Sago Palm Scare
 

OMG...what an afternoon I just had. Two days ago I found two sago palm seeds in my yard. My neighbor has them....but I never thought much of it since there is a fence. Don't know what to think now. The only thing I can think of is the squirrel that torments my pups must have dropped them.
Since then I have been hyper-vigilant.

We went outside for the regular outing before they ate this afternoon. As they were finishing up eating, I heard some growling and turned around to find two of them with a SKINNED sago palm seed. :eek::eek: Adina and Teddy .. and Tommy all went to the vet to have vomiting induced. Worked right away for Teddy but nothing was there but his food. The other two finally had to be given apomorphine...thankfully nothing in their tummies either. The vet examined the seed closely and noted that there were no teeth marks on it...he thinks that IF one of mine had removed the covering like that, there would be marks. Nevertheless, I am watching the rest of the gang for any tummy upsets. Going to be a long night. They said it happens in stages...and that if I get them to the EC tonight at the first sign of vomiting they should be ok. Honestly at this point, I think all is ok.

I don't know what to do. I am always out with them and did not see them bring this thing in. I will never feel at peace with my yard again. :( I have an eight foot privacy fence...you would think it would be a safe haven. :(

Any suggestions will be appreciated. I hate that squirrel...he drives them nuts. Wish he would go away :( I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but he is a royal PIA

I am so sorry that you and your pups went through this. My heart broke reading about how afraid this has made you. I wish I could offer suggestions, but I want to say that I pray for the safety and health of your babies.

OMG linda what if you hadn't noticed what they had in their mouths. Is there any way you can talk the neighbor into removing the sago palm? I know I would do it in a heartbeat. They may not realize how toxic they are.

I pray your babies will be alright.

Oh my goodness Linda! What a terrible and frightening day for you. :( Praying all of your pups will be okay.

I am frustrated for you that you have to worry about these awful seeds in your yard. As Michelle suggested, the only solution might be to convince your neighbor to remove the Sago Palm.

Oh, he knows. :( I told him about those things years ago and he said something odd...don't remember what but he was not removing them. At the time I was only trying to tell him for HIS pups. Never did I think those plants would affect my pups. :( He has THREE pups, too. I don't want to fight with him...he's really not a bad guy at all. He is just weird about some stuff and I have a feeling this will fall on deaf ears. I think it is because his one dog is 14 years old so he figures nothing happened to him. BUT...he has two other pups and they are younger. He just spent a lot of money on one of them who had some kind of accident outside so maybe I will get through to him this time. I called him earlier but he was going in to a meeting and said he would call me back.

Maybe I should send him a few links to read. I need to get his email.

He has a huge yard and a bunch of them. Heck they are all over the neighborhood. Who's to say they did not come from one of them. Sago palms are so common here. :(

I am just sick over this...I am so careful and now this crap.

I had no idea this plant was poisonous. And I just looked it up. I know that my niece who lived in SC has one sitting on her front porch. She has a dog and my one yr old great niece Stella. I just sent her an email to alert her of the potential harm.

Thank you Linda !

I do hope you can find some way to eliminate the thread to you pups. I agree that a talk to your neighbor may be in order for the safety of your animals and others in the neighborhood as well. I think the links would be helpful plus your vet bill might be more convincing to him about removing it. One can only hope !

Oh my goodness Linda, I will be sending good thoughts and prayers for your babies! Like I told you before- you are the BEST Yorkie Mommy- dont ever think different. Things happen, things we cant control!

I seriously want to find a bubble and trap Pnut in there to keep him safe. We are always so careful, but things happen. We have so much to worry about, so much to look out for. Being a Yorkie Mom is a hard job!

(( hugs)) hopefully you are figure something out to get rid of that Sago. Do you have a gardner!? Maybe you can tell him to sweep the backyard and look for the seeds?

Dawn has a good idea, I'm sure more people have pets on your street- maybe if they knew they would want to get rid of the ones they had..?

My heart goes out to you what a awful thing to have to worry about every day.

Tough situation, I know how dangerous the sago palm is from others experience with them on YT. I wish they would, but I doubt people are going to get rid of their trees, even if they knew the dangers. Guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to them anyway, you just never know. We just all have to be diligent when letting our pets out in their own backyards, sad. Glad to hear yours are doing ok so far, hope it lasts. I'll keep them in my prayers...

Those ginormous hamster balls are looking better and better! Mine have been under house arrest since Christmas due to unsafe/threatening conditions in my yard. Doing a lot of work to rectify the situation. Using peepads exclusively now. Even Peek A Boo is catching on!

Maybe a smaller fenced type kennel lined with 1/4-1/8 inch hardware cloth or netting (tulle like for tutus works great outside), with a lid to prevent an accidental ingestion of a Sago Palm seed.

Or when the dude is out, spray his trees with a weed killer.

You know what...it's a great idea! I am going to make flyers and stick them on their doors! I will bet many have no idea of the danger!

Thanks! :)

I have to tell you I am sitting here right now laughing out loud. I actually would love to do it, but those things are really hard to kill from what I understand.

Mine would flip out if I had to keep them in...they do use piddle pads but they love to go out and run and play.

I would love one of those covered things....someone in the next subdivision has a huge one. I might see about that. This really has me concerned.

I never knew about the sago until reading about them here about six months ago. Needless to say I got rid of all of them that I had in my yard including in pots. They grow so nice here in Texas, I think that is one reason why people use them so much. But they are such a danger, plus they hurt like heck when you get poked.
Hope all turns out ok for your gang.

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. I only learned of this deadly tree a few months ago from the member here who warned us..who had lost her pup.

I just posted a warning about these trees on my FB page..maybe if we all get the word out, it can help make a difference. I'm sure so many don't know. I didn't.

This is awful. I am going to have to find out what those things look like and what the seeds look like and start to be on the lookout for them. Since we have no palm trees anywhere around, I never even thought about looking for the seeds in my yard in case a squirrel or bird should drop one from elsewhere in my yard! I pray your babies all stay safe!

Google image searched them and don't think I've ever seen the red or brown ones. Or even that tree with that weird bushy thing in it. Then I saw some pale ones and what looked like a peeled one. Well, at least now I know what to look for and hope they never do show up in our yard!

They kind of look like pecans. Here is a link with pics of the seeds and the plants:

HOW TO GROW THE SAGO PALM FROM SEED |The Garden of Eaden

Thanks. Now that I know what the seeds look like in several incarnations, I feel more armed to look for something like that. We do have various odd foodstuffs dropped in the yard from time to time - a piece of bread, the odd bleached white BBQ'd-looking rib, even a chicken bone or two, always chewed on one end or something and we do have the occasional pecan or pecan shell. I see squirrels outside nibbling on things all the time in the backyard so I guess it's mostly those little dears that bring those things in the yard. Now I know they could bring Sago Palm seeds, too! Yikes! Our dogs are almost literally sitting ducks!

Oh I would have freaked out!!! :eek: Will animal control come and catch that pesky squirrel? I'm praying your night goes well and nobody gets sick!!

The people all around me have those HUGE, 50 foot tall palm trees, that have those HUGE clusters of orange ball looking thing, on them....I thought those were dates, but I dont think so....all I know is the squirrels pick them and then drop them in MY yard, and I have no idea if they are toxic or not.... They are about the size of a large pecan, and they develop a brown hairy looking covering after several days......Linda, there is NO end to the dangers in our back yards....we "puppy proof" everything in our homes and yards, double fence, put railroad ties all around the bottom of the fencing so it is harder for them to dig out of something to dig in, keep toxic plants off our property, keep trash and trash cans up and away from our babies so they dont get bones or stuff they can choke on....and what happens? Squirrels and birds BRING dangers in form all around us! Neighbors put out rat poison......what happens? The nasty mice and rats climb the fence, fall into MY yard to succumb to the effects of the poison! It takes me 30 minutes to sweep my yard before I let the dogs out, terrified they will get to something before I can get to them!

This morning when let out to potty before his breakfast, Tibbe was smelling something intensely back by the boat gate and I walked out there and right before I got to him, there was a 1 1/2 inch long pod of some kind! It definitely looked as if it had been partially eaten and you could see these gnaw marks all over. The hull was green just like the early pecans on the trees and inside kind of reddish brown and it looked fossilized. I pretty much panicked but thought more than anything it looks like a big partially eaten pecan in its green shell that has been in this state for a long, long time. Even the pulp part was very hard almost like wood. I brought it in and put it on the floor to see if Tibbe would approach it and he got close but then backed off and acted disinterested. I doubt if he got any of it whatever it is. But it doesn't look to me like any of those Sago Palm seeds on the websites and does look like a pecan in the green hulls. Still scary to find a big seed in the backyard after reading this yesterday.

Linda, I know your night was sleepless watching for symptoms but hopefully it was uneventful and your babies had no such symptoms during the night and no ER vet had to be seen.

Thanks!! I am running out the door to the groomer; but everyone is fine so far!! Teddy did not want to eat this morning, but maybe he is still upset from being made to throw up. Poor kid.

Good to hear except for Teddy but I agree his tummy is probably irritated a bit from the medicine and vomiting. I'm the same way! Hope he can eat in a while and all do great. Sounds like to you got to them in time before they had a chance to really get into those sees. I've looked outside in the front. The one palm we had on the street has been cut down now but it was almost at the other end of the block. Still, with birds and squirrels - those things can travel anywhere from blocks away!

Just an excellent post for those of us who never thought those seeds could come to OUR yards! Well, now we know better.

Poor Teddy. :( Glad to hear everyone is doing well otherwise.

Linda, keeping your fur babies in my prayers...we had a rascal squirrel living in the bamboo trees in our old house. It would sit on the wall & just stare @ my guys going nuts. He would leave all sorts of nuts & peach pits all over our tiny back yard. I never allowed them outside until I sweeped the place every inch, good thing it was a small space!

Those are queen palm trees...Momo ate one of the orange fruits from those trees w/the seed & it caused a blockage & he had to have surgery to remove it. It was a horrible & very expensive experience. I was sure he swallowed it, so the vet sent me to an emergency specialist & Momo suffered for 7 days.:( Since it didn't appear on x-ray or colonoscopy, the specialist kept refusing my request for exploratory surgery & kept pushing anti vomit & anti diarrhea meds. Finally, the specialist felt the seed lodged between the entrance of the large intestine (on the 6th day:rolleyes:) & got it out. Every time I see those trees, I get heart palpitations & they're everywhere here! It's not poisonous (the fruit or seed) but it gave Momo multiple severe ulcers in his stomach lining.

Yeah, it really stinks. I don't think the trees you are talking about are toxic but you should look them up. I have queen palms and they drop these little round seeds that sometimes my pups mess with but I looked them up and they are not toxic. They can cause stomach upset so I just pick them up. I also have to be careful of the acorns from the other neighbor's tree. It's just crazy.
I think the trees you are talking about are dates.
Here is a link about poisonous plants in TX....the one plant , Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is another bad one that one of the EC vets told me about.
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