05/07/2025
Can Dogs Eat Wild Mushrooms?
Some people believe dogs won’t eat toxic mushrooms because they can identify toxins by scent. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Veterinarians and mushroom experts believe that wild mushroom poisoning is an under-reported cause of fatal poisoning in pets. Responding quickly to a suspected mushroom snack is the best thing you can do for your dog in these circumstances.
If your dog has ingested a wild mushroom, contact your veterinarian, animal poison control center, or an emergency veterinary hospital immediately.
What Kinds of Wild Mushrooms Are Toxic to Dogs?
You may have heard the expression, “There are old mushroom hunters, there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold wild mushroom hunters.” This is because only a small percentage of the mushroom species in the world are toxic. However, THE TOXIC ONES ARE VERY TOXIC! They are also often difficult to distinguish from the non-toxic varieties, so veterinarians recommend treating all wild mushrooms as potentially toxic and a veterinary emergency.
Dogs explore the world by scent and taste, and the texture of a mushroom might also be intriguing to an inquisitive canine. To make things worse, some varieties of toxic mushroom, like Amanita phalloides (death cap) and Inocybe spp., have a fishy odor. As any dog owner knows, dogs find fishy odors particularly attractive, which may explain why dogs commonly ingest these toxic mushroom species.
Unless you are a mycologist, veterinarians caution against trying to identify the mushroom in question yourself, and instead urge clients to bring their dogs in for treatment, as even practiced mushroom foragers make mistakes.
What Are the Symptoms of Mushroom Poisoning in Dogs?
Symptoms depend on the species of mushroom. Certain mushroom species contain different toxins, which affect dogs differently.
🚫 severe GI symptoms, a false recovery period where the dog seems to feel better, and then liver failure, acute kidney injury, and death.
🚫 salivation, eye watering, increased urination, diarrhea, and neurological signs.
Other types of Amanita mushrooms cause sedation, tremors, “walking drunk,” and seizures, and the false morel causes profuse vomiting and diarrhea, but is usually not fatal.
🚫 GI upset, and while these are rarely life threatening, it can be very hard to determine the type of mushroom ingested based on early symptoms.
We also don’t always know that our dogs have eaten mushrooms. Here is a list of the more common symptoms of mushroom poisoning in dogs:
🚫 Vomiting
🚫 Diarrhea
🚫 Salivation
🚫 Weakness
🚫 Lethargy
🚫 Ataxia (staggering gait)
🚫 Coma
🚫 Seizures
🚫 Liver failure
🚫 Jaundice
🚫 Abdominal pain
🚫 Death