HOUSTON – At 17 months, Pippa, a golden retriever, is one big bundle of energy.
“She's athletic! She's a lot of fun. She's great with my kids,” owner Kate Anawaty said.
How she is today is a stark contrast to the condition she was in about five months ago when Kate rushed Pippa to the Animal ER of Northwest Houston. Pippa got violently ill after she ate a poisonous seed from a sago palm that fell off the plant after her owners had it removed from their yard.
“My mom took her back outside to kind of help relieve her and while she was out there she found the sago palm, the actual little pod chewed up,” Anawaty said. Every part of the plant, including the root, is enticing to dogs because it tastes good. “A little bit can go a long way as far as causing a problem, particularly with the liver,” Dr. Jennifer Hennessey said.
The plant contains the toxin cyacsin, which causes severe liver damage and death if left untreated. Dr. Hennessey sees these types of cases about once a week.
“Sadly, the majority of cases that come through the sago is either a component in the yard and always has been or it’s a newly acquired plant and they were just not given the information that to know that it's toxic or a risk to their pet,” Dr. Hennessey said.
Symptoms include vomiting, bloody diarrhea and seizures. Veterinarians use fluids to flush the liver and may use medication to neutralize the poison in the dog’ stomach. Kate says she noticed a dramatic improvement once Pippa started treatment. Pippa never paid much attention to the sago palm in her owner’s yard but was all of the sudden intrigued once they had it extracted.
“You have to be very careful if you decide to up root one (up) now. you want to make sure you are very diligent in cleaning the area and getting rid of the entire plant,” Dr. Hennessey said.