I was out walking Sadie last night around 10:30pm and we came across a frog. She immediately recognized it as a menace and began growling at the tiny little thing, assuming her tough, bull-terrier attack stance. I thought it amusing that a 44 lb dog could be terrorized by such a tiny creature, so I let her go at it. BIG mistake.
Apparently, toads are extremely poisonous to dogs and other animals. My first clue was when Sadie instantly began foaming at the mouth uncontrollably. I wasn't sure whether the frog had foamed her or if her body was responding to her strong desire to massacre the toad. It never crossed my mind that she could be in danger. I brought her inside and told Lori what was happening and Sadie kept shaking her head around trying to get the foam out. I thought for sure the thing was harmless because never have I heard of such a thing. A lot of people have dogs, and there are a lot of frogs out there, so I thought I should have heard of this by now. You know, "keep your dogs away from chocolate, coffee, FROGS!!!" But when Lori googled it, she came up with page after page about dogs that had been poisoned by frogs.
The Bufo or Cane toad produces toxins from the parotid glands located behind the head. The toxins contain high concentrations of hormones such as adrenalin and others such as bufotoxins. When attacked, the toads release the toxins and dogs become affected. The toxins affect two major organ systems: the cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels) and the nervous system (brain). Great.
Common signs of intoxication include the following: foaming from the mouth, drooling, pawing at the mouth, vomiting, stumbling, falling, tremors, rigid legs, seizures, and death. Online postings range from anywhere to "my dog was foaming and shaking its head" to "seizures and death within 15 minutes." Most people said they had rushed their pet straight to the emergency vet, but I thought I'd just keep an eye on her and see if anything progressed since she was still acting like herself, aside from the foaming. There is really nothing you can do about it, except provide supportive care (aka mechanical ventilation) and wait for the dog to come out of it. I thought to myself, we are so not going there. No way. Not tonight.
So anyway, Lori helped me wash her mouth out with the hose, and we went off to bed. I have to admit, I layed there and listened to her breathe for about half an hour, and then I figured she would have started seizing by now if she were going to. I will say I was more than happy to find her alive in my bed this morning. It's been almost 24 hours now, so I like to think we're out of the woods at this point. I will also admit that the frog did win the fight, but at least my dog survived!
In other news, we've been evicted from the Lutheran School's football field down the street due to the start of football practice, just as we lost the softball field on Beltline when soccer and baseball season began last spring. I finally decided to check out the tennis court at the end of our street to see if it's suitable for puppy play. The one thing stopping us was a big sign on the gate that reads "TENNIS COURTS ARE FOR TENNIS PLAY ONLY." So..... I took a tennis ball and we played. So far so good, and it's not even muddy when it rains! We may have struck gold there, even if it is a little smaller than we're used to.
OH, the adventures of puppy-parenting.
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