Eulogy for a lost dog
Have you ever heard of a pet soul mate? I know some of us believe in the idea of having one true soul mate in a romantic relationship. I also experienced what it was like to have a soul mate in a pet relationship. Her name is Shiloh. She was a Great Pyrenees who we adopted into our family as a young puppy. I actually felt the connection to her before she was conceived. After meeting Shiloh’s parents I felt the strong need to have a pup from this set of parents. I anxiously awaited for the heat cycle and kept close tabs on the pregnancy of Shiloh’s Mom. When the litter was born on July 8th 2007, I was given first choice of the pup I wanted. I instinctively knew that I should have the first born to these parents. The decision was made even before the pups were walking. It was just a strong feeling that I had knowing that the first born was meant to be part of our family. That was Shiloh. Shiloh quickly became a loving and devoted family member. She was a dream pup in the sense of her easy going behavior and laid back attitude. She grew quickly and was expected to reach 115 pounds by maturity. Though intimidating in size was she was really a gentle giant. While protective of her family and reserved with strangers she was quite the teddy bear at heart.
Shiloh was 13 months old when we lost her. I never saw it coming. The thought of losing her so soon never ever crossed my mind. Her health was excellent. I worked closely with my Veterinarian Dr. Orr on any health care issues. She was given daily walks, exercised regularly, brushed almost daily, weekly playdates with other neighborhood dogs, lots of love and interaction with our family including our two young daughters. In return she gave us 100% loyalty and devotion. She was eager to please and was extremely well behaved. She even took first place at her dog obedience classes–a reflection of her temperament and not our training ability.
On Friday August 15th we came home late after bringing the kids to the Jonas Brothers Concert at Darien Lake. When we got home we noticed that Shiloh had vomited in her pen. The vomit was a very small amount of yellowish spit and did not set off any alarms in my head at that point. It was so late that we let her in and brought her up to bed with us. The next morning Shiloh was very disinterested in her food. I realized that her food bowl was still full from Friday, and her water bowls were not empty as they usually would be in the morning. Thinking back to that week I did recall that she vomited midweek a very small amount of half digested carrots that we gave her. Later that morning and during the early afternoon I did my usual running around with the kids. One daughter had horseback riding lessons and the other had a friend sleep over the night before who I needed to get home.
After I came home I realized that Shiloh still had not eaten her food. Now I was concerned that perhaps she was beginning to show the signs of an intestinal blockage. Shiloh had a powerful jaw and a strong desire to chew hard things. She loved to chew sticks and branches and any hard plastic toy she could get. We were pretty good at keeping dangerous items from her reach but with young children at my house there was always the chance that she gotten someone’s toy. So I made a phone call to our vet to have her seen as soon as possible after the weekend. The situation did not seem to be an emergency, but I was trying to be proactive for the possibility that she might be developing some type of obstruction. Later that day I enticed Shiloh with a can of dog food–she wolfed down the canned food with no problem. When she went outside one of the kids noticed that her urine was darker than usual. This caused me some concern but I suspected that not eating or drinking well for the past 24 hours could be causing her urine to be more concentrated. I checked her gums for hydration and they were not as colorful as usual but looked ok. We spent the rest of the day at home. Shiloh was doing her usual guarding of the property and sounding off at the neighbors who were shooting off fireworks. Later after dinner we took a family walk with Shiloh. Little did I know this would be our last family walk with her. She strained to have a bowel movement when we got back home. This made me feel even more concerned about a possible obstruction. We brought her to bed with us that night, feeling uneasy.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 6 am to get ready for work, and Shiloh and I went downstairs together. As soon as she got down the stairs she began vomiting large amounts of the canned food that she had eaten the day before. I instantly felt panicked and called the emergency veterinary hospital, telling them I was concerned about a possible blockage. They told us to bring her right in. After I hung up I took a closer look at Shiloh’s face and realized that the whites of her eyes were now yellow. I began to panic. At the emergency clinic she was given supportive care. Tests they ran showed liver problems–there was no intestinal blockage. They ran various blood panels and began treating her for a possible Leptospirosis infection. Even though she had been vaccinated against Lepto, the veterinarian felt this was a strong possibility, but test results would not be back for several days. They hospitalized Shiloh. I called every 3-4 hours to check on her status. The staff seemed calm and hopeful that she would be fine.
On Monday morning I asked that she be transferred to Dr. Orr, my regular Vet, for further treatment and a conclusive diagnosis. My husband picked up Shiloh as I waited at Dr. Orr’s office. When she walked into Dr. Orr’s office I fell apart. I could not believe the condition she was in! I sat on the floor hugging her and crying while she rested her head on my shoulder. She looked so much sicker than she had the day before. Her condition had deteriorated horribly and I was shocked. Her gums, eyes and ears were very yellow now and she was extremely lethargic. I was given some time with her before I turned her over to Dr. Orr for more tests. I went home and for a few hours anxiously awaited news on Shiloh. Dr. Orr called later that afternoon to let me know that Shiloh was in very serious condition. Her liver was failing and she was not responding to the antibiotics prescribed for Lepto. Dr. Orr said that she needed to respond soon otherwise the outcome would not be good. She invited us back to her office to spend time with Shiloh. My husband, daughters and myself went back to Animal Clinic of East Ave to see her. They gave us an examining room where we could spend alone time with Shiloh, who lay on the floor near us with her IVs. It was unbelievable to see such a healthy vibrant dog turn so grave in such a short time. It felt like a bad dream that I could not awake from. The staff brought Shiloh a blanket to lie on and gave us as much time with her as we wanted. They even brought the ultrasound machine to us so we could stay together during this procedure. Dr. Orr warned us that Shiloh was running the risk of DIC. She explained that Shiloh’s platelet counts were dropping and she could bleed out during the night. If this occurred there would be nothing she could do to stop it.
It was now 10 pm and we did not want to leave Shiloh but the office had closed at 8 pm and I needed to let the staff go home. The kids were becoming restless as well. I took Shiloh out for her last walk. She barely had the strength to walk but was able to manage to get outdoors. As soon as we got to the parking lot she drummed up enough energy to start pulling me towards my Jeep. She wanted me to take her home. I felt good about seeing her spirit still there and her eagerness to come home. I left hoping and praying that she would make it through the night and her body would start to respond to the antibiotics. I gave her a big hug and kiss before I left and asked her to hang in there and not to give up. We all told her we loved her and went home. The night passed into the morning with no phone calls. I was feeling hopeful that her condition could be improving.
On Tuesday morning I called at 7 am to check on her. The technician said that her condition had worsened and Dr. Orr was on her way in. Shortly after Dr. Orr called me to tell me that Shiloh had slipped into a coma and had about 4 hours left. Her liver had failed and there was nothing they could do. I could not even talk after receiving this call. I needed to hang up the phone to try to get a handle on this devastating news. This was not supposed to happen–she was too young and too healthy to die. She was such a good dog and did not deserve this outcome. For the past year I’d tried to do everything right with her–how could this be happening? How could she be leaving us already? The thought of her lying alone in a cage suffering and waiting to die was unbearable. So I asked my husband to go be with her and have her euthanized to prevent those final hours of suffering. He was upset as well, but I was completely shattered and could not even speak clearly. I was feeling the worst pain I had ever experienced in my 40 years of life. I knew that I could not keep it together and handle being there for the euthanasia. I was emotionally and physically sick. My husband was generous enough to take on this responsibility for me.
After Shiloh’s death, Dr. Orr suggested we run some tests on Shiloh’s liver to help us better understand what caused her sudden death. The feeling was that it was Lepto, but we still did not have the test results back. Plus we still had a dog at home and needed to keep him safe: We had taken in Shiloh’s baby brother to foster in early July after their Mom was killed by a truck. He was only 10 days old when we took him in to care for him. With all of the possibilities of what could have caused Shiloh’s death we discarded all of Shiloh’s food and treats. We also kept the puppy away from other dogs in case it was an infectious disease like Lepto, which can be spread through contact with urine. We waited anxiously for the necropsy results. I spent endless hours researching her symptoms and going over every step I took with her during her final week. I rethought every decision I had made about food choices, walks, puddles, water contamination… everything. The overwhelming concern that something lurking on my property had caused the sudden death of our 92 lb healthy dog was very draining. I was suspicious of everything.
The following week the Lepto test came back negative. Dr. Orr asked us to be patient and wait for the pathology report on the liver for more answers. The pathology came back two weeks after Shiloh’s death, and indicated that it was a toxin that caused Shiloh’s liver to fail. The pathologist felt that toxic mushrooms should be a primary suspect. We have had mushrooms pop up in our yard from time to time, and this rainy summer they had been abundant. We never worried much about the mushrooms and generally just mowed over them. I never thought the deadly mushrooms you hear about were something that would grow in a suburban yard. Ironically, the day Shiloh became ill my husband had picked a few mushrooms from our yard where Shiloh often laid. He put them in the garage and forgot about them until we had got these results. Dr. Orr recommended that we have the mushrooms identified. I honestly did not think that mushrooms were the cause of Shiloh’s death but took Dr. Orr’s advice and contacted a local mushroom expert. He asked me to take some pictures of the dried specimens and email them to him for possible identification. Upon receiving the (out of focus) pics and talking to me about our yard he felt that the mushrooms were likely not the cause of Shiloh’s death, but he wasn’t able to identify the mushrooms in the photo. I contacted Dr. Orr with this news and she urged me to send the specimens to a fungal expert at Cornell University–Dr. Hodge. I contacted Dr. Hodge and she was generous enough to spend time talking with me and agreed to look at the dried mushrooms we had. They were shipped to her for further analysis.
I’ve dreamed of Shiloh often since her death. In my dreams she was sick, her eyes were yellow and she was dying. I even dreamt that the pup, Shiloh’s brother, was dying. On one occasion I dreamt that my own liver was failing. I would go to sleep thinking of Shiloh and mourning her, and I would continue to dwell and dream on her all night long. On Wednesday Sept 3rd I awoke to feel Shiloh nudging me with her nose. She often did this during the night when she felt the need for some attention. I woke up and felt her presence in my room and felt eerie about the nudge that woke me from my sleep. I looked at my husband and he was still sleeping. I finally fell back asleep to find Shiloh in my dreams again. This time she was not sick. She was healthy and vibrant. I was petting her and hugging her, feeling so happy that she was still with me. My dream felt so real that she was with me….I could touch her and feel her but then I realized that I could not smell her. In my dream I kept sniffing her wondering why I could not smell her and wishing that I could. In the morning I woke with the strong feeling that Shiloh had visited me during the night. But I could not make sense of the dream. Later that morning Dr. Hodge called to tell me that the mushrooms I sent from my yard were Galerina mushrooms and tested positive for amatoxins. Given the toxicity of the mushrooms it would not have taken many to cause Shiloh’s death.
Dear Tami,
The three brown mushrooms you sent me are a species of Galerina. You mentioned that you collected them around the time Shiloh became ill. I am unable to quickly identify them to species, because there are very many Galerina species and they are difficult to distinguish–even if I had had fresh specimens in hand. But I believe that identifying the species of Galerina is not important in this case in light of the test results I describe below.
Many Galerina species contain a powerful family of toxins called amatoxins (or amanitins). They are the same toxins found in Amanita mushrooms (the death cap and the destroying angel). Amatoxins typically cause vomiting and diarrhea in early stages, some hours after consumption. These symptoms often appear to remit, but the toxins are meanwhile destroying actively metabolizing tissues, particularly in the liver. There is no specific antidote, although administering activated charcoal in early stages can help remove some toxins from the intestinal tract. Human survival rates hover around 60%, from what I’ve heard, and survival depends on both the amount eaten and on early diagnosis leading to appropriate supportive care.
I performed a Meixner test on the brown mushrooms. It’s a crude test for amatoxins that depends on their interaction with the lignin in newspaper when exposed to hydrochloric acid. It is not definitive–only suggestive. A blue reaction in the Meixner test suggests that amatoxins may be present. I’ve attached a photo showing the strong blue reaction I obtained from the brown mushrooms. They are potentially fatally poisonous.
Sadly, there’s no reliable way to remove these mushrooms from your lawn. You can remove the mushrooms themselves (requires close attention to find them all), but the underground mycelium will persist from year to year. Some have suggested treating the lawn with lime to make it inhospitable to the mycelium, but there’s no evidence that this works. Note that that you can’t be poisoned by touching the mushrooms–only by ingesting them, raw or cooked.
Lastly, and I bet you’ve done this already–I suggest you have a very serious talk with your kids about mushrooms.
Kathie T. Hodge
I spoke with Dr. Orr about the news of the mushrooms in my yard. Since I never actually saw Shiloh eat a mushroom I was having a hard time believing this could be the cause. After a lengthy talk with Dr. Orr, and based on what the experts saw in Shiloh’s necropsy, plus the fact that these deadly mushrooms grew right where Shiloh often lay, Dr. Orr felt it was conclusive that they were what caused Shiloh’s death.
Looking back now I feel that Shiloh’s death served a greater purpose. I had something very deadly lurking in my yard. This posed an unseen risk of death to both people and animals. My yard is the one where all of the neighborhood kids play–children from 1 to 11 years old. The possibility that some child could have ingested a bite of these deadly mushrooms was certainly there. In addition to the kids, we were caring for Shiloh’s baby brother Sampson who is a typical curious pup and puts everything in his mouth. He certainly could have come in contact with these Galerina mushrooms and might have died as well. The loss of Shiloh, my pet soul mate, brought our attention to the deadly fungus growing in our yard. Shiloh lost her life but her death may have saved others’ lives.
In addition to being neurotically cautious with any mushrooms in my yard now I have also spread the word of Shiloh’s story by contacting news organizations, which have run stories and TV broadcasts on Shiloh and the dangers of poisonous mushrooms. I have also spread the word through various dog and Pyrenees groups that I belong too. I have received many phone calls and emails from pet owners and parents thanking me for sharing my story. They are now more cautious with mushrooms in their yard and are prudent on educating their children on the potential dangers of wild mushrooms as well as removing mushrooms immediately from the reach of pets and kids. I hope that Shiloh’s story will continue to protect others from the potential dangers of deadly mushrooms.
Tami Mungenast, shilohsstory@gmail.com
September 2008
Shiloh’s Vet, Dr. Carolyn Orr, took the time to write a veterinary perspective on Shiloh’s case. Since Shiloh was never observed to eat any mushrooms, it was a very difficult case to figure out. Read Dr. Orr’s account here.
Lest this story make you overly paranoid about mushrooms, let me just add this Editor’s note. Mushroom poisoning in dogs seems pretty uncommon, and I’m no expert on this, but most of the cases I do see involve young dogs in a teething, mouthy stage who are happy to chew anything they find. Here in upstate New York, I’ve seen fatal cases involving Inocybe species, and now Galerina, and there are certainly Amanita cases in the literature, along with infrequent cases involving a few other toxic mushrooms. Unfortunately the former two genera fall into the “little brown mushrooms” category and are hard for beginners to develop a reliable eye for. Note also that mushroom poisoning symptoms vary with the kind of mushroom involved.
Gosh, I doubt this note has done much for your paranoia, so just try to keep an eye on what your puppy is eating… I sincerely hope that none of my readers ever find themselves with a mushroom-poisoned dog, but if you do, I hope you’ll submit a toxicology report to NAMA, as Tami did, so we can learn more about the frequency and causes of canine cases.
Here are some pedantic but possibly helpful references on Galerina:
- Enjalbert F, Cassanas G, Rapior S, Renault C, Chaumont J-P. 2004. Amatoxins in wood-rotting Galerina marginata. Mycologia 96: 720-729. doi:10.2307/3762106.
- Gulden G, Stensrud K, Shalchian-Tabrizi K, Kauserud H. 2005. Galerina Earle: A polyphyletic genus in the consortium of dark-spored agarics. Mycologia 97 (4): 823-837. doi:10.3852/mycologia.97.4.823.
- Johnson, BEC, and JF Preston. 1976. Quantitation of amanitins in Galerina autumnalis. Mycologia 68:1248-1253.
- Smith AH, Singer R. 1964. A monograph of the genus Galerina Earle. New York: Hafner Publishing. 384 p.
Tami’s sad story was also presented by WHEC-TV in Rochester.
Heartwrenching story.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, Tami. I was deeply touched by your honest and heartfelt reflection on this horribly unfortunate situation. I will always carry this story with me so that others can benefit from Shiloh’s sacrifice.
I also have a Great Pyrenees who is my pet “soul-mate.” Thank you for putting this story up, regardless of our favored breed, it’s something we should be aware of, even if only in the backs of our minds. Tami, I wish that it hadn’t taken losing Shiloh to educate the rest of us about the potential dangers of mushrooms! I hope your memories of her are a comfort to you!
Last week my 10 month old puppy was neutered after he came home he seemed fine. The next day after we played in the yard for an hour or so, we came in and he had some loose stool. About an hour later he was vomiting what to me looked like mucus and he had major diarrhea, when I called the vet office the receptionist said”just clean him up a bit but to not touch the neutered area or get it wet. He will be fine in the morning.”. The next morning with my children upstairs, I came down to what I would never in a million year thought could have happen. My 12lb puppy laid lifeless with not blood but a foul smelling fluid all over the kitchen, floor and walls. I called the vets office again not knowing what to do but it was too late. I wanted to share this story with you, because the vet is telling me that he this was caused by a lawn mushroom in my yard. I am not really convienced but after your story realized it may be possible. I am on a mission to resolve what really did this to him. I know I do have mushrooms in my yard, however never realized how toxic they can be for dogs. Annie
Thank you for sharing your story about Shiloh. I too had a young dog who ingested poisonous mushrooms. She was 12 weeks old in November 2005 and had picked up some mushrooms while walking in my friends pasture outside of Eugene, OR. I saw her spit some mushrooms out but was not sure she ingested any. Within 15 minutes she began vomiting and diarrhea. It was a 40 minute drive to the emergency vet clinic. The vet and vet tech were wonderful at the clinic and saved her life. It was very scary seeing an animal suffering from poisoning. She is now a very healthy 3 year old dog. I did not have the mushrooms tested at the time. I do have copies of all the paperwork from the emergency vet clinic if this would be of any help in your research project. I have forwarded the link to this blog on to friends with dogs.
A friend lost an adult dog, way past puppy stage, the only thing we could figure out was mushroom poisoning, it can happen to an older dog! This dog was definitely poisoned, where he lived there were lots of mushrooms, couldn’t figure out any other possible cause.
Heartrending story, thanks so much for sharing, wonder how many lives you’ve saved and will save in future?
I not so lucky with dog, my lovely dog always died T_T, die because poison, car accident etc, i don’t know maybe its curse T_T, poor me. I love dog so much. its Heartwrenching story, thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing your story about Shiloh, lucky me to live where the mushroom is very rare :D, i only had one experience where my dog eat poisonous mushroom and thanks god he could be saved :D, its the dog cant smell poisonous mushroom ?
Hi Tami,
My dear Cooper is at the vet as we speak very ill. He is an 18 week old Golden. We know that he had ingested a mushroom because he vomited it and we found it. We brought him to our local vet who thought he seemed fine even when told he had ingested a mushroom. An hour later he was still vomiting and looking worse. We brought him to an emergency clinic where they kept him for treatment. Thank you for publishing your story. I went online after visiting our local vet and after reading other info and your story decided it best to bring Cooper in. We hope he will respond to the treatment and have a full recovery.
Dear Tami,
I am in New Hampshire and with our very rainy summer, our woods and lawns were covered with mushrooms of all types until the past week or so. Just before Labor Day weekend our 2 labs became very ill – vomiting and diahrrea. We brought them to our local vet who did bloodwork and had them on IV fluids all day, but released them at the end of the day because the bloodwork had come back normal. (Apparently the toxins had not yet affected their organs.)
Once home they were extremely lethargic and our 6-yr-old lab was drooling copiously (now I know a sign of mushroom poisoning). At around 11 that night he began going into convulsions and we rushed him to an emergency vet. By that time it was too late. His liver was destroyed and he was hemmoraging, so we had to let him go. Our other dog, 2-yrs old, was in the hospital for 5 days and did finally recover. We don’t know for sure what poisoned them, but it is highly likely it was mushrooms. We lived in a very rural area and both dogs had been hiking with my husband, as well as wandering around our property. Labs are very interested in smelly things – food,dead animals, etc. – but had never – ever – shown any interest whatsoever in mushrooms, except that about 2 weeks before he died, my older lab had rolled in a pile of rotting mushrooms. Looking back, it’s obvious that their smell interested him. I just never imagined in a million years that they would eat them.
Tami, after reading your story, I am more convinced than ever that it had to be mushrooms that poisoned our dogs. I am so very sorry for what you went through. Bodie was my “heart dog,” like Shiloh was yours, so I think I know how you feel.
Dear Tami,
Just last month I lost my heart and soul when my little sheltie Hex died after almost two weeks of fighting. I believe she also died from mushroom poisoning which caused initially kidney failure and finally systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Despite blood transfusions and intensive care her body gave up the fight on 25th Sept. 2008.
Hex’s symptoms were different from Shiloh as her liver had not been affected. Her kidneys were the most damaged but eventually it was the inflamation in her colon, pancreas, heart, lungs and brain that caused her death.
Our garden is full of mushrooms. On one day we collected all we could and there were over 14 species present and that was only at one time. More pop up constantly. Of the ones I collected and had identified it was the Inocybe that was the most toxic. Although we cannot be sure that was the one that caused the most damage.
Nothing will bring Hex or Shiloh back but I am comforted to know that I am not alone in this. Please keep in touch.
Bernadette and the OBay Shelties in West Sussex England
Tami – so sorry to hear of your loss, these are our babies. I have lost 3 of my 4 canine babies in the last 4 years – Dixie, 11 years old to cancer; Kelo, 10 years old to something unknown, maybe a brain tumor; and Buddy, 15, to heart failure after being on meds for years. Last Saturday night our perfectly healthy 85 pound 8 year old aussie, Cruz, started acting strangely, walking in circles, snapping at the air, and finally collapsing, obviously having a seizure. We rushed him to our local emergency clinic where they kept him overnight. He had no more seizures and was fine the rest of the night (other than that “state” that they are in afterwards) All testing turned out ok and we brought him home on Sunday. Took him to his vet on Monday to have them check him out and review the test results again. All looked great. We were told possibly idiopathic epilepsy, monitor him closely and return if any problems. He is in a fenced back yard during the day, and sometimes at night, depending on the weather. Last night while cleaning up the back yard we found patches of mushrooms and places where he had been digging. We dug them all up and carried them off in the trash. I’ve never seen these before and would not have even thought about them making him sick. He eats horse poop when I’m not looking so I have no doubt he might have tasted these. No more problems for a week now except for the fact that I won’t let him out of my sight. I have actually cried over having to leave him and go to work. I have a call in to my vet this morning to see if this might have caused the violent seizure he had and not have shown up on the blood work. Thank you so much for sharing your story. This may not have been Cruz’s problem but I will keep these things out of our back yard as much as possible.
[…] « Eulogy for a lost dog […]
Thank you for sharing your story about your pet,I am sorry too. That same me I lost my dog in last year.
Hi Tami- I am sorry Shiloh had to lose her life in order to reveal such a risk in your yard. I was actually searching for stories of people who had lost dogs to liver failure in general when I came across your story. My best friend, a 5 1/2 yr. old big boy 🙂 yellow lab, Sam, passed away early Monday morning we are told between 1 and 2 am. He too was the picture of health and I think that’s what makes liver failure so hard. Symptoms are so subtle until it is often too late. It is a painful thing to watch. It makes you feel helpless and certainly that it’s not fair to them. We just have to remember they are ok now. Dogs don’t “not” complain because they can’t, but because they are selfless. He had been on phenobarbital since he was a puppy for seizures. We were never informed phenobarb could cause liver damage, nor were tests ever done. We hope to get some answers to our questions soon. But in any case, I want you to know that your story did help me because dog lovers love all of their dogs but if you’re lucky, one occassionally comes along that you really just click with and bond with. It is a shame that you only had Shiloh for over a year but they are our angels and they are always with us. May your memories always bring you joy and courage to make new ones.
Very sad to read, my heart goes out to you.
Dear Tami and Family, I recently found out that the Diplomas for completing the Basic Dog Obedience class had not yet been mailed out from one of your classmates. Through her I found out about Shiloh. I’m so very sorry for your loss. Although I only knew her from the Puppy and Basic classes she is a very fond memory for me. She was certainly one of my favorite students.
Very Truely Yours
Dave & Griffin
I live in Upton,MA. My 6 year old min pin Sneaky became suddenly ill a month ago, one week before we were to compete in his first agility trial. Vomited once, didn’t eat his supper. Took him to vet (where I work as a tech) the next day as he still had no appetite. He was dehydrated, his liver enzymes were off of the charts, and his blood glucose was low normal. We began IV fluids,and after a small period of improvement, he vomited again, and then appeared quite weak. His BG had dropped to 15. We administered dextrose and rushed him to the ER Specialist clinic where he had massive bloody vomit and diarrhea, and died less than 24 hours from his first symtoms of illness. My heart was broken, What happened? The young vet hadn’t a clue……could it be a toxin?
In my grief two weeks later,I adopted a year old min pin from a rescue group. We had Zeppy 8 days and he came down with the same symptoms. A vet at Vet school emergency clinic in MA basically blew me off when I explained the lab findings and symptoms of my dead min pin and that we thought mushroom toxicity was a possibility.She showed me Zep’s serum and said “he wasn’t icteric, so his liver was just fine”!!!!! Semi relieved, I took Zep home and waited till morning. He was no better in the morning either, so my nightmare continued with another admission to the same competent vet specialty clinic in RI where he was well cared for, but continued to fail and was euthanized 3 days later. We had an autopsy performed by a pathologist at Tuft’s who concluded that his liver was killed by a toxin. The kidneys were also affected. Samples were sent to UC Davis to test for toxins. By then we had results that the food was OK, no Aflatoxin… Xylitol was another possibility. Zep’s liver and kidney tested positive for amatoxin (Amanita mushroom). I have 4 other dogs, so as you can imagine I am a basket case about this and dreading next spring when mushrooms are back……..my heart is so broken and I am sick to my stomach about their deaths. And even though it may have been too late to save my little Zep, I am appalled that the Vet school intern ignored my concerns that evening. Who knows if he would have made it? We will never know. I am sorry for your losses too. It is a complete nightmare, and I know how you feel…times two. Wishing you all the best..Sue
My sincere condolences to the owners of Shiloh. We recently lost a Whippet puppy due to mushroom poisoning. Dear little Cascabel (only 10 weeks old) lost her appetite on Wednesday 26 November, 2008, she began retching. Took her to the Vet after examination she was placed on a drip. The following morning the Vet wanted to know if she may have injested any poison. We do not use any insecticides in our garden, neither do we have any other known toxic plants. We had placed rat poison but only in the roof of the house, which the puppy would never be able to find. On inspection of the garden we noticed there were several different varieties of mushrooms and thus came to the conclusion that she must have mushroom poisoning. The following day Cascabel began vomiting and defacating blood. By Friday morning she had stopped both the retching and defacating so our hopes improved but by Friday afternoon she was once again defecating blood. The vet then decided that her liver was damaged and there was no point in continuing with all the medication. After reading the account on Shiloh and all her symptoms, we are now convinced that Cascabel died from Mushroom poisoning. Two other pups began to show similar symptoms but fortunately we managed to have it treated in time. It is now a week later and they appear to be healthy and full of energy. Marion
My sincere condolences to the owners of Shiloh. We recently lost a Whippet puppy due to mushroom poisoning. Dear little Cascabel (only 10 weeks old) lost her appetite on Wednesday 26 November, 2008, she began retching. Took her to the Vet after examination she was placed on a drip. The following morning the Vet wanted to know if she may have ing ested any poison. We do not use any insecticides in our garden, neither do we have any other known toxic plants. We had placed rat poison but only in the roof of the house, which the puppy would never be able to find. On inspection of the garden we noticed there were several different varieties of mushrooms and thus came to the conclusion that she must have mushroom poisoning. The following day Cascabel began vomiting and defacating blood. By Friday morning she had stopped both the retching and defacating so our hopes improved but by Friday afternoon she was once again defecating blood. The vet then decided that her liver was damaged and there was no point in continuing with all the medication. After reading the account on Shiloh and all her symptoms, we are now convinced that Cascabel died from Mushroom poisoning. Two other pups began to show similar symptoms but fortunately we managed to have it treated in time. It is now a week later and they appear to be healthy and full of energy. Marion
I am so sorry to read about your Shiloh. I lost a wonderful dog, Cecil HD to cancer after three yrs of fighting it. He had such a large heart, golden eyes, and knew so many human words. My dog also visited in the night and I can only see him in photographs unless in my dreams, so I love those rare visits. I have two other dogs…yrs after losing him, but our closeness is different. For a while I sought a soul connection with some rescue dog… but am just glad to be forming a connection with a rescued basset that has had many medical issues, and a healthy dog that Cecil raised as a puppy sister(8yrs ago!). My heart goes out to you and your family.
When you can’t imagine life without them, somehow a shadow of love embraces your heart and reminds you that beloved dog sent other dogs into your life to love. Michelle
Ahh. I am so sorry about your Shiloh. My best friend has 3 Grey Pyrs and I spend a lot of time with them. They are the best dogs, so loving and so friendly! The deadly mushrooms sounded scary since many of us might get in contact with them without even knowing. Thanks for spreading this heart wrenching story. I wish you, your family and your furry family, health and happiness. 🙂 Claudia from ipetscene.com
I am so sorry for your loss. It is so sad that Shiloh was taken from you so soon. I just lost my beloved Floyd, a 14 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, three days ago. Floyd was my soulmate in every sense. He was a constant source of great joy and comfort, a true friend who made no demands or judgements of me, who loved me unconditionally. He was so beautiful and gentle and giving. These special friends bless us in ways they could never appreciate. I am so grateful to him for that, but I miss him terribly. I really don’t know if I will ever fill the hole he has left in me. I can only hope that he is waiting for me somewhere, and that I will be reunited with him someday. I am still waiting for him to visit me – I pray he comes to me soon.
That special dog can enrich our lives so deeply, and teach us so much. Too many people these days are afraid or ashamed to confide in each other, to reach out. Your dog is never ashamed. He asks only that you love him. He wants only to love you in return. He doesn’t care if it makes him look weak or silly. He is not afflicted by vanity. He knows only how to be himself, and that is enough for him. That was Floyd’s gift to me. That is their legacy and their lesson. It is a lucky dog who finds the right home, and makes that special connection. It is a lucky person who gets to experience the bond we had with our special dog friends. They are our angels.
Best wishes to you and to all of us. Stephen
Such a sad tale. I’m sorry for your loss..
I am so sorry to read the news about Shiloh. My heart goes out to you. I want to share my story about my Great Pyr that I almost lost as well. She started losing her appetite and vomiting and was very lethargic. We had recently moved, so I chalked it up to her just adjusting to the new environment. When she stopped eating completely, I got her to a vet. They run some blood work and it came back fine, so they sent me home with vitamins, said she was depressed. Snowball didn’t improve, so I took her to another vet. By this time, she was really feeling down and I was getting really scared. This vet did all kinds of tests and started her on an IV. I left her at the vet overnight and when I returned to the vet, learned that she had chewed out her IV. She wasn’t any better and she looked so pitiful. I asked if we could go outside and lay in the sun while she got another IV and we did. When I walked her, she would pull me towards our SUV. Like you, this gave me hope. I couldn’t leave her at the vet, so I took her home with the IV and she seemed to do better. I finally took the IV out because it seemed to make her worse. There were a few nights that I really thought I would wake up and she would be gone. Test results showed that it could be the liver or the kidneys – they couldn’t tell which one. I was having to force feed/water her at this point. She didn’t like it, but I kept telling myself that it was for her own well being.. She still wasn’t getting better, so I was given a referral to a Vet Hospital. I took her there and they did more tests. They wanted me to leave her, but I couldn’t. They gave me some medicine and sent us home waiting for the test results. They too said that it could be the kidneys or the liver, they couldn’t tell which one. They said they had to do a $1500 procedure to go inside her GI tract and take a biopsy. Keep in mind that this was after already spending $1500 on all the other tests/vets. I was in the middle of a divorce and just didn’t have the money. She seemed to be getting better gradually at home with me force feeding her very small amounts of water, kool aid, cat food, sweet potatoes or whatever I could get down her. It was around the clock, but I didn’t care – that’s all that I could do for her at that point. I am happy to report that she is back to her old self. It took her a couple of months to get back to her old self, but I kept seeing improvement and the twinkle in her eyes and that’s what kept me going. I want to also let everyone know that I took her (and my other 2 dogs) completely off of moist/canned dog food and now feed them chicken, deer, etc. I did this because I didn’t know if maybe they got ahold of some bad dog food – none of my other 2 dogs or my dad’s dog ever showed any symptoms like Snowball.
I’m sorry that my story was so long, but I wanted to get it out there. I, too, tried to tell the vets that maybe she had gotten ahold of a mushroom (because I was constantly researching online while this was going on), but they told me that it wasn’t a possibility. I don’t know exactly what it was, but sometimes you just have to go with your gut and do what you think is right.
Shiloh is at the Rainbow Bridge and I am sure greets ALL four-legged creatures coming across. May God be with you and your family as you remember the Great times with Shiloh!
Hmmm…. wow….. :- that was really a touchy experience from your side. Dogs as pets are really like a good soul mate. They really became close to you in times of need.
Dogs are ideal pets for an owner or family prepared to give it the care and commitment it needs. However, a dog will affect every household member and is not the same as one member of the family having a small pet which they are responsible for and other family members having little or no involvement with. A dog must be wanted by all the household and all must be willing to involve themselves equally with the dog as a new family member.
The dog is the ultimate and most popular pet – enthusiastic, attentive, loyal, loving, friendly, playful and amusing. They ask for little but will give all in return.
Thanks a lot for such a good post you share with us all.
I am very sad to hear about the loss of such a good friend! I’ve been going through the same thing the last couple days although so far it looks like Puck is getting better (fingers crossed).I was wondering if there is a way I can send in a mushroom sample from the yard? Is there a service that identifies them? I am in Buffalo, NY. My dog was poisoned 3 days ago and the vet suspected mushrooms as the culprit as there is nothing else they could of gotten into. I just pulled up about 10 mushrooms as it rained for the last couple days. They look like little brown mushrooms but I am not able to identify them specifically based on my web based resources.
Wow, your story made me cry. Shiloh sounds like such a special little girl, I am so sorry you lost her. Specially at such a young age.
Thanks for letting us know her story. I have 4 dogs and a baby here and we have gotten lots of mushrooms in are yard from the damp summer we have had. I’ll keep my eye out for them and destroy those little monsters from now on!
im sorry to hear about your loss.
We brought our 9 wk old English Setter pup home on Sunday and he was gone Tuesday. Necropsy from our state U was inconclusive. Toxicity of some kind was suspect. He got sick so fast,refusing food and water on Tuesday a.m., vomiting white foam, then diareaha. We got him to our vet who initially suspected Parvo. He died that evening. We have been beating ourselves up over this….reliving every step with that little guy and what it may have been that killed him. The final lab report came and mushrooms were suspected. We feel it could be that as we have had so much rain and both oak and pines on the property. If he ingested one, it must have been quick. It is traumatic for pet lovers to lose a pet like this. We need to inform people to watch out for mushrooms in their yard-it only takes a second for a pup to eat one.
I too am a dog lover. Your Eulogy moved me to tears.