Page 1 of 1

Are dogwood tree berries toxic?

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:19 pm
by EddieF
Yesterday my 3.5 month old Wirehaired Vizsla got sick. Excessive saliva, she threw up her breakfast and had diarhea. By the end of the day she was almost back to normal and, after a bland diet and keeping an eye on her, today she's completely fine, but she felt rotten for several hours.

This evening she ran up to me with a 'gift,' and dropped at my feet two red berries. They came from one of our dogwood trees. I never noticed them before 'cause our other dogs never showed interest. We have several dogwoods but only one with berries (maybe it's like a holly tree, one gender has berries?).

Is it possible she ate some and that's what made her sick? I can't find any specific info about dogwood berries being poisonous, I tried a Google search and looked on the ASPCA poison control site.

Thanks.

Re: Are dogwood tree berries toxic?

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:24 pm
by natetnc
common missconception, dogwood berries are not poisonous to humans. in humans they can cause a rash sometimes but again, they are not poisonous to humans. these berries are also eaten by birds and other animals so i doubt it would be poisonous to dogs. there is always the potential for an adverse reation to anything though, and since the berries probably don't provide that much nutritional value i would keep it away. in short i wouldn't be worried.

Re: Are dogwood tree berries toxic?

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:55 pm
by dlfl
Deer and quail eat them.

Re: Are dogwood tree berries toxic?

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:00 pm
by nj gsp
Sounds like a flowering dogwood. Did your dog get sick again after she brought you some more berries? If not, I'd say unless your dog pooped little red berries or barfed them up and you saw them, it was probably something else. Maybe it's poke weed poisoning. That stuff is everywhere and it has small reddish/purple berries. I found this website http://www.caf.wvu.edu/~forage/library/ ... ontent.htm (they call it "pokeberry" which is probably the correct name).

Here's another good source for tree and plant data: http://plants.usda.gov

I hope this helps, and you dog is better!

Re: Are dogwood tree berries toxic?

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:22 pm
by EddieF
Thanks for those helpful links. Yeah I think it was something else, she recovered in less than a day and it has not returned.