Wild mushroom
ToxicForaged and lawn mushrooms are the deadliest entry in this database. Amatoxins destroy the liver in tiny doses, and a deceptive recovery phase makes owners stand down too early.
This food guide has not been reviewed by a veterinarian. It summarises general information from sources and should not be used to decide whether a food is suitable for an individual dog or to assess an emergency.
Check before feeding
Do not offer as a treat
There is no recommended treat portion for this hazardous item. If swallowed, contact a vet with the amount, time and product details. Do not induce vomiting yourself.
Signs and health concerns
This list includes both observable signs and conditions identified through examination or testing. It cannot establish the cause or whether an exposure is safe.
- Vomiting
- Bloody diarrhoea
- Lethargy
- Abdominal pain
- Jaundice
- Low blood sugar
- Blood clotting disorder
- Seizures
More about this food
Wild mushrooms are the highest-stakes unknown-identity exposure a dog owner faces. Amanita phalloides and its relatives contain amatoxins that inhibit RNA polymerase II, shutting down protein synthesis and killing hepatocytes and renal tubular cells. Enterohepatic recirculation keeps recycling the toxin, prolonging exposure. The lethal quantity is very small: a single Amanita cap can kill a dog.
What makes this entry lethal is the shape of the course, not just the potency. Amatoxin poisoning is biphasic. GI signs — vomiting, bloody diarrhea, lethargy, abdominal pain — begin 6 to 12 hours after ingestion. Then comes the trap: a false recovery in which the dog looks markedly better. Owners who go home at that point return 24 to 72 hours later with fulminant hepatic failure — jaundice, hypoglycemia, coagulopathy, hepatic encephalopathy, seizures — and in severe cases death within one to two days. Muscarinic species such as Inocybe and Clitocybe produce a completely different picture, with cholinergic SLUDGE signs (salivation, lacrimation, miosis, bradycardia) within 15 to 90 minutes.
Treat any wild mushroom ingestion as an emergency even if your dog seems fine. Call your veterinarian or an emergency hospital now, and call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 on the way. Photograph the mushroom where it grew and collect a specimen including the base, wrapped in a paper bag or waxed paper (never a sealed plastic bag, which turns it to mush) so it can be identified. Do not induce vomiting at home. In the US this most often happens on lawns and mulch beds after rain and on trails during fall foraging season. Plain cooked store-bought culinary mushrooms are a different subject and are not toxic.
Frequently asked questions
- He ate a lawn mushroom an hour ago and seems totally normal.
- Normal at one hour tells you nothing. Amatoxin signs start at 6 to 12 hours, and there is a false-recovery window after that. Call your vet or (888) 426-4435 now, and bring a photo plus a specimen collected with its base intact in a paper bag.
- Can I tell whether a yard mushroom is the dangerous kind?
- Not reliably, and neither can most people who forage. Deadly Amanita species look unremarkable, and identification usually needs the whole fruiting body including the base. The right move is to treat any wild mushroom ingestion as an unknown toxin and go in.
- The clinic treated her and she looks fine now. Can we go home?
- That is exactly the question the false-recovery phase is designed to fool. With a possible amatoxin exposure the danger window runs 24 to 72 hours out, well past the point where the dog looks better. Follow your veterinarian's monitoring plan rather than the dog's appearance.