Dogs that eat anything

sleepystar1975

Our 2-year-old [STRIKE]dustbin[/STRIKE] dalmatian has just eaten half a dozen or so of the acorns our 5-year-old daughter collected at the park.
We had a laugh saying "a tree will grow out of his bum" etc, but then I thought, I know squirrels eat acorns ok, but are they harmful to dogs?
Any advice appreciated. Thanks:)

anderson8

i think they might be poisonous to dogs.
have a wee google online. or best bet would be phone your vet

sleepystar1975

anderson8 wrote: »

i think they might be poisonous to dogs.
have a wee google online. or best bet would be phone your vet

Thanks for a quick answer.

Eeek, have phoned the vet, only the nurse is there at this time of night, she has left me on hold while she phones the vet at home.

Poor DD is so upset, she'd left them in her coat pocket too, so they weren't laying about in plain view to him!

withabix

Have you wormed your dog recently?

More importantly though, yes, acorns are very poisonous to dogs.

How long ago did this happen and have you tried force feeding your dog a mouthful of salt or strong salt water to make it vomit?

sleepystar1975

withabix wrote: »

Have you wormed your dog recently?

More importantly though, yes, acorns are very poisonous to dogs.

How long ago did this happen and have you tried force feeding your dog a mouthful of salt or strong salt water to make it vomit?

He was wormed about 2 weeks back.

Haven't forced anything down him, as I didn't want to cause any damage by him retching.

The nurse came back with the vets answer. She said something along the lines of "acorns have tannins in them. Tannins are like astringents and can cause stomach irritation if enough of them are ingested. They are not extremely dangerous, considering your dogs size, the few he's eaten shouldn't give him any worse than a grumbly tummy for the night. Large quantities would be a different story. Best thing is to encourage the little one not to bring any more home, as dog has established himself to be a bit naughty when it comes to eating anything and everything"

So it looks like he'll be ok, just a little sorry for himself for the evening.