By: Sharon Aron Baron
A couple’s Golden Retriever almost lost his life on Monday morning after killing a Bufo toad in their yard.
Tucker was on his lead outside his Heron Bay home, said his owner Corey. However, this morning he ripped his lead after chasing, then killing, a Bofu toad.
Bufo toads secrete a milky toxin from glands behind their ear holes and just a lick on the toad’s back from a dog can be fatal.
“He has always gone after things but he rarely catches them..he’s 12 now so we assume his vision isn’t great,” said Corey. “He had no problem getting the toad and starting to eat it.”
She is grateful that she checked on Tucker when she did.
After immediately calling the vet, they told the couple to flush Tucker’s mouth out sideways to not wash the poison in, then bring him as soon as possible.
“He deteriorated so quickly on the way there that we didn’t think he was going to make it.”
Corey said that if they had gotten to the vet five minutes later, he would be dead, and a smaller dog may not have survived.
He went from drooling to unable to walk, seizing, and almost in cardiac arrest in the 15 minutes on the way to the vet. Afterwards, it took doctors about three hours to stop his seizing and elevated heart rate.
The couple’s advice is to keep an eye out. In checking their yard tonight, Corey’s husband found three more Bufo toads. They want to let others know that the threat is real and watching your dog go through this is absolutely terrifying.
Corey said that Tucker is at home now, resting and recovering.
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