With spring tulip festivals drawing massive crowds, a viral video has sparked a warning for pet owners.
Jemma Ladwitch told the BBC her 3-year-old dog died just hours after visiting a tulip festival last week in Yorkshire, and she has chosen to use her beloved pet’s death to raise awareness on something she knew little about: tulip toxicity for dogs.
While the spring flower is a household staple in spring months, it is also toxic to dogs and other animals.
“The main thing is the bulb. That’s the thing that we use for the flower to grow. So those are the ones that can be very toxic to to our little pups. So we have to be very careful with the consumption of them,” Veterinarian Dr. Angelica Eguiluz told NBC Chicago.
The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the ASPCA, warns tulips are toxic to dogs, cats and horses, with the highest concentration of toxins in the bulb.
“If they eat a couple of them, there can be problems like hyper salivation – that means that the dog is drooling a lot – and then we also can have vomiting and diarrhea, also depression. We’ll see a dog that doesn’t want to go to walks, he doesn’t want to eat and he’s just laying down, not being himself. That’s when we notice that something is wrong with them. Plus, the the drooling and in severe cases that’s extreme, like big amounts of consumption of this plant, that’s when we have the problem that can be neurotoxic or even can spread to the heart,” Eguiluz said.
She noted that while ingestion can be fatal, “it has to be a very extensive amount of consumption.”
While the exact cause Ladwitch’s dog’s death remains unclear, the festival Ladwitch attended, Farmer Copleys, changed its policy following the incident, saying “the safety and wellbeing of all our visitors and their pets is something we take extremely seriously.”
“We are deeply saddened by the recent incident involving a visitor’s dog following a visit to our Tulip Festival, and our thoughts remain with the owner at this difficult time,” the festival wrote on social media Thursday. “We must stress while the exact cause of this incident remains unknown, many flowers and plants in outdoor environments can pose risks to dogs if ingested, particularly the bulb, and we do not wish to take any further risk.”
As a result, the festival said it has “made the difficult decision to no longer permit dogs” for the remainder of the season.
The farm’s director, Robert Copley, had previously told the BBC that there was clear signage indicating all dogs must remain leashed and signage about the dangers for pets was later added.
Eguiluz suggests that any pet owner whose dogs ingest a bulb takes their dog to the hospital right away.
“When they eat the bulb, that’s when it’s very tough. So you have to rush to the hospital. But then we have other cases where they just eat a little bit or chew a little bit of the plant itself, the flower. In those cases, you can rinse with water and try to make them drink a little bit of water and then rush to the hospital either way, so we can control the inflammation of the mouth or swelling of the mouth. But in the other case, if they eat the bulbs, you have to rush to the hospital. There’s nothing else that you can do at that point.”
The ASPCA suggests if a pet owners believes their animal may have ingested a potentially toxic substance, they call the ASPCA Poison Control at (888) 426-4435 “or contact your local veterinarian as soon as possible.*
