Raw Salmon: Salmon Poisoning Disease (SPD) happens when dogs ingest infected raw salmon. It’s caused by a rickettsial organism called Neorickettsia helminthoeca. These organisms are carried by flatworms that first infect freshwater snails. Salmon then eat the infected snails and become a secondary host. When a dog eats an infect salmon the flatworm larva burst and become embedded in the dogs intestinal track. You will start noticing symptoms of anorexia and lethargy 5 to 7 days after the dog eats the fish. A temperature of about 104 to 107 generally occurs in the first couple of days and will then return to normal. Next you will notice vomiting by the 4 th day. Then within a few days of the vomiting you will notice bloody diarrhea that is often bright yellow in color. Enlarged lymph nodes will also be present.

Things can get a little tricky in sever cases because this disease resembles a few other diseases. The gastrointestinal symptoms will resemble canine parvo and the ocular and nasal symptoms will resemble canine distemper. Your vet can diagnose SPD threw fecal samples and if caught in time can be treated. Your vet will generally provide a wormer to kill the parasite, supportive hydration and an antibiotic to kill the rickettsial organism. You should see improvement in as little as 2 days. But if left untreated there is a mortality rate of 90%, so if you suspect your dog has eaten raw salmon contact your vet immediately!

Bones:“Give a dog a bone?” Some people say yes, other say absolutely not! Bones are not necessarily “bad” for your pets, but can be dangerous for several reasons. Cooked bones and raw bones may splinter causing several ailments including choking and internal puncture wounds which will lead to sever illness and generally surgery to fix the problem. Raw bones, on occasion, will lead to salmonella or E. coli poisoning which has the same vomiting and diarrhea effect as in humans. Not all bones are bad and they do have helpful benefits such as removing plaque from your dog’s teeth. Here are a few bad bones and better bones to help you in your decision making, I also recommend that you talk to you vet about this because every dog is different:

Bad Bones: Chicken and turkey legs, ham, pork chops and veal

Better Bones: Raw chicken necks and beef knuckles

Liver: Liver can be a healthy threat for your pet, but too much can be harmful leading to Vitamin A Toxicity, or hypervitaminosis A. Animals with hypervitaminosis A will show signs of weight loss, excessive bone growth on the spine and elbows, deformed bones and anorexia. If this condition is left untreated it can cause death. This can happen if an animal is eating at least 3 servings of cooked liver per week, or any raw liver. Animal’s taking vitamin A supplements and eating liver are at a higher risk of overdose.

Onions & Garlic: These veggies can cause your pet to have a disease called Heinz body anemia. Disulphides damage the surface of the red blood cells causing them to burst. Onions and garlic are loaded with disulphides! Your pet will become breathless, weak and tire easily and severely effected pets may require blood transfusions. Your pet can be poisoned by all forms of onions including table scraps, raw, cooked and dehydrated onions. Garlic is much less toxic, but large amounts can be harmful. Poisoning may occur a few days after the pet has ingested these veggies and here are some of the signs to watch for:

Also look for increased heart rate, fever and confusion. If your pet is experiencing these symptoms you must get to the vet immediately!

Deadly Drinks: Never allow your pet to drink any type of alcohol because it can cause disorientation, urinary problems, bodily injury, sickness, coma and even death from alcohol poisoning. Pets are often attracted to the yeast in alcohol so be careful where you leave your drink. Caffeinated drinks such as teas and coffee can be dangerous too. The smaller the pet the more poisonous caffeine becomes because the toxicity level depends on weight

Macadamia Nuts and Macadamia Butter: Scientists don’t know exactly what the toxic element is in macadamia nuts, but there are cases on file that show eating as little as 6 nuts without their shells can cause paralysis or weakness in the hindquarters, tremors in the skeletal muscles and elevated body temperature. Some dogs are distressed, confused, have difficulty getting up, have swollen limbs and often pant heavily. The dogs in these cases did recover from the pain and muscle weakness. It is unsure if there have been any fatal overdoses from eating macadamias.