Outdoor Gardens and Pets
The RSPCA recently released an article alerting pet owners to the hidden dangers within the garden and our pets who inevitably seem magnetised to them, and we thought we could pass on this valuable info!
Fertilizers contain a number of plant-loving ingredients including: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and fertilizers come in many different forms from granules to liquids. Some fertilizers are made of a complex mix of herbicides, insecticides, iron, fungicides and more, and each of these mixtures can affect your pet’s digestion differently.
These concentrated chemical combos can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy, abdominal pain, and hypersalivation when ingested. They irritate the lining of your pet’s gastrointestinal tract even causing ulceration. If your pet eats a large helping of fertilizer, say for example your Labrador tears open a bag of fertilizer for a snack, symptoms can become more severe. Iron and insecticides are particularly harmful in high doses.
Try keeping the unused fertilizer locked in a shed and out of reach, and monitor your pets when they’re outside and wanting to curiously taste the soil and plants. If they do appear sick, and you have a feeling that fertilizer could be to blame, consult your vet immediately!
Rodent Poisons, Snail/Slug Bait, Insecticides
Poisons used to control unwanted pests are one of the primary causes of pet poisonings according to the RSPCA. The chemicals that are most commonly used to kill pests (warfarin anti-coagulants for rodents, metaldehyde for snails and slugs, and organophosphates and carbamates for insects) are made to appear attractive for eating, so our pets may not know the difference. The effect of these poisons on our pet’s bodily systems can be catastrophic and even result in death.
Dogs and cats are clever creatures, and so we have to be extra cautious in how we store any pest poisons. The RSPCA actually has a few recommendations of alternative and more humane killing methods for our unwanted pests that are safer to have around our pets. If your pet has ingested any type of pesticide, don’t hesitate to contact your vet immediately.
For a list of plants poisonous to pets click HERE. For a list of plants that are poisonous to livestock and horses, click HERE.
There are SO many plants out in our yards and gardens that knowing which ones are most toxic can be a little confusing! Eating plants and grass is an important process for dogs, cats, and livestock to aid digestion, but it’s daunting to know that one plant in the mix could possibly cause fever, vomiting, muscle tremors, and even seizure. At the top of this section, we have posted a list of the plants most poisonous to your pet based on what type of pet you have.
We have mentioned in another blog post about our pets eating certain types of fruit, and if you have fruit growing in your yard, you may want to look over our last post. Some fruit flesh isn’t so dangerous (a peach for example), but if they eat the seed, they could face some serious issues.
Not too long ago, cocoa mulch was all the rage. Cocoa mulch is made from cocoa bean or shells left over from chocolate manufacturing that has been recycled into mulch. The concept appears ideal, but there have been numerous reports of pets being poisoned by this product particularly in the US and UK. Since this product is not as readily available in Australia, there haven’t been cases. However, some domestic chocolate manufacturers have sold the shell mulch as waste from their manufacturing plants, so it is possible that dogs are susceptible here.
For more information, please check out the RSPCA website.
