday, December 6th was completely uneventful for us. The dogs ate their
breakfast in the morning and their dinner at 5:30 p.m. Every one had a good
appetite. At about 2:00 a.m. on December 7th, we were awakened to Stella
vomiting in her crate next to our bed. Her vomit was mostly clear bile mixed
with a very few pieces of undigested dog food. We cleaned up both dog and crate
and tried to get back to sleep. Within an hour we were awakened by Cutty
vomiting. Unlike Stella’s, her vomit contained a great deal of undigested food.
While we were cleaning Cutty and her bed, Stella vomited again.
At that point, I called our veterinary clinic, a 24 hour facility with a
veterinarian on duty at all times. The recommendation was that we monitor things
to see if this was just a minor problem or take further action if things
deteriorated. Neither of us slept much for the remainder of the night; but we
also had no more vomiting from either dog.
I first sensed a more serious problem when I tried to feed Stella her breakfast
in the morning. She had no interest in food or water and sat staring into space.
Cutty ate a little breakfast and drank water. By 8:00 a.m., I had Stella at the
veterinary clinic.
The quick diagnosis was some sort of GI problem and the veterinarian asked to
keep Stella at the clinic for a day of observation and hydration. I left her
there and went to work with the understanding that they would call with updates.
At noon Cathy, our vet, called to say that Stella seemed fine and that we could
pick her up around 5 pm. At 3 pm she called to say that Stella had taken a turn
for the worse. I contacted my husband and he went home to check on both Cutty
and Angus. He discovered that Cutty was experiencing diarrhea and was obviously
in distress. He took her to the clinic immediately and she too was placed on IV.
Numerous tests and ultra sounds of the liver were done on both dogs, the results
of which showed their livers were failing.
Our veterinarian told us that all of the diagnostics suggested mushroom
poisoning and that neither dog would likely make it through the night. If you
own a dog, I need not describe the devastating effect that announcement had on
both of us.
Stella died in the early afternoon on the following day. Cutty was going down
rapidly and we elected to euthanize her about twenty minutes after Stella had
passed. A biopsy on Stella’s liver disclosed “with about 99% certainty” that the
ingestion of all or part of a toxic mushroom had lead to complete liver failure
which killed her and, almost certainly, Cutty.
We lost our dogs because of a mushroom we had either missed or (we believe) one
that Stella dug up near the surface but was not yet apparent to the human eye.
Both dogs were doomed before any symptom was apparent. In the words of our
veterinarian, “unless you see a dog eating a (poisonous) mushroom and get the
dog in here (a veterinary clinic) immediately to induce vomiting, you will lose
your dog”. For whatever reason, Angus, did not ingest any part of the killer
fungi.
Neither my husband nor I are scientists. Nevertheless, (once the tears had
subsided) we set out to learn as much as possible about how to prevent this
tragedy from ever repeating itself on our property. We spoke to veterinarians,
botanists and mycologists at the University of California-Davis and at San
Francisco State University. We consulted with pharmacists, nurseries and master
gardeners. Every single person with whom we spoke was both sympathetic and
generous with their time. We also conducted an internet canvass in the hopes of
finding the “silver bullet” that would eradicate this threat from our lives.
As an aside, we also tried to inspect our backyard with the thoroughness of an
inquisitive puppy’s nose. We found no half-eaten mushrooms; but we did find two
small mushrooms that were buried under a few leaves.
Though our research is still a work in progress, at this point, we can report
the following:
As we all know, mushrooms propagate through spores that, literally, blow in the
wind. . Mushroom spores plus dirt/wood plus the right environment eventually
equal mushrooms. A UC-Davis department head in the veterinary school told my
husband, “If you clear your yard down through the top six inches of topsoil, I
will guarantee that you will be mushroom-free for about 24 hours. After that, I
can guarantee nothing.”
Short of covering your yard with cement, you can remove anything that might
create an acid-rich environment for the mushroom spores. That means all
deciduous trees as well as most evergreens. The leaves from deciduous trees and
the needles from evergreens create an acid-rich environment while decomposing on
the ground. Keep in mind, this drastic action does not mean that you will be
free of mushrooms at any time. You can also counter-balance acidic soil by
applying sulfate of ammonia to all areas of your yard. If you do this regularly
and completely, you may keep the mushroom spores from taking hold in your yard.
But how do you know for certain? Sulfate of ammonia is a fertilizer and changes
the soils PH. However, it needs to be applied on a schedule more than once a
year (based on manufactures instructions). When applied it must be watered
immediately so that it can be absorbed into the soil.
For the time being, we have reduced the amount of yard accessible to Angus to
about 60% of what he had before the tragedy. The area under the redwoods and
some of the evergreens is now “out of bounds” and has been fenced off. We need
to do additional research before we apply any sulfate of ammonia, or anything
else, to our yard (we have been chemical-free for many years). Either my husband
or I now conduct a thorough inspection of our yard every day. It is tedious and
certainly no fun in a drizzle with the temperature not far above freezing. But I
would rather undertake this chore every remaining day of my life than repeat
what we went through during those two terrible days in December of 2004.
Based on our research we have concluded the following: There are no “harmless”
mushrooms in the yard, any and all must be removed immediately and disposed of
in the trash (not in a compost pile). There is no way to “non-scientifically"
identify whether or not a mushroom is a poisonous variety.
Some of the web-sites we have accessed with useful information are:
http://members.aol.com/basidium/deathcap.html
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/mushroom_poisoning.jsp
http://calpoison.org/public/mushrooms.html
http://grayghost.org/MUSHROOMS_BEWARE.html
