If your best friend is someone with a wet nose and a wagging tail, it’s your responsibility that you keep them away from danger. Most of the times you don’t even notice poisonous plants to dogs growing in your backyard. Things can go really bad if your furry friend decides to munch on one such plant.
Ranging from stomach irritations to even death can be the results of plant poisoning in dogs. A lot of these plants can be poisonous to other pets like cats and cattle. Also, some of them them are deadly, even for human beings. So, the best thing to do it to get rid of these plants from your backyard forever. If you have kids at home, you don’t want them to get in trouble because of these plants.
Here’s a list of the most common poisonous plants to dogs that you see in your backyard.
Aloe Vera (Poisonous Plants to Dogs)
Aloe vera is one of the best things when it come to skin care and lustrous hair. However, growing them at home when you have a pet dog, is dangerous. While external application of aloe vera is totally harmless and it soothes the skin, ingestion of the leaves and the gel inside can result in irritation of the digestive system.
Daffodils
All parts of daffodils are harmful for your dogs. However, the bulbs of the plant contain the highest amount of toxins- lycorine and calcium oxalate. If your dog comes in contact with any other the parts of the flower, the symptoms are redness, itching, and blisters.
If your dog has inhaled the scent of the flower, the symptoms are wheezing, coughing, spasms, and pulmonary edema. Worse things like vomiting, low heart beat rate, tremors, seizures, abdominal pain, abnormal breathing, and diarrhea can happen if your dogs eats the bulbs, flowers or any other parts of the plant.
Azalea (Poisonous Plants to dogs)
Azalea is a plant in which the toxic doze is pretty high. This means that ingestion of just a little bit of the plant is enough to get your dog sick. The symptoms are visible within few hours of ingestion. These symptoms may include coma, depression, excessive drooling, lethargy, temporary blindness, tremors, loss of appetite, and weakness.
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums contain a natural insecticide called pyrethroids which are used in manufacturing pesticides and household sprays to get rid of insects. Pyrethroids are neuropoisons and hence they can poison your dog if ingested. The symptoms including coughing, drooling, agitation, shaking, loss of appetite, and vomiting.
Castor bean
Castor beans contain ricin, which makes it one of the most poisonous plants to dogs. The symptoms are visible only after 6 hours and include sudden collapse, vomiting, abdominal pain, excessive drooling, dehydration, increase in temperature, hypotension, loss of appetite, and trembling. In worst cases, castor bean ingestion can cause death as well.
Dieffenbachia
If the dog is topically exposed to the plant or is touched by a person who just handled the plant, it can lead to redness, itching and blisters in the affected areas. If the plant touches the eye of the dog (ocular exposure), the symptoms are head rubbing, pawing at eyes and face, itchiness, redness, and swelling.
If your dogs eats any of the parts of the plant, the symptoms to look out for are yelping, vomiting, vocalization, pawing at face and mouth, drooling, difficulty in eating and drinking, unconsciousness, breathlessness. In extreme cases, it can lead to death of the dog as well.
English Ivy (Poisonous Plants to Dogs)
Ivy is one of the most poisonous plants to dogs as they contain steroids known as sapogenins and also polyacetelyne compounds. These substances can cause irritation to the skin and mucus membranes when exposed to externally or ingested.
Symptoms of external exposure are redness, itchiness, and blisters. Symptoms of ingestion are vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, and diarrhea.
Devil’s Ivy (Poisonous Plants to Dogs)
Devil’s Ivy is a green creeper which comes under the list of poisonous plants to dogs since the compounds contained in their leaves and stems are harmful. Devil’s ivy contains toxins like calcium carbonate, calcium oxalate raphides, glycosides, and saponins which causes irritation in the tissues, blockage of the airway and heart problems.
Some of the symptoms you can notice if your dog is poisoned by Devil’s ivy are swollen lips and tongue, pawing the mouth or face, loss of appetite, difficulty in eating, difficulty in breathing, foaming, excessive drooling, and abnormal heart beat.
Caladium (Elephant ear)
Caladium is a beautiful plant when it comes to decorative indoor plants. But if they are ingested by your dog, the little guy will have problems with swallowing, and can show symptoms of caladium poisoning like vomiting and swelling of mouth.
Dracaena Fragrans (Corn Plant)
Dracaena Fragrans, popularly known as corn plant is one among the best choices when it comes to decorative your cozy living room. However, if you have a pet dog, it’s not a wise decision to get this plant for your home. Ingestion of the leaves of corn plant can result in vomiting and sometimes with blood. Sounds scary, doesn’t it?
Tulip (Poisonous plants to dogs)
Tulips contain allergenic lactones or similar alkalines which can cause symptoms like loss of appetite, excessive drooling abnormal heart rate, increased respiratory rate, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if ingested by your dog. The bulbs of these plants, which contains the highest concentration of the toxins can be dug up and eaten by dogs.
Oleander (Poisonous plants to dogs)
Oleander like most of the other poisonous plants to dogs can poisonous other animals like cats, horses, and sometimes human beings too. Even though the flowers of oleander are beautiful and are common among the garden plants, they can be pretty harmful to dogs.
In case of ingestion it can cause issues like vomiting, seizures, collapse, drooling, heart problems, weakness and even death in dogs. So you better think twice before growing them in your garden or backyard if you have dogs.
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