Sago Palm Scare!!

Thursday night the weather was beautiful so Bryan and I decided to enjoy a nice evening outside. We had Kelty on a leash, and he was playing around in the landscaping in our front yard. He started chewing on a small palm tree/bush. When we noticed him chewing on it, we pulled him away but didn't really think anything of it.

{sago palm photo courtesy of wikipedia}

When we got him up the next morning, we noticed a lot of throw-up in his crate. We still weren't worried because he likes to eat grass, and I know that makes dogs vomit. About mid-morning I noticed he was acting very lethargic and had slept most of the morning. He was also very cuddly, and would come up to me and just lay his head on my lap.

I called Bryan and told him he was acting sleepy, and Bryan said to just keep an eye on him, and see if it continues. Then I called my mom and told her and she asked me if he had eaten anything weird. When she asked that I remembered the palm from last night. I decided to google "dog eats sago palm," and was terrified with the results that came up. Most of them were headlines of dogs dying from eating these plants. At this point I called Bryan to tell him what I found and then decided to call the vet. I told the vet what he ate and how he was acting and she said that sago palms are VERY toxic and that I needed to bring him in immediately. At this point I was crying as I called Bryan back to tell him what they said and that he should come home to go to the vet with us.

When we saw the vet, she came into the room with a sad look on her face and told us that her dog died of sago palm poisoning. She said she was going to run some blood work tests, to see if he had high enzyme levels in his liver. Apparently the plant contains cyanide which causes liver failure. After we waited for the longest 20 minutes of our lives for the tests to come back we found out his levels were completely NORMAL!!!!!!! Just to be safe the vet wanted us to come back Saturday morning for the same tests again. The tests turned up normal on Saturday as well...whew!!

I'm proud to report that Kelty is back to his rambunctious self, so we know he is doing well and feeling much better. Thanks for all the prayers, and phone calls checking up on our baby.

My mom was watching Elliot (my niece) when I called and told her what was going on, so they decided to pray for Kelty. After they finished the first prayer Ellie said, "more Kelty," so they prayed again. When they finished the second one she said, "more Jesus." :) So they prayed a third time. Thanks for praying Ellie!!!

silly puppy!

LOVE that sweet face :) My brother took these pics of Kelty when he came last weekend, thanks Ry!

So, the moral of the story is that if you have pets keep them FAR AWAY from sago palms!! We had zero knowledge of tropical plants, and had no clue that they were toxic to dogs. (and people!)