Garden Toxins

While sitting at the vet this week (for a change), I noticed the very informative flyer put out by VPI Health Insurance about the dangers of garden toxins. Did you know the following are toxic to pets: Autumn crocus, Azaleas, cyclamen, hyacinth/tulip bulbs, kalanchoe, oleander, sago palm, lilies and daffodil bulbs?

I must confess I had no idea that there were so many dangers planted in my garden. Thankfully none of my dogs have ever had any interest in tulip or daffodil bulbs (only the squirrels seem to dig these up)nor has anyone eaten any azalea leaves. But I can report that lilies are absolutely not toxic to rabbits since every year my beautiful stargazer lily bulbs are nibbled leaf by leaf by my rabbits.

I am sure you are aware of the dangers of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. When in doubt, leave them out is my mantra. No Round Up or chemical lawn food around here--both are known carcinogens. And please be careful of mulch. Many stories circulated around the Internet a while back about the dangers of "cocoa" bark mulch if ingested by pets. It apparently contains chocolate which we all know is toxic to dogs in large amounts.

Bottom line: If you suspect one of your pets has ingested any part of the above list, call your vet. Most will cause vomiting and/or diarrhea but some like sago palm can actually lead to sever liver failure and death.

By the way, Sam was as the vet with very early stage lyme disease (I caught it Day 2 when he started limping on a different leg than he was favoring the day before) and after one dose of the antibiotics I can report he is as good as new. 30 days of meds, however to make sure he builds up antibodies, but he will forever test positive for the disease. I have been warned that if he ever shows symptoms again, they will treat him without testing.

The outdoors can be dangerous to pets in more ways than one.