Dogs & Nuts - Please Be Careful!

[moosepup]

On Sunday night around 7pm my dad dropped a container of nuts on the floor (walnuts, peanuts, almonds, macadamias, etc). They were cleaned up quickly and chucked in the bin and we never gave it a second thought.

On Monday morning I thought maybe Moose was a bit off but nothing really obvious, thought maybe he just hadn't quite woken up yet so I went off to work as normal (about 8am). Everyone else in the house left at around 9.30am so they were home alone from then on (kept inside). I got home at around 6pm and Moose was definitely off. He's usually jumping up and down and excited when we get home but he was just standing there, ears back, tail down, shaky, looking pretty upset. I let them outside and he sort of just followed me out and then went back inside and got in his bed. He NEVER does this... he's either scritching my leg for attention or sitting on my lap. He never goes off on his own like this.

Anyway I did a look around the house and noticed that he'd vomited on the couch. It looked a little chunky and it had what I'm pretty sure was a whole macadamia in it. Jumped on google and searched "macadamias and dogs". They can cause macadamia toxicity which can cause nausea and paralysis! Panic stations! Immediately rang my vet but was diverted to emergency and they said to bring him straight down. It's 30 mins away so jumped in the car and raced up there. I'm thinking he either managed to get a couple of nuts when they were first dropped or maybe early the next day (but I'm sure we cleaned them all up).

Luckily no one else was waiting so I got in pretty much straight away. A final year vet student saw him first, got his history and gave him a thorough check over. She also got a stool sample from him (he really enjoyed that, not!) and there were definitely crushed up nuts in it. He was otherwise okay, gum colour good, temperature a little high but nothing concerning and heart rate good. She thought maybe he was a little compacted so he might need an enema. He was then seen by the vet on duty and she thought he seemed okay, checked his back passage (again!) and thought it felt fine so no need for an enema. Also checked his abdomen but didn't think she could feel any blockages. In the end they gave him some charcoal to bind whatever may be left in his tummy and an anti-vomiting injection so he wouldn't bring the charcoal back up. I took him home and was to bring him straight back if he worsened and if he was okay just take him to his reg vet today.

He did a nice poop when we got home and luckily slept right through the night and seemed okay. I was a mess, waking up every couple of hours to check!! He slept most of this morning and I gave him some food around 11am which he munched down. He's active now, giving Zoe a heard time so I'm breathing a hesitant sigh of relief. Off to his regular vet for a check up in 10 minutes so hopefully they will give him the all clear.

Poor little tacker has been through a lot in his first year... lost a nail in a door vs dog accident, got burnt with a hot water bottle when he was desexed, and now this!!

Phew! Hope this story serves as a reminder to be careful with your dogs around nuts (and other non doggy foods).

ETA - he does keep checking his bum but I think he's just concerned about what happened to it last night!

Edited January 12, 2010 by moosepup

[megan_]

I didn't know dogs couldn't eat nuts

[moosepup]

I didn't know dogs couldn't eat nuts

I did read that they shouldn't eat any nuts because of phosphorus content... and macadadmias and walnuts are definite no-no's.

[HugUrPup]

How frightening

[moosepup]

How frightening

It makes your heart sink when you see them like that. It was worse cos I was by myself and had noone to calm me down!

Just back from the vet and he thinks he should be fine. Toxicities like this usually pass in 12 to 24 hours and his temp is normal so hopefully it's all passed.

[Loving my Oldies]

his temp is normal so hopefully it's all passed.

Another foreign object up his btm - .

Yes pretty scary for you particularly because he is so tiny.

I remember years ago visiting my vet at the time and going down to the big dog runs. There was a beautiful, but very sick Dalmatian and as I was leaving his owner came to visit.

I asked my vet what his chances were and he said it was touch and go (can't remember what was wrong), but he was hopeful he'd be able to pull him through.

After his owner left, the dog vomited up a huge mound of peanuts. Despite strict instructions that she was not to feed her dog anthing and particularly not nuts (she had been caught doing this before) she still did so. I believe the dog died.

Dogs do love nuts and I give mine little bits from time to time.

[moosepup]

his temp is normal so hopefully it's all passed.

Another foreign object up his btm - .

Yes pretty scary for you particularly because he is so tiny.

Yep, that's 5 things he's had up there now, in less than 24 hours! The vets at emergency had to use their little finger.

He's still acting a bit funny but I'm hoping it's just a combo of my paranoia and his getting over the ordeal. I love my Chi's but they certainly make me panic when stuff like this happens. Just seem so vulnerable!

Edited January 12, 2010 by moosepup