Puppy And Potato Peel

[koalathebear]

I was peeling potatoes in the kitchen (up on the kitchen counter) and Elbie was lurking around like usual, trying to see what I was doing. Suddenly Elbie dashed off into the other room without any warning - I assumed that he heard something and went off to check.

A bit later, I heard a horrible retching noise and my husband came dashing in to grab a paper towel and then ran back towards Elbie who had apparently vomited.

I'm not sure how it happened but while I was peeling, a piece of peel must have gone flying through the air without me seeing it - Elbie caught it and dashed off with it in his mouth. Fortunately it was just one piece of peel and he threw it up immediately but apparently potato peel is toxic to dogs.

Potato Peels and Green-Looking Potatoes Are Indigestible

Potato peels contain oxalates, which adversely affect pets’ digestive, nervous, and urinary tract systems. Symptoms include lethargy, depression, vomiting, diarrhea, and seizures.

I shall be very careful of flying potato peel in future. :D

ETA: Elbie is totally fine and shows no ill-effects after having expelled the peel.

Edited September 4, 2010 by koalathebear

[tlc]

Wonder if the peel is still toxic if they are cooked?

Glad Elbie is ok!

[persephone]

;) glad he's ok.!!

Would one piece of potato peel would have an almost instant effect due to the toxins?.. possibly he tried to swallow it and it got stuck ..potato peel being the odd shape it is ?

I have fed lots of cooked potato peel to dogs with no ill effect - no one has tried to eat it raw!

[Clastic]

Poor little boy, glad to hear that he is OK now. I had no idea potato peel was toxic, will take extra care next time I'm peeling potatoes.

[WreckitWhippet]

He's choked on it, nothing to worry about

[Genabee]

I am glad to hear he is ok - that will teach him for sneaking off with food!

Thanks for the heads up about potato peel! I had no idea!

[Sandra777]

yep, totally agree - he choked, no toxic reaction going on here.

[sas]

Potato peel isn't toxic.

It's important to read and research information from your own country when looking up what is toxic and what isn't as some information is specific to certain countries where certain things are considered toxic due to things that are specific to a country etc. Also, alot of American sites are scare mongers - Americans love drama from the look of many of their pet BE AWARE sites!

Any substance in a food may have a degree of toxicity or 'poisonousness', whether it is natural, deliberately added, or a contaminant. There is nothing special about natural chemicals in food and no distinction should be made between natural and other substances when deciding if a food is likely to be hazardous. For example, a potato contains a number of poisonous substances such as nitrate, arsenic and solanine but in the amounts in which potatoes are normally eaten these natural substances are not hazardous. For this reason it is important not to consume large amounts of a small number of foods, as in some faddist diets, but to consume a wide variety of foods. This not only minimizes the amount of a particular potentially hazardous substance but also ensures that a range of essential nutrients are consumed.

My dogs eat raw potato's and cooked potato's with their skin on and no dramas.

Your pup could have just swallowed it hole or didn't like it so brought it back up, no biggie

Edited September 5, 2010 by sas

[koalathebear]

My dogs eat raw potato's and cooked potato's with their skin on and no dramas.

Your pup could have just swallowed it hole or didn't like it so brought it back up, no biggie

Thanks sas. I feel very relieved because while I was trying not to fling peel around while peeling, I have to admit I wasn't being particularly cautious about peeling.

Normally Elbie's as tough as nails and it's quite unusual for him to throw up. When we just got him, he had a weird tanbark addiction and was a total tanbark bandit -finding tanbark in the yard even though we didn't even know where it was. We were constantly taking random bits of tanbark from him because he kept wanting to eat it. Our heart sank when we moved into our own house and saw that the back yard was just filled with tanbark - we had visions of coming home and finding our little puppy bulked up on tanbark overdose. Fortunately he seemed to give up the desire to eat everything in his path which may be why we've only ever seen him throw up his food once.

Also, alot of American sites are scare mongers - Americans love drama from the look of many of their pet BE AWARE sites!

This is true ... I still remember why I left one of the US discussion fora. I ranted about it here. When I said that we were going to leave our pup in the backyard when he was old enough when we went to work almost all of the posters made me feel like I was a criminal and that they didn't even leave their dogs alone in the yard when they were grown up!

[all that glitters]

I eat a potato I soften in the microwave with skin on as a 'baked potato' with the lot and Shyla shares it with me, including peel. No harm yet!