Are wild mushrooms toxic to pets?

You might be one of those people who love to eat mushrooms and to be honest it has lots of food value attached to it. But is it equally safe for your pet at home? This fungus is definitely not as beneficial to the pets at home as it is to you. The enormous growth of mushrooms has already raised an alarm. While you take your dog or cat out for walk in the summers, it might jump over this bulbous mass and eat it and the consequences can be dire.

What is a wild mushroom?

A mushroom which is not farmed or grown, falls in the definition of wild mushroom. Oyster, shitaki and portabello are some of the examples.

Mushroom Poisons

Identification of mushroom in terms of harmful and harmless is not easy. Many produce toxins called mushroom poisons. Depending on the type of mushroom ingested, different types of organ failures might affect gastrointestinal system, central nervous system, liver and kidney. Each one of these has separate set of symptoms which should be looked out for.

Vomiting, aggression, diarrhea, black tarry stools, ataxia, inappropriate thirst or urination and visual disturbances are some of the common symptoms you need to watch.

Some of the mushrooms might start showing the symptoms within 15-30 minutes of ingestion while others might take 24 hours. But, in any case you have to rush to the vet immediately and get the treatment started.

Treatment To Follow

You will have to induce pet medications at the earliest by following the advice of the vet.

Most common treatment is to induce vomiting to decontaminate the pet's stomach. Later, activated charcoal is used to absorb the toxins which have not been vomited out.

OnlyVetMeds however, has the required pet medications which your pet might need while undergoing the treatment.