The evils of macadamia nuts
 

Late Monday night my baby Bella (21 months) began throwing up... Didn't seem bad at first... By 5 am diarreah started... Then she seemed sluggish... I thought she was just tired as we had been up all night which is not unusual since I work the night shift. I planned to bring her to the vet when they opened because something didn't feel right! Now I wish I had acted sooner. At 6:45 my husband started yelling her name so I went running and he just looked at me and said she is twitching and won't respond. I knew immediately it was a seizure. I told him to give it a minute and it should stop. 5 minutes later and her entire body was convulsing with no signs that it would let up. We called the emergency vet and were in the car as quickly as we could an got to the vet by 7:15 as it is a little distance away, and she was still seizing. They took her to the back, an the vet came out 10 minutes later and said she went into cardiac arrest but came back and they had to give her meds to stop the seizure. Turns out her blood sugar was only 11! Her liver enzymes were high, but we still attempted to save her. The vet thought she had a good chance, but he could not stabilize her sugar and by the next morning her blood would not clot from any site they had stuck her for blood! There was no hope! My husband and I searched high an low as they told us she had to have gotten into something toxic. All we could find were some peices of a nut and shell that appeared to be a macadamia nut with her little teeth marks in the back yard. We don't know where it came from but the vet said that this I what did it! I have had to put other pets down in the past but this by far has been the worst ever! I can't sleep and when I am at home she is all I think about! The house is so quiet! I hope someone will read this and learn from my mistake! The vet said that even if I brought her in earlier it wouldn't have made a difference but I still can not forgive myself! Bella was my first yorkie and my baby! I am lost and heartbroken!

I am so sorry for your loss. It was kind of you to share this information so others would be aware. I hope your heart heals in time.:(

I am so sorry.

RIP sweet Bella. I so sorry for you loss.

I am so so very sorry for your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss, R.I.P. Sweet Baby.
I know I have to do a nut search in my backyard before letting mine out as squirrels bring them in & birds often drop them as they fly over.

:rip: sweet Bella :cry:

Sorry for your loss and thank you for spreading the information to those who might not be aware.

I am so sorry... I cannot believe that one nut did it. Absolutely insane. You did everything you could to save her...

Thank you for spreading the warning... Maybe it will save another pup's life.

RIP Bella

I am very sorry for your loss, thank you for sharing this experience, it may help others . It is so sad that this happened, my heart breaks for you and your family.
RIP sweet little Bella

How absolutely tragic...I feel devastated for you.....We do everything we can possibly do to protect these angels, and in spite of all we do, sometimes, some how, they circumnavigate all our safety nets, rules and regulations, and it cost them their lives. I certainly hope you feel no guilt in this....I have to pull out my research on toxins....I know macadamia nuts are on every list I have, but there is NOTHING on any of this that even remotely suggests such an adverse reaction to ingestion of macadamia nuts....thank you for your post....we ALL learn from each others disasters, and you have helped save another little life by sharing this with us all. I wish it would have had a happy ending for your precious baby.....the knowledge gained from the experience is really the only consolation you have that she did not sacrificed her life in vain. This will greatly benefit you in the future, as it will all of us.....still, I am soooo sorry for you.....

I am so sorry to hear of the tragic loss of your sweet baby. I had read about macadamia nuts being toxic but I did not realize how devastating fatal they are. I will be even more viglilant in the future and warn others of the dangers. Once again my deepest condolences on the passing of Bella.

So sorry for you loss..You are in my thoughts..

I am SO SORRY this happened...R.I.P little Bella. I have a beech nut tree in my front yard...they are VERY hard to rake up...I don't usually let the furkids out front in fear of something like what happened to your sweet little girl.

Im so sorry for your loss

I am so sorry for your tragic loss.

I am very sorry for your loss. RIP Bella.

Thank you for joining Yorkie Talk. Your post will likely save the lives of other dogs.

I am very sorry this happened to your baby and you. You are not alone, a friend of mine had a small dog (looked like a mini doberman) I can't remember what they are called but the results were the same.

I once fed my Miss Mini grapes cuz she liked to chase them, I almost lost her, I had no idea.

I just want you to know that these things can and do happen, you are not alone. I know its no consolation to you right now.

Also, by coming here and sharing your story you have made a difference and spared more than one family the same fate, I'm sure.

I am so sorry for what you are going through and wish I could just hug you.

I am so sorry for your loss:unlove: It wasn't your fault, you did everything you could. I'm sure that your post here will save many doggy lives, as we will all be more vigilant about what other wild animals drop in our yards. It's hard to see every tiny little thing that may be in our yards, but all we can do is the best we can.

I wish you peace:love:

I am so sorry for your loss.

I am wondering if perhaps this was from a Sago Palm seed because normally macadamia nuts don't cause death. Here is a link about macadamia nuts:

Merck Veterinary Manual

And one about Sago Palms ... those things are horrible and do cause death. We have them all over in this area and I am thinking perhaps you do as well....

Sago palm poisoning cases increase - VIN

So very sad... I'm so sorry for your loss... RIP Little Girl Bella.

I'm so very sorry for you loss of Bella.
Because of your post I as well as others have learned something new today...I had no idea Macadamia nuts were toxic.
Your post has spared others the same fate, and I thank for posting this in you time of grief.
In time your heart will heal..you did everything you could to help Bella, take comfort in that.
Again my deepest condolences on the loss of Bella.
RIP sweet baby.

My prayers go up to you and your family.. Thank you so much for being strong and sharing this information with us.

I just went through this, too.
 

I think what your poor baby had was not macadamia nut poisoning, but probably sago palm poisoning. We had a sago palm in our backyard that had been there for 15 years. On January 22, 2013, I found a broken shell (they get browner and rounder when they get older). When the seeds are young, they are a peachish color. I didn't think anything of it, threw them in the trash and a couple of hours later my three year old yorkie, Roxie, who was otherwise very healthy, began vomiting. It was frothy looking and almost like she was foaming at the mouth. She vomited several times, had diarrhea once and then got very lethargic and was as limp as a dishrag. I gave her some Karo syrup because I know that hypoglycemia is a problem with small dogs and the pet store told me to do this when she was a puppy. It seemed she was going into a coma. We rushed her to the ER and her blood sugar was only 36 and this was after Karo. The vet also told me by phone in the interim to put Karo on her gums. It can be absorbed this way and they don't have to swallow it. She seemed to stabilize, but after three days in the vet, she started passing blood, spiked a fever and developed a secondary infection. She passed away on Saturday morning early after all this occurred the previous Tuesday. I have seen online that the sago nut is compared to the macadamia in looks. Just Google sago palm and you will see a pic of the seeds. I am so sorry for your loss. I am really still struggling with mine, as my Roxie meant everything to me. It has been a little over three weeks since she passed away and life will never be the same for me.

Sago palm seed/nut
 

Also, the sago poisoning causes the blood clotting problem you described. My little Roxie's neck was so bruised where the vet tried to get blood from her. It was heartbreaking.

I am so sorry for your loss. I hope in time you can quit blaming yourself, there was no way you could have known. RIP little Bella

Dear goodness I am so sorry hon, I know how guilty you must feel and I know there are no words that can make you feel better. Just know that there are others who have been in similar circumstances and while we blame ourselves for a looongggg time you will come to realize that at that time there was nothing you could have done different because you simply didn't know...

You will feel better, I am so sad for you right now, I know how you feel...mine was a different toxin but still it hurts...I am so very sorry for the loss of your precious baby...

I do feel so very guilty that my little girl had to die this way. If I could have just connected the dots between her being sick that night and the empty shell. We had no idea this thing was poison or it would not have been in our yard. I miss her every moment of every day and will never forgive myself.

It would be great if you would start a new thread about the Sago Palm. They are ALL OVER this area and they are horrible plants. Those seeds cause almost immediate damage to a dog. My neighbor has them in his back yard and he has three dogs....I have told him and told him. :( One day it will happen...and nothing else I can say or do.

I would never have one in even my front yard...what about a stray dog that might eat one of those seeds?

So sorry for both your losses.
Pets find the sago palm 'very palatable'. Are sago palms killing our pets? - Home - The Orange County Register