Sissy and the Toad
 

I was talking with one of my YT friends last night and telling her about Sissy's run in with a toad and realized this is important, so I should post.

For whatever reason we have lots of toads in our yard, particularly at dusk. I had taken Sissy outside to pee before bed. She has her usual path of sniffing she does before she goes into the grass. As she was sniffing, she obviously picked up a toad in her mouth that I did not see. Well, she starts spastically running around and suddenly stops in the middle of the driveway and opens her mouth and out comes a very large toad (Sissy has a TINY mouth). The toad hopped away, so she didn't bite any part of it off.

But she then starts foaming at the mouth and twitching her head and foamy spit is flying everywhere as she continues running aimlessly. I finally get ahold of her, take her in and wipe out her mouth with a wet paper towel. She stopped the twitching, but I was freaking out having remembered reading a post on YT about a pup simply licking a frog or toad and getting really sick.

Once I got her calmed down, I gave her to my hubby to hold and watch while I got out the phone book to call the ER vet. The woman who answered the phone (I'm assuming a tech) was not very nice. I explained that Sissy is a 4lb Yorkie and the foaming/twitching issue and that I thought toads were toxic. Her words were "not in Michigan" and "I don't see a problem". After I explained again about her size/foaming/twitching, she says "its $65 to walk in the door with an additional charge for everything we do". Well, I was a little more than ticked at her reaction and since Sissy was appearing okay, had taken a drink, I decided to wait till morning to take her to our regular vet. Sissy sleeps with us, so I kept her tucked into my chest. An hour later, she starts running around on the bed (which means outside, NOW and she never gets up in the middle of the night), so I take her outside and she starts with lots of diarrhea. When we come back inside, I gave her a some Pedialyte and we went back to bed. Well, it was a VERY long night as this was repeated very hour till 8:00am. Thankfully, she did not vomit during this ordeal.

So when I took her to the vet the next day, she got subcutaneous fluids, a Dextrose injection and some additional medication for the diarrhea. My vet explained that although the toad itself is not toxic, their defense mechanism is secretion that has toxins in it intended to make the attacker ill with vomiting and diarrhea. Had Sissy been a medium or large sized dog, this would probably not have fazed her at all. But being 4 lbs, the toxins she ingested caused the diarrhea. Our little babies can go down really fast from dehydration and that is why this is a big issue for them. (and a $135 vet bill)

So watch out for those toads!!!

I know that in FL, there is actually a very poisonous species of toad that will kill dogs...the Cane Toad, Canebreak Toad...something like that?:confused: Scary stuff! I hope Sissy is doing better.:)

that happened to my mom's little silver dapple daschy Cupid...who din't even weigh a full four pounds and my mom had to take her to the vet cuz she was at death's door but the meds brought her back. although a year later my mom's gs bit her in half and killed her. she is buried under a huge pin oak in my back yard.:tinyheart :rbyorkie: she wasn't a yorkie but she was my mom's heart-she still cries when she thinks about her:( :(

Oh I'm so glad she is ok now. Poor baby to go thru that.

I'm glad she's ok now. As small as she is, it's a wonder she was ever able to pick up the frog before he got away! They're fast little doggies. Anyway, I'm glad she's ok now.

It's so scary the number of things that can harm our little ones. I'm so glad that Sissy is okay after her run-in with the toad. I would be so angry with the ER technician that answered the phone!

What a scare you had. I am glad Sissys okay

Glad she's ok now. If it were me, I'd be calling the ER vet back & speaking either to the vet or whoever else is in charge there & give them a piece of my mind. They need to know the competence of the people that work there.

Glad to hear she is okay. I did not know that about toads. We have a lot of them lately too. Same as you, when I go to let the furbabies out at night I see them. Right at our back door. I think my babies would be scared of them. I hope they would be!

Wow! I had no idea a toad could cause such a problem! I really appreciate the warning! I'm so glad Sissy is ok. That lady on the phone was very rude and I would call back and talk to the vet and explain how she treated you. If Sissy for some reason didnt make it that night, and you had called the ER and she was rude to you like that, then it would have been her a$$ on the line. I would definitely handle this situation and make sure she never treat people like that again!
Thank goodness Sissy is ok, sending her lots of hugs!

:eek: we have toads and frogs too. romeo is obsessed with them. it's a shame that vet tech was rude to you. you can always call university of penn animal hospital in philadelphia. they give free and friendly advice 24/7. i had to call them last week when romeo had a dead squirrel in his mouth. they gave good advice and helped calm me down. trust me i was freaking out. i'm happy sissy is ok.

I'd freak out with a dead squirrel, too!!!!! Can I have that phone #? That will be a great thing to add to my reference materials. Thanks!

i was going nuts! he was playing with a dead squirrel and runnung from me with it in his mouth! little stinker! lol... here's the number. it's good to have because they give great advice.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/contacts/
locals call all the time for advice. even though it says otherwise
don't let that discourage you

Wow, that's scary! I'm glad Sissy is okay now. As for the woman at the ER vet, I would call and complain. She wasn't very caring at all and sounded like she just didn't want to be bothered. Not what anyone needs when their pet is in need of emergency medical care.