NOTE: This happened BEFORE Phoenix hurt herself. :)
I took the girls to the river recently and we noticed a ton of dead fish! I'm not sure what kind of fish they are but they are spawning and sadly passing away. Before I noticed all the dead fish, I saw Zoe pawing at something in the water. They've retrieved sticks that have fallen underneath before so I figured she was attempting to get a sunken stick.
Then she stuck her head under.
She came out of the water with a fish! This little guy was still alive and not damaged so we put it back.
The very next day, Phoenix decided it was her turn to go fishing.
Sadly, this one was a bit further gone than the last one. We put it back, though!
I think it's really interesting that they were catching fish! Usually they prey on small furry things! Not fish! They were both very proud of themselves as they carried them around!
EDIT. I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT "SALMON POISONING in dogs" BEFORE I ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN. It's actually not safe for them to do this and I won't be allowing it again. The fish they caught were Smelt and generally those fish don't carry the parasite. My girls were not allowed to ingest the fish and are likely fine but I'm monitoring them closely. Salmon poisoning presents a lot like parvo. I would NEVER knowingly put my dogs in danger for a funny photo. Not in a million years.
Sigh.
I had no idea about the salmon poisoning until recently as well. It is neat that they went fishing and actually caught a live fish. I'm sure they are fine where they didn't ingest anything, but its best to air on the side of caution and monitor them for a few days.
ReplyDeleteI really hope so! My friend who's a vet tech said her cousin's dog caught it by licking the drippings from the bbq. So I'm still very concerned and watching them closely.
DeleteYuppers, although super cute! I bet they were proud!
ReplyDeleteDante found a dead salmon (rotting and icky) last summer where we normally play in the water. Not sure how it died and ended up where it did. I completely wigged out because I wasn't sure if he had eaten any.
Thankfully he was fine.
I'm so glad Dante was okay! I'm hoping the girls are fine, too. I'm extremely worried about it.
Deleteoh my! I never knew about salmon poisoning either. You are an amazing pet parent and anyone who reads your blog regularly knows that, so no worries. But....are you sure the girls aren't part CAT?
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying so, Caren! I feel like a complete idiot for letting them do that. I honestly had no idea there was a risk. I don't eat fish myself so I didn't realize there was a danger.
DeleteHoly crap! I didn't know about that! Yikes! Well, at least they had fun and seem fine so no worries. But sheesh, just one more thing dogs can't eat.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I am incredibly freaked out by it.
DeleteI think there was a post about salmon poisoning and what to watch for in the Caring For Critters round robin that Jodi at heartlikeadog.com put together! That's the only reason I'd ever heard of it. Luckily, that's not something we have to worry about in our area, but I always worry about what would happen if Barley decided she wanted to sample rotting fish on our beach. It always makes me giggle when she tries to catch them in the lake, though--she doesn't like to get wet and she's toppled in on more than one occasion trying to get a fish. Looks like your girls approached the fishing with far more grace than Barley does :)
ReplyDeleteI must have missed that post. I feel so incredibly stupid for allowing my dogs near fish and potentially exposing them to something deadly. I feel absolutely awful about it.
DeleteThat's so funny that Barley tries to catch fish, too!! I'm glad you don't have to worry about Salmon Poisoning in your area! I am still in shock that there weren't any signs anywhere in that park. It's an extremely popular park. You'd think they'd let people know about the danger.
I hope the girls continue to be fine!
ReplyDeleteMe too.. :(
DeleteI didn't know about salmon poisoning until I started writing my post for tomorrow. I'm sure they're both fine, but it never hurts to keep a closer eye on them. I'm still impressed at how quick they were to catch fish! That can't be easy!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't know either. I don't know why there are not any signs anywhere at that park. It's a really popular place. :( I guess maybe common sense says not to let your dogs go after wildlife but sigh.. I wish sometimes I could put bubbles around them. I know I can't but it still sucks.
DeleteTo be honest myself I didn't know about salmon poisoning, Bain loves to go after a lot of dead creatures! My boyfriend always wonders why I keep him on leash when crossing the creeks.
ReplyDeleteThat's good you keep him on leash! We are going to be steering clear of the river for a good long while!
DeleteYikes, didn't know about that! Not a big concern here, but scary!
ReplyDeleteI didn't either and I'm so incredibly freaked out about it. There aren't any signs anywhere and that's a really popular park. It's kind of ridiculous, imo. I get that it's totally my fault for letting my dogs disturb the wildlife but I never thought they'd actually catch anything!! We encountered these fish 6 days ago and usually dogs show symptoms within a week but it could be up to a month. It's very stressful.
DeleteWell, sounds like a lot of us learned something here, so this was a helpful post! I never heard of that either!
ReplyDeleteOh absolutely! I learned to steer clear of the river, for sure!
DeleteI have heard about salmon poisoning. Its a bummer that you have to worry about every little thing isn't it? In the summer I am always yelling at hubby not to take the dogs down to the river for rear of a fungus that I am not sure is even there...but could be so why chance it...lol. I think it is neat that they caught the fish. They must have soft mouths not to have damaged them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it's the second worst thing about having dogs (other than the obvious one where they don't live nearly as long as we'd like them to). They can't tell us when something is wrong and you have no idea what danger is lurking around the corner. Sometimes I wish I could put them in bubbles. :) I did learn my lesson and I am blessed that we don't have venomous snakes, etc to hurt them. As long as I keep them out of the river they should be okay. I'm keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don't develop any symptoms, too.
DeleteLauren, is there a test the vet could run to make sure they didn't ingest anything dangerous? I didn't realize it could be up to a month before they show symptoms. That is worrisome. Although I always think that dogs that are as healthy as yours would be less likely to have a reaction, you never know. Blueberry is healthy and eats high quality food and treats, yet she still managed to pick up kennel cough last year - even though she never encountered another dog in the weeks leading up to it.
DeleteThey could do a fecal but the bacteria may or may not show up. I'm home with them every day so I'm just monitoring them and watching for signs of lethargy, not eating, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. I used to work at a vet clinic and I've alerted my tech friends about it so they will be ready for me if I have to bring them in. So far we are on day 7 and 6 of them catching the fish and they have been perfectly fine. I hope it stays that way.
DeleteThis is something my dogs would do!
ReplyDeleteI know you would never put your dogs in danger. It is quite obviously from the pics that the fish were not being eaten.
sigh...