People With Dogs Beware!!

I just luv you 🙂

Pia

my collie kasha died a very sudden and violent death @ five years ago i assumed that she was poisoned i had never heard of this frog problem but this cenario seems very similar to what happened to my kasha you may have just solved a five year mystery for me thanks

Dear Paul, My condolences on the death of "Kasha" which of course still weighs heavily on you. Just out of curiosity, though, did you have a post-mortem done to determine cause of death?

Unfortunately every so often there is a spate of dog poisoning here on STT anyway. Farmers get angry about "pack dogs" killing their goats or chickens (not ferals but pack buddies who get together when their owners let them out at night .) Neighbours get mad at someone who's fenced-in or tied-up dog barks incessantly (the poor thing is. of course, bored stiff) etc. And then there are some other real sickos.

Several years ago I was living in an apartment next door to a young local who got ticked off because my indoor cats who, when I let them outside for a short while every day, apparently/allegedly hopped up onto his car and very occasionally left little kitty paw prints. He finally approached me about this total invasion and devastation of his "baby" and I duly apologized and told him that if he let me know when the pawprints appeared on his car, whether they be from my cats or from neighbourhood strays, I'd be more than happy to come and wipe them off. I didn't make the offer with any attitude at all and in fact I was majorly conciliatory because I was very happy where I was living and my three cats were safe there.

The young man consciously flexed his gym-worked muscles and was obviously not very happy with my response, telling me that, "You better watch out!"

A few days later he "mistakenly" hit and killed the landlord's little chihauha in the driveway (an aggravatingly yippy little shit but the landlord, his wife and kids adored the dog.) The landlord "bought" the story.

Two weeks later, one of my cats went missing, my lovely Lisa was horribly sick and the third was less sick but very poorly. I rushed the two to the vet. The one who was less poorly was treated for a day and was fine. Lisa was at the vet's office for almost a week and then was sent home in a little better shape but with not a very good prognosis. However, the vet felt she would be better off in her own home than in a cage.

Two days later, poor Lisa was in the bathroom in the early morning with drops of blood coming out of her nose and rectum. She was all matted up but purring up a storm and trying to talk to me. I rushed her back to the vet and then did the right thing and had this wonderful old gal euthanized.

Lest net explorers are looking for helpful hints, the cats were poisoned by what I will describe as a commonly used automative additive which, for some reason, cats find attractive but which is potentially lethal.

Those who poison dogs use strychnine which is of course also lethal in most cases and parrallels the symptoms apparent when dogs ingest poisonous toads - frothing at the mouth, etc.

I apologize for being so long-winded but, honestly, it is SO rare that a dog would be killed by ingesting a Cane or Bufo Toad for several reasons. Firstly these toads are more common in PR than in the VI and, if in the VI are primarily found in either swampy or rain forest areas.

Second, animals aren't stupid. The toxic Bufo or Cane toad is one big and nasty stinker - literally. There are admittedly some demented human beings out there who claim that licking their stinky warty skin affords one a hallucinogenic effect similar to doing acid. But would you really want to go THERE for a high? Oh please!

But getting back to animals not being stupid, well maybe my point is made by the last reference. There are really stupid human animals who might try licking a stinky warty toad to get high and there just might be a really stupid dog whose basic instinct just wasn't there in the first place...

I don't mean to make light of all of this but I think these laid-back, in-the-swamp, minding-their-own -business ugly warty toads are just getting a mean deal on this forum. Cheers!

Bump for robo

Thanks Lizard - I searched the board for "frog". I never thought to search for "toad"!

i'd like to add to this. i live surrounded by jungle on 3 sides i have three crucian mutts, every time they go out romping then come back covered in ticks we also have alot of white frogs and toads everywhere as well as centipedes they have never been sick and the oldest is about 13 yrs and the youngest is about 5, i'm wondering if because they are island mutts of who knows what breeds they may have built up an immunity over the generations to things down here that bite spit and crawl.

Our STX Animal Shelter special 50 pound pit bull mix has never learned to leave the cane toads alone. Being an impulsive and not particularly bright pup, she will pick up a cane toad if she sees one, take a couple of steps, and then drop it and foam profusely at the mouth for the next half hour or so. The first time it happened she weighed about 25 pounds and we were very concerned. We rinsed her mouth out and although she continued to foam and shake her head, did not appear to suffer any other ill effects from the incident. After her fourth encounter (within 2 or 3 months) she now only goes out in our fenced yard at night on a leash. And still the first thing she wants to do is check out the flower pots by the front door where she found a toad once. She has also been stung by something, probably a centipede, on her nose at night while being walked on a lease in the yard and had her face swell up to almost twice the normal size. She has also eaten a fair number of lizards with no ill effects. So if I had to draw any conclusions based on our dog, I would say that a 25 pound dog should survive an encounter with a 2 pound cane toad and that not all island born mutts know to avoid certain native hazards.

Cane Toads are not native to StCroix. Most dogs sniff and don't taste, as long as they don't eat it they should live. No frog in the world can spit. The shape of there mouth is not any good for it. There are only poisonous bugs native to StCroix. Not even the mongoose can eat the Cane Toad, so I doubt local dogs have evolved to do so. They are a big problem in places they were introduced. They thought the toads would eat bugs that eat sugar cane that is why they are called Cane Toads.

aschultz,
A frog is unable to spit. However a cane toad can squirt toxin from the paratoid glands on its back up to 6 feet.
google "cane toad squirt" alot of articles on the cane toad.

Sorry I thought I said enough, I know they can squirt. But not with any accuracy and its not a spit.