Poisonous Plants

What You Don’t Know Can Harm Your Dog

A dog’s curious nature often gets him into trouble, causing him to explore weed thickets, storage containers, and open fields where he can come into contact with any number of poisonous substances, including toxic plants.

The great variety of potentially poisonous plants, shrubs, and grasses can make identification of a toxic substance difficult, unless you have actually seen your dog mouthing or ingesting a particular plant. Both outdoor and indoor plants can be harmful to your pet, with some parts of certain plants being more toxic than others.

Ingesting a poisonous plant can cause a variety of symptoms in your dog including drooling, mouth and gum inflammation, swelling of the trachea and/or esophagus, vomiting and diarrhea, hallucinations, tremors, seizure, coma and death. Some plants will only cause a skin rash, a fairly non-threatening problem, while others, known for their medicinal properties, can induce symptoms similar to a drug overdose, with kidney, cardiac, and respiratory failure.

If you suspect your dog has eaten all or part of a poisonous plant, call your veterinarian immediately or contact the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/?gclid=CI2n-YHg_q0CFU9ntgodZzF5vA.

The following tables of toxic plants, shrubs and trees are included for reference. You can find more information on each plant species by visiting these Merck Veterinary Manual websites at:

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/servlet/CVMHighLight?file=htm/bc/ttox04.htm&word=poisonous,foods

and

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/servlet/CVMHighLight?file=htm/bc/ttox03.htm&word=poisonous,foods.

 

Outdoor Plants

Bladderpod Broom-corn Buffalo bur Carolina Jessamine Castor Bean
Coffee bean Corn cockle Day-blooming Jessamine Dogbanes Durra
Evening Trumpet English Yew Flower Hemlock Horse nettle
Ivy Bush Japanese Yew Jerusalem cherry Jimson weed Kafir
Lambkill Laurel Milkweed Milo Night-blooming Jessamine
Nightshades Oleander Potato stems and leaves Purple sesbane Rattlebox
Schrock Sorghum Sudan grass Thorn Apple Water Hemlock
Yellow Jessamine        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House Plants and Ornamentals

Azalea American aloe Avocado pear Barbados aloe Caladium
Chili pepper Chinese evegreen Crocus Cyclamen Daffodils
Dragon Tree Dumbcane Easter Lily English Holly Florida Arrowroot
Foxglove Hyacinths Kalanchoe Lily of the Valley Marijuana
Mistletoe Mother-in-Law's Tongue Philodendron Poinsettia Schefflera
Spider Plant Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow