Posted by A tomato poisoning commonly happens on dogs that consume large amounts of tomatoes, particularly when eating unripe, green tomatoes, tomato plant leaves and tomato plant stems. However, those parts of the tomatoes can be dangerous for your dogs.
If you have any concerns and see the signs of tomato poisoning, you can immediately take any ways to recover a tomato poisoning on your dog. If your dog currently shows symptoms of tomatine poisoning, you can try to treat them by doing the following ways that we’ll show in our post below!
Treating Tomato Poisoning in Your Dogs, How to Do?
If your dog shows signs of tomato poisoning, you have to immediately take your dog to a reputable veterinarian. Your vet may perform a full physical examination of your dog and do blood work or an ECG to diagnose tomatine poisoning.
If your dog was proven to experience a tomatine poisoning, your vet will then monitor your dogs. Reportedly, some dogs probably show an allergic reaction to tomatoes, but it is very rare. The symptoms your dog shows can include coughing, hives, wheezing and difficulty breathing.
If you have any concerns and think your dog has consumed a large amount of tomatoes or the tomato plant itself, you need to call your vet for guidance. Sometimes, the symptoms can be a sign of other series health conditions beyond tomatine poisoning. Of course, it’s very important for you to get them checked out as soon as possible if things turn serious.
If your dog is vomiting and getting diarrhea, your vet may start administration of fluid therapy with electrolytes. This way can really treat any dehydration and prevent it from becoming more severe. Furthermore, it also helps the body flush the toxin out faster.
The vet will monitor your dogs using the monitoring equipment until his heart returns to its normal function. It will give the vet a constant display of his vitals including his pulse. Aside from that, it will also allow for quick intervention if his heart rate were to suddenly change.
Hereafter, the vet probably administers medications to counteract those abnormalities, if your dog’s heart rate is abnormal or part of his heart is malfunctioning. However, your vet may cause your dog to vomit in order to get him to expel any remaining pieces of the tomato plant from the stomach.
Then, the vet will also give activated charcoal to bind any remaining toxin in the gastrointestinal tract before your dog’s body absorbs it. If your dog is experiencing any type of behavioural or mood change, the vet will keep in a quiet place to keep him calm. Well, it avoids any unnecessary excitement or accidental bodily harm.
Tomato Poisoning Recovery in Your Dog
If you really believe your dog ingested some green parts of tomato plant, you can tell your vet immediately. As tomato plant toxicity may be considered mild, prognosis of a full recovery may be excellent.
If your dog is experiencing the most commonly seen symptoms that are related to gastrointestinal upset, your dog will recover well with the addition of supportive therapies such as fluids.
If your dog is experiencing more severe symptoms or acting abnormally, the intervention of a veterinarian will be needed as well. After the toxin from the tomato plant makes its way out of your dog’s system, your dog can really recover without long term side effects.
If you accidentally have a tomato garden in your backyard, make sure to keep it away from your dog. If you grow tomatoes in a pot, you need to keep it off the ground and out of the reach of your dog. If you are growing tomatoes in your garden, make sure to put fencing around it, so that your dog will not be tempted to chew on it.
Even though toxicity is rare, but it can still happen, particularly if you have a puppy or curious dogs which likes to chew on foliage. The best thing you can do is to keep the temptation away from your dog and prevent toxicity from occurring.
Why Are Tomatoes Poisonous to Your Dogs?
Since there is a potentially toxic substance found in tomatoes called tomatine, it really leads to tomatoes becoming a harmful food when your dogs consume in large quantities. However, tomatoes only contain such a small amount, rather than the leafy greens that contain tomatin up to 5%.
The tomatine concentration will rapidly decrease when the tomatoes ripen. If vines, stems and green fruit are ingested, the clinical signs will include ataxia, gastrointestinal, and weakness. Of course, treatment is purely the best way to recover your dogs with an overall good prognosis.
In most cases, mild gastrointestinal upset is a likely outcome as your dogs eat tomato greenery. Due to the volume of plant material that they consume, grazing animals are truly the main concern when it comes to toxicity from tomato plants.
When Are Tomatoes Good for Your Dogs?
Tomatoes will be very good food for your dogs when consumed in small quantities of a fresh red tomato. With the rich-nutrients, low in calories and high in fiber contained on tomatoes, they are the top pick for digestion.
Furthermore, tomatoes also contain lycopene that can reduce the risk of heart disease and also promote strong bones. Beta-carotene contained on tomatoes can also improve cognition. Vitamin C contained on tomatoes can also be good for skin and Vitamin A will help with vision. With the content of minerals such as potassium and folate, it can really help with blood pressure and muscle health.
It is known that tomatoes belong to the nightshade family, meaning they contain a substance that is called solanine in the leaves and stem of the tomato plant. Need to know, solanine is really dangerous for your dogs in large amounts, but after the fruit ripens, the solanine levels found in tomatoes are no longer toxic.
Of course, dog owners must ensure their dogs are kept away from tomato plants, since solanine is most prevalent in tomato leaves and stems, as well as in the green fruit before it ripens.
