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Within seconds of examining
her it was apparent that she was in a great deal of abdominal
pain. The congested colour of her mucous membranes indicated
that she was likely to have ingested something quite toxic
and I expressed my concern for the gravity of her symptoms
to her owner.
The great difficulty in all
these cases is that we are in no position to ask our patient
what they have taken! Nor, contrary to popular belief, is
it possible to test for unknown toxic agents. The best that
we can hope for is to try and keep the patient alive for
long enough through supportive fluid therapy and symptomatic
pain relief until hopefully the toxin can be metabolised
safely by the affected patient which in this case was poor
"Daisy". Only in a tiny fraction of cases, where
the exact agent is known, can specific antidotes be administered.
Very fortunately, more perhaps
to the limited amount of toxin ingested than to our supportive
treatment "Daisy" has made a fabulous recovery.
And the toxin to which we subscribe "Daisy's"
symptoms? They are all extremely prevalent at the moment
and were subsequently found by "Daisy's" owners
half digested in the garden.................mushrooms!
Whilst there are some species
which are known to have a pleasurable hallucinatory experience
in humans (so I am told) "Daisy" obviously picked
the wrong type...................... or did she?
Terry
Dunne BVMS, Cert SAO, MRCVS
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