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A familiar scenario:
A family calls up in a panic, their dog is tremoring, uncoordinated, and acting unusual. They don’t know what could have happened! The dog may have gotten into the rubbish/compost recently....but that’s what dogs do, they scavenge...what’s the problem with a bit of old food, right?
This scenario is a common presentation of mycotoxin poisoning. Mycotoxins are toxins produced by fungus. The causative fungus is often not seen as mushrooms but may be even just some mould mixed in with decaying material such as in rubbish or compost heaps. Immediately after ingestion the dog may seem fine but within a few hours they can develop tremoring or seizure type activity. When this occurs, it is imperative to get veterinary treatment as soon as possible. Severe tremoring can cause death if it is not controlled – often due to it causing heatstroke and tissue damage. Additionally, mycotoxins can damage the liver, so it is important to monitor and support this as necessary.
On arrival to the clinic, depending on the particular situation, a patient often gets bloodwork done, which we get results of within 20 minutes, and will likely be given medication to help stop the tremors. If ingestion was known about and recent enough, then we can induce vomiting to reduce the amount of toxins left in their body. Alternatively, they may have their stomach ‘pumped’ and/or get charcoal fed to them to do the same thing. Finally, they are often admitted to hospital for continued care, medication, intravenous fluids, and monitoring until the toxins work through the system – which can take hours to days. Most dogs make a full recovery, but the quicker treatment is initiated the best chance of quick recovery. Occasionally dogs will need to go home with supplements to help support the liver in healing post toxin induced injury.
What can you do to prevent this from occurring? Ensure you empty rubbish bins regularly and put rubbish bags in a secure area. Composts are high risk and piles should be kept in an area away from dogs or consider using a closed system for food scraps and an open one for less tasty waste like lawn clippings. And definitely never intentionally feed your dog anything with mould on it.
What can you do if you think this may be happening to your dog? If they are tremoring, try to keep them on the cool side and get them to the vet ASAP. If you are not sure if you need to be seen or not, contact the clinic for advice.
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