# Induced vomiting, yet again! Will it ever get better?



## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

We just moved to a new house and Maya was outside in the yard last night while we were eating dinner on our deck. I wasn't supervising her as closely as I should have been, but she was on a long (50 foot) leash, so I figured she was fine. I then looked over and saw she was eating something, so I put down my plate to go look. It was nightshade! :uhoh: I immediately grabbed her and went inside to get the hydrogen peroxide, which I have learned to carry with me everywhere I go. I induced vomiting and she was fine. She is only 5 months old and I have had to induce vomiting 3 times now because she eats everything! :yuck: The other 2 times were for mushrooms. This morning I spent 1 1/2 hours going through all the gardens on the property (which have not been cared for and are mostly weeds). I pulled up a whole garbage bag of nightshade and a whole bunch of mushrooms! Maya loves to eat plants, and there are several plants that I can't identify, so I'm still nervous she will poison herself. There are also lots of lilies on the property, and I know those are toxic. Does anyone know how dangerous lilies are? Maya doesn't eat a lot of the plants, she mostly likes to chew them. I know some plants are only dangerous in large quantities, but I don't know if lilies are like that. I always make sure she has lots of toys and bones when she's outside, but she prefers the plants! It is so scary! She is never outside by herself, but we do take her for walks in the woods off leash. I am just so nervous that she will eat something that will make her very sick. Is this a puppy behavior? Please tell me it gets better! :crossfing


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Here is a list of poisonous plants

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=38222


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## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

Naughty girl, I know that lily pollen is toxic to cats if they get it on their fur and then lick it off, so it's likely that it may well be toxic to dogs.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

Is it just the pollen? There are no flowers on the plants right now, so I'd be relieved if it is just the pollen that is toxic. What I've caught her nibbling is the stems, especially once they have dried out some. They are almost like sticks once they get dry. I pulled all the dry parts off the plants today, so all there is left now is leaves.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

It DOES get better, usually. Last year I made myself crazy about the mushrooms, but this year Tango and Tally are both over one, and soooooooo much better about not eating random things.


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## rosemary (Jul 7, 2007)

thank goodness blackberries arnt on that list arnie picks his own he loves them and its one fruit his stomach and bowel can cope with


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I train the guys not to go after plants for the most part. It takes a lot of vigilance and a good, positively trained "leave it" command, but I figure it's easier to get them to stop going to town on vegetation than to remove all possible vegetation.

You have to be careful inducing vomiting. You can cause bloat and all kinds of damage to the digestive tract. Sometimes inducing is a lot worse for them than whatever they managed to ingest.


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## mybuddy (Mar 2, 2007)

Holy cow..what a worry! 

Buddy, when younger was bad for that outside but now he mostly goes after food.

Here is a suggestion..while your little one is out in the grass where there might be some dangers around, why not put one of those basket muzzles on him. I know...looks a bit like a doggie hanibal lecter but it sure does keep them safe and also takes the stress off you, if you are busy doing something and cant watch the whole time.

I got the idea from a woman I met in the park. She had a lab with one on...of course, I immediately thought that her dog bit and she said no and explained that he eats "everything" and they have had some pretty scary calls so this was the best solution while he was out playing.

The basket muzzles here are soft plastic and look pretty comfortable. I have never used one for Buddy as he is older now but if I were ever in an area where I thought there was significant danger I would. 

Good luck!


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

How difficult is it to teach them to stop eating plants? We have started trying to do that, but I'm nervous it will take forever! Thankfully, we do have a solid leave it command. A couple days ago we were walking in a state park and she found some delicious horse poop, which she started to eat. I told her to leave it and she stopped right away and ran to me for her treat. I rewarded her with lots of treats and enthusiastic praise. What I wonder is, will she figure out to stop going after stuff just because I tell her to leave it, or will she be even more attracted to it, so that I tell her to leave it and she gets rewarded? I'll give an example. Before I taught her "drop it" she had no interest in anything other than her toys. She never touched our clothes, even if they were on the floor. Then I taught her drop it. She thought it was a great game. She got a treat for picking something up and bringing it to me, then dropping it. A retriever's dream! So she started picking up whatever she could find and bringing it to me. Same thing with leave it. When I first taught her leave it, she would leave it, come to me and get the treat, then go right back, hoping to be told to leave it and get another treat. She is a pretty smart dog, and is very food motivated. She has gotten better at not going back to things, since we don't give treats for the second time and treats are somewhat more intermittent. but sometimes I can tell she is sniffing at something she doesn't really want and looking at me sideways, hoping I'll tell her to leave it and she'll get a treat. I don't want to drop the treats, as I don't think she is at the stage where she listens out of pure obedience. Her motivation is definitely getting the treat! Any ideas?


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Maya's Mom said:


> How difficult is it to teach them to stop eating plants? We have started trying to do that, but I'm nervous it will take forever! Thankfully, we do have a solid leave it command. A couple days ago we were walking in a state park and she found some delicious horse poop, which she started to eat. I told her to leave it and she stopped right away and ran to me for her treat. I rewarded her with lots of treats and enthusiastic praise. What I wonder is, will she figure out to stop going after stuff just because I tell her to leave it, or will she be even more attracted to it, so that I tell her to leave it and she gets rewarded?


In my experience, when the dogs are constantly told to "leave it," they learn over time not to go for it in the first place. The trick is to proof your "leave it" command by moving to sporadic reinforcement with the treats. "Leave it" becomes something that the dog just does on command, not necessarily with the expectation of a food reward.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Third time to induce vomiting in 5 mos. I'm certainly no expert, but does your vet recommend doing that? I've never induced vomiting for any of my dogs. We live in a rural area, lots of plants, trees, "things" to eat around here that aren't on the acceptable list I'm sure. In my experience they will usually vomit on their own if necessary.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

A vet is the one who told me how to do it when she ate a mushroom the first time and I called animal poison control. I was told that it is (obviously) not good to do it often, but some things are dangerous enough that it is safer to induce vomiting than it is to let it be. She said that some kinds of mushrooms will not cause stomach problems, so the dog will not throw up, but they do affect the kidney or liver and can cause organ failure. I was talking to a vet (not mine, but she goes to my church) the day after the nightshade incident and she said she definitely would have recommended inducing vomiting for nightshade b/c it is highly toxic. She did say that it is not good to do it unless really necessary. So I think it is on a case by case basis, depending on how toxic the ingested material is and which bodily system it affects. But I am hoping that I never have to do it again. :crossfing We are being vigilant about not letting Maya eat any plants. We are telling her leave it and she has not eaten a single leaf (I am pretty sure) for almost a week. She is good about following the leave it command. I've also noticed that she stopped going after horse poop after I told her to leave it several times! I was very excited when, on our last walk in the state park, she saw some horse poop and instead of trying to eat it, she came directly to me for a treat!  We have also been decreasing the number of times she gets treats for following commands. So I am very hopeful that she will stop trying to eat plants as we keep being consistent and telling her to leave it. She has several months of the ingrained habit, so it will probably take longer than learning to leave horse poop.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

One thing you could try is to make her a 'green shake' to see if that helps - give her some plant material in her diet so she's not craving salad outside as much. Usually it's some assorted greens (not onions), so spinach, celery, carrots etc. plus a bit of garlic, maybe an egg or some plain yogurt. Stick it in the blender with a bit of water, blend and let sit for half an hour and see what she thinks. For a puppy it would be about half a cup total per day. Or, if you can find a place that sells raw food, sometimes they'll have fruit/veggie patties that you can buy that are premade.

Lana


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

I think that making a green shake is a great idea! I'll have to try it. I thought garlic was toxic though.  She is definitely doing better, although there is definitely room for improvement. Grass is the hardest thing to break her from. Maybe the greens would help though.


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## Tristan (Dec 24, 2009)

WE have a 16 month old Golden, who ate a 3 inch diameter rock.
The Vet suggested that we invest in a basket muzzle.
We used it before the snows came now all rocks are under snow. I am hoping that springtime will bring a forget it to Trinian's rock eating.
That was one expensive rock !


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