So far, it's a chilly and rainy summer here in Colorado, which is quite rare. Weeks and weeks of almost-daily rain mean that scads of wild mushrooms keep popping up in our yard and pastures. To keep things simple when talking about mushrooms toxic to dogs, veterinarians often use the abbreviation LBM, meaning "little brown mushrooms." Not that other types of mushrooms dangerous to dogs don't exist, but at least here ... little brown ones tend to be most common. I take ZERO chances, and I pull and dispose of everything I find.
Mushrooms Toxic to Dogs Overview
There's a good recap of ALL the mushrooms toxic to dogs here from Trupanion, but it doesn't include photos.
In particular, I wanted to show the little brown mushrooms we get here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I'm definitely NOT an expert at identifying mushrooms, but I think the ones we get here are inocybe mushrooms based on comparing my photos to the ones I found online and where they're typically found.
These mushrooms start with fairly rounded caps, but then as they get bigger, they flatten out.
At this point in mid-June 2023, I'm pulling about a pound of them a day from our land. Earlier today, I literally filled a standard poop sack. That's just crazy. It was heavy.
I even emailed our fav ER veterinarian to say it's definitely "little brown mushroom" season here. Gah!
Mushrooms Toxic to Dogs? Here's My Best Advice
Just pull up and dispose of every mushroom that comes up wild in your yard. It simply isn't worth the risk, unless you're a super expert at identifying these species of mushrooms versus the other types of wild mushrooms that people love to forage (like morels):
- Amanita phalloides (death cap)
- Galerina marginata (deadly Galerina)
- Amanita gemmata (jeweled death cap)
- Amanita muscaria (fly agaric)
- Gyromitra species (false morel)
- Inocybe species and Clitocybe dealbata mushrooms
Better safe than sorry. Toxic mushrooms can affect dogs' livers and kidneys and even cause death.
Symptoms typically start less than 3 hours from ingestion, but sometimes DVMs see signs more than 6 hours and more than 24 hours after ingestion.
Symptoms of mushroom poisoning in dogs include the following:
- Drooling
- Watering eyes
- Frequent urination
- Diarrhea
- Difficult or painful breathing and shortness of breath
- Vomiting
- Slow heart rate
- Small pupils
- Low blood pressure
- Shock
- Abdominal pain
This is so helpful as we are about to take our German Shepherd on a long hike to Lake Tahoe and worry about the ticks and also any mushrooms. She is so curious and love to eat grass, sticks, and now I need to watch out for hazardous mushrooms too. Thank you for the resources.
I lost my dog Bandit to mushroom poisoning. 12 years ago. His first symptom was drooling, he never drooled. I didn't know that was a sign that he wasn't feeling well. We took him to this awful vet that didn't do anything to try and help him.
Ooph. I’m so sorry, Edith. I should add a list of common symptoms. Thanks for the idea. Much love to you on the sudden loss of Bandit.
Thanks Roxanne. I remove them too. Some can get quite large. I like mushrooms. The kind from the store lol
Me too, but the wild ones … unless you really, really know what you’re doing … are scary.