Dogs and Mushrooms

[Patricia M]

My (Dog’s) Story

I began working for a software company shortly after the CEO had tragically lost his puppy due to mushroom poisoning. Little did I know that within three years, my own pup would end up in the ER after ingesting a patch of mushrooms from our back yard. Having learned from my CEO’s experience, we immediately rushed Daisy (our 1-1/2-year-old golden retriever) to the emergency vet hospital to begin treatment.

The online emergency mushroom identification group visually assessed the mushrooms as the comparatively harmless Coprinellus genus. However, because Daisy’s liver enzymes were slightly elevated – and also because we live in an area known to have death cap mushrooms – she remained in the hospital for continued fluids and observation.

Meanwhile, in my own online research, I learned about a recently developed rapid amatoxin test. I reached out to one of the lead researchers, and we set up a meeting the next morning to perform the test. She tested the mushrooms, as well as a sample our dog’s urine. (Now that’s a dedicated scientist!) Thankfully, both results were negative for amatoxin.

Armed with this knowledge, we were able to bring Daisy home from the hospital, returning regularly on an outpatient basis to check her liver enzymes. Over the next two weeks, her ALP and ALP returned to normal levels, and we were out of the proverbial woods.

The emergency vet told us that while they frequently treat dogs for mushroom ingestion, they rarely know which type of mushroom the animals ate. The standard turnaround time for mushroom identification tests was generally a matter of weeks (or at best, days). However, with amatoxins, immediate treatment is critical.

With the new AMATOXtest, veterinarians will be able to identify the presence/absence of amatoxins within 15 minutes, and adjust the treatment plan accordingly. In addition to saving pets’ lives, it also streamlines resource allocation for the vet hospital – reducing unnecessarily invasive treatments for the animals that test negative for anatoxin poisoning, while expediting full treatment plans for those that test positive.

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