Hilarious incident that VERY quickly turned terrifying and life-threatening

[lancetkenyon]

A service announcement to those with active outdoor dogs.

 

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed around 9:30, we had an incident that claimed a life.

 

9:30PM My wife was changing the sheets on my daughter's bed, as I was moving the dog beds into our bedroom for the night. My four dogs had been playing rather rambunctiously for about an hour. We heard them hit the doggy door heading out for one last rough and tumble and about 1 minute later, I hear my daughter laughing, and my wife quickly joining in, saying, "Look how Quigley is walking!" Quigley is a 4 year old German Shorthaired Pointer. As I came around to look at him, he was making his way into my room down the hall. I started cracking up as he was walking with his butt in the air, and on his front hocks instead of his paws, with his head down swing from side to side, sniffing at everything like he was on a scent. I thought maybe the new pups were messing with him at first, but as he entered my room, I realized something was very, very wrong with the way he was acting. He is very obedient, but not this time. He was out of his mind, and I started getting worried instantly as he would not listen to any command at all, like I wasn't even there.

 

9:31PM I reached down, and he was shaking violently. I grabbed him by the collar and took him to the living room. I could feel his temperature start to climb, he was breathing very fast, drooling like crazy. I yelled for my daughter to check on the pups, as they were still outside. I was trying to calm Quigley down, holding him tightly, and talking to him. My daughter came running in yelling, "Dad! Their is a toad out back!".......

 

9:32PM I yell for my wife to come hold Quigley, as he was out of his mind, trying to run, crawl, shaking. I jumped up and ran outside, and grabbed the toad. Yelled for my daughter to grab a 5 gallon bucket and threw him in. Ran back inside and told my daughter to grab some water. Started trying to get Quigley to drink, and rinse out his mouth, while my daughter looked up "dog bites toad" on the internet....only to find out that dogs that bite/eat toads that are toxic are usually fatal within 30 minutes! Two types of toads in AZ that are highly toxic to dogs. The Marine Toad, and the Colorado River Toad. Both members of the Bufo family. Our toad was a Colorado River Toad. My wife is already on the phone to a 24 hour emergency vet clinic, and they give her a number to an emergency clinic that was about 5 miles away.

 

9:33PM Grab the dog, and head to the truck. Told my daughter to grab some water, and she grabbed 6 bottles of Dasani from the fridge. My wife jumped in the driver's seat, while I threw the dog in my back seat, and my daughter threw the bucket in the bed of the truck in case the vet would need to see it.

 

9:34PM Heading to the vet, and knowing we had 30 minutes before my buddy might die from toxic toad poisoning, I am not proud to say I was yelling and cursing at my wife to drive faster. She was kind of tailgating a truck down a 35mph zone, and the guy decided he would slow down to give her a hint to back off. I am in the back, pouring water in my dogs mouth while he is shaking and trying to climb the walls. (I haven't even looked at the leather seats in my truck yet). I was yelling, "Pass that son-of-a-.....". Then telling her to drive faster on Union Hills heading to the vet.

 

9:40PM Arrive at the vet, as I jump out with Quigley in my arms, soaking wet from shoulder to toes, covered in dog hair and smelling fantastic, My daughter jumped out to open he vet door for me. My wife had been talking to the vet on the way, so they were expecting us. Check in my buddy whose mouth was the color of a tomato, pupils were the size of a quarter, shaking violently, panting, body temp out of control. The vet takes him into the back to start working on him as I fill out the paperwork.

 

9:45PM Send my wife and daughter home to check on the other dogs as I wait.

 

9:50PM Vet comes out to inform me that Quigley is doing fairly well, and said that the flushing of his mouth, and how quickly we got him in might have saved his life. They continued to rinse his mouth to remove the toxins, and had him in a tub of cold water to bring his temp down from the 107° when we brought hi in, to the normal 100-102° that dogs should be at.

 

10:50PM Finally get a word from the vet that Quigley is doing well, and has calmed down from his "LSD bad acid trip" hallucinogenic toad-licking incident. We got him to treatment in time to save him with no ill effects.

 

Got him home, put him to bed at the foot of our bed, took a shower and hit the rack. He is doing fine today thanks to some amazing team work by my wife and daughter figuring out what had occurred, started what treatment we could while my wife got us to the vet quickly.

 

The toad....well....he spent the night in a 5 gallon bucket in the bed of my truck, and met his demise this morning. I can't have him coming back to cause more problems for my dogs.

 

Looking back, and thanking God for the timing of the incident, it could have very easily been a totally different outcome. An hour earlier, and we would not have been home. 30 minutes later, and we might not have known he was in trouble if he could not have woken us up. If it would have been my 11 year old GSP, the outcome might have been very different. Same for the two new 13 week old GSP/Walker pups I got from Terry here on the site. I seriously doubt the old dog or the pups would have fared as well, or possibly not survived the toxin ingestion.

 

After seeing the effects, I am glad I have never tried drugs as well. It does not look like it would be fun to be tripping out the way my stoned dog was.

 

Watch you dog's water bowls. These toads normally come out in the evening/night.

 

 

 

[BigMoqui]

Man I'm sure glad he was ok end the end. I can't believe there are actually people that have tried that stuff. People are crazy. My GSP was but not once but twice by rattlesnakes. First time it was her fault as she was messing with it and the second she was walking next to me and the thing didn't even rattle it just reached out from under a bush and bit her upper leg. I think I saw it before she did. She also got stung by a wasp and a scorpion. She was a crazy little thing but I miss her. Glad it turned out ok for you.

[Titanium700]

So if humans lick that toad is the effects the same?

I would never do it just curious.

I'm not into licking amphibians.

[lancetkenyon]

The vet told me some people DO lick these toads and it is similar to an LSD trip. But it can be fatal to humans too.

[Titanium700]

Interesting.

Glad it turned out well for you guys.

[mattys281]

Glad your dog made it. Guess toads go on the 'cool, but dead if found in my yard' list. Thanks for the heads-up.

[trphyhntr]

im going to go lick one and trip out all night

[lancetkenyon]

im going to go lick one and trip out all night

Have someone video it. If you freak out anything like my dog, it should be hilarious if you survive.

[murfys69law]

Glad everything worked out. Kudos to the wife and her driving!!

[DCS]

Lance,it sounds like the whole family was in on this one.Kudos to everyone for saving your buddys life!!!!Cliff

[trphyhntr]

 

im going to go lick one and trip out all night

Have someone video it. If you freak out anything like my dog, it should be hilarious if you survive.

Look for me on the news. Maybe I could use it as poison for my blow dart gun

[rageinthesage]

Wew, glad to here the pup is ok! Your story has me nervous, I have these toads all over my property. I like the toads because they keep the bugs at bay but makes me nervous about my three dogs.

[Zeke-BE]

I'm glad your dog is ok! Crazy story! You should post this to PETA but they probably wouldn't believe you! Why would a hunter love their pets they would ask!

[218buck]

I'm glad that it turned out well for you sounds like your quick reaction time saved your dogs life

[DAS]

Glad your dog is ok! My new gsp pup got attacked by bees earlier this summer. Luckily I was able to give him benadryl almost immediately after and got him to a vet for treatment. We were 40 minutes away(longest 40 mins of my life). I hate all the snakes, toads, and bugs that can harm our dogs, seems like you never see them till it's too late.