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Originally Posted by gigi9877
I have been reading articles on poisonous toads. Pretty scary as my doodle is a scavenger and sticks her snout sniffing around everywhere. Is there a certain time of the year these things come around, where do you find them hiding? I lived in Tampa a long time ago I honestly don’t remember these toxic toads. Are there a large amount of these things jumping around?
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There are Bofu Toads, sometimes known as Sugar Cane Toads that are deadly to dogs but they are way south. I believe route 60 is the cut off but that could have changed through the years. These toads are not native to Florida but were brought here in the 1950's to kill bugs in the sugar cane fields. They grow to 12" around and when they jump they get as high as 3 feet off the ground. They don't have a natural enemy in Florida. There is also another toad that looks very much like them that is native to Florida and is harmless.
When we lived in SE FL (Port St. Lucie) we let one of our dogs out in the back yard. I heard a noise that sounded "off" to me looked out at our dog and everything looked fine, so I went about whatever I was doing and didn't think more about it.
A little while later I was in the kitchen and my husband was on the lanai. Our dog came to the back door, frothing at the mouth. This is the first sign that a dog has gotten into a bofu toad. My husband took her straight to the garden hose and hosed her mouth out, sideways so the poison didn't go down her throat. He ran the hose for 10 minutes straight. In the mean time I called the vet. You have 20 minutes to get your dog to the vet if this happens, our vet was about 30 minutes away. The vet stayed on the phone with my husband and I watching her symptoms. Fortunately our girl survived with no ill effects. The vet said my husbands quick thinking and running the water to get the poison out of her mouth saved her life. She was a big girl, a Dobie. Larger dogs fair better with these toads because it takes longer for the poison to get through their system. Little dog's don't usually survive.
When this happened up to that time these toads hadn't moved this far south, or so I thought. After that I went in the back yard and checked for toads daily. I went into the back yard with our girls every time they went out.
Try giving your vet a call and ask what kind of toads are dangerous here, where they usually are and what you should do to help your dog if your he or she gets into one.