Macadamia Nuts

Just thought I'd pass this oddity on while you all are speaking of naughty scotties.....this involved one of the numerous phone calls to the local poison control hotline because of my wheatie Tillie....I really am on a first name basis with a guy who works there because of the volume of my calls and his call-backs to check to see whether his suggestions had worked..... Tillie got into the tail end of a bag of macadamia nuts (about 1/2 cup) one afternoon while I was at work.  When I got home I found the empty bag and Tillie had thrown up.  Shortly after that, I noticed she did not want to move.  I had to pick her up to get her outside to go potty.  Her back legs didn't work.  I looked on-line and found that macadamia plants were poisonous but didn't mention anything about the nuts.  I decided to call the poison control hotline and was amazed to find out that the guy had not-too-long-ago read a paper by a vet that noticed the same symptoms in 6 dogs that had been brought in to his practice and all had eaten macadamia nuts.  The symptoms are nausea, vomiting and ataxia--where the back legs will not work.  These were to wear off in 24--36 hours with no further treatment....and sure enough they did!!!  Kind of scarey and VERY wierd!! Patricia Funk

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