Tarka and the Daffodils

Sometimes our pets give us a real scare. This happened recently with Tarka.

I had a bunch of daffodils in a vase – one of the first signs of spring I hoped! When the daffodils were past their best, I threw them into a bag which I placed on our patio ready to take to the local tip when next we were that way.

While I was busy one Saturday preparing lunch, Mike informed me that Tarka had taken the daffodils out of the bag and was eating them. I knew that daffodil bulbs are poisonous to dogs, but I wasn’t sure about the flowers and stalks. Sure enough, within minutes Tarka was throwing up – 5 times in all, with froth making up the most part. I phoned the veterinary surgery, which was by this time closed for the weekend, but thankfully they provided an emergency number. I phoned this number and was advised that all they would do in these circumstances would be to make her sick, which she’d done herself. The vet advised me to watch over her to make sure she was okay. She stressed that it would have been far more serious if it had been the bulbs, but I knew it wasn’t. It really scared me though, and any further cut flowers are now kept firmly out of her reach. Strange that she is not at all interested in the daffodils growing in the garden as that would be a big problem. I was impressed that the vet phoned me back that evening to check that all was well.

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