Dogs and Cats and Mushrooms
Pets have been known to eat mushrooms in yards and while on walks. While 99% of mushrooms have little or no toxicity, the 1% that are highly toxic can cause life-threatening problems in pets. Take extra care to keep pets away from areas where mushrooms might be growing.
If you suspect that your pet has consumed a poisonous mushroom, contact your veterinarian, pet emergency hospital, or theanimal poison control center(note: there is a fee for using this service). Once help has been secured, it is advisable to try to get the suspect mushrooms identified. NAMA provides alist of volunteerswho are able to assist with identification in poisoning cases. It is best to get help if you are not familiar with mushroom identification.
Mushroom Toxins Affect Dogs and Cats Differently
Dogs take a special interest in bothAmanita phalloidesandInocybespecies, quite possibly because of their fishy odor.Amanita phalloidesis well known to be a deadly species butInocybespecies and thecl*tocybespecies that also contain muscarine can be lethal to dogs. Muscarine has not caused any human fatalities that we are aware of and so dogs must be uniquely sensitive to this compound. SomeSclerodermaspecies are also lethal to dogs (and pigs) but not to humans, but the toxin, to our knowledge, is not known.
Amanita phalloides
Amanita muscaria
Amanita pantherinoides
BothAmanita muscariaandAmanitapantherinoidesare frequently eaten by dogs. They too have a fishy odor. The toxins ibotenic acid and muscimol are not lethal to humans but in rare instances can cause death in dogs. Though cats rarely consume mushrooms they are particularly attracted to driedAmanita muscariaandAmanitapantherinoides, sometimes with lethal results.
If a dog or cat has consumedAmanita muscariaorAmanitapantherinoides,the administration of atropinecan intensify a coma-like sleep, greatly increasing the possibility of death.
See the NAMAMushroom Poisoning Syndromes pagefor more specific information.
Patience Advised with Coma-Like Sleep
As is the case with humans, dogs typically go into a deep coma-like sleep a few hours after eatingAmanita muscariaorAmanitapantherinoides. Recovery is generally complete about 6 hours (but as long as 72 hours) later. While doctors never euthanize humans while in a coma-like sleep, sometimes the decision to euthanize is made with dogs. In most cases, the dog will recover — so patience is advisable.
See an in-depth article on this topic,Animal Poisoning by Amanita pantherina and Amanita muscaria: A Commentary,by Michael Beug and Marilyn Shaw.
Dogs and Amatoxin Poisonings
A great many dogs dies each year from consuming mushrooms containing amatoxins. The symptoms are characterized by a 6-12+ hour delay in symptoms then severe GI distress and refusal to eat or drink (most often caused by ingestion ofAmanita phalloides,Amanita bisporigeraorAmanita ocreata, though theGalerina marginatagroup, theConocybe filarisgroup andLepiota subincarnataalso contain amatoxins). In one recent California case, a dog was saved by aggressive rehydration therapy plus needle aspiration of the bile from the gall bladder (contactwww.petsreferralcenter.comor phone 510-219-0112 for more information if you have a dog that you suspect has consumed amatoxins). For a review of treatment strategies, see “Amatoxin Poisoning in North America 2015-2016“.
What You Can Do
If your pet may have been poisoned by mushrooms, try to get a sample of the same mushroom or mushrooms from where they were found. This will help aid in identification.
Place any available material in a paper bag or waxed paper, not plastic and refrigerate until it can be examined. Note where the mushrooms were collected in case the mushrooms may have been contaminated by uptake of pesticides or heavy metals from lawns, roadsides or industrial areas.
It is important to file a report, even if the outcome was only a gastrointestinal upset. NAMA tracks ALL mushroom poisonings.
After the incident, help document mushroom poisonings bysubmitting an online reportormail-in reportto the NAMA Poison Case Registry.
Other Resources
- NAMA Toxicology Report 2009
- Mushroom Poisoning in Dogs(for animal welfare professionals from ASPCApro.org)
