This Plant Is Poisonous For Your Dog

Continuing our occasional strand on poisonous foods or substances to keep your dog away from, here's another quickie.

Here in the UK there's been a recent scare about a possible terrorist attack using the toxic chemical ricin.

Gardening's a bit of a passion of mine and I'm a member of the Royal Horticultural Society. I've recently read a piece in their monthly magazine The Garden, which I thought I should pass on to you. I quote -

"Ricin is extracted from the mottled seeds of Ricinus communis - the commercial source of castor oil - and is lethal if injected. The seeds are toxic if eaten, but reports vary on how many need to be ingested to be fatal. Of 424 recorded cases of ingestion since 1900 only 14 resulted in death, and cases have been recorded of people surviving after eating between 10 - 30 seeds.

However, Department of Health guidelines say: 'Accidental poisoning with ricin has occurred following ingestion of castor oil seeds. Although ricin is poorly absorbed following ingestion, one to three beans chewed by a child, or as few as eight seeds chewed by an adult may be fatal'.

.....Gardeners should ensure that seeds of R. communis are kept away from young children."

I know there's no mention of dogs there, but I wouldn't expect there to be in a publication such as the RHS Journal.

But I think we can safely assume that if as little as 3 seeds could kill a child then a similar amount could probably kill a large dog, and as little as just one seed might be sufficient to kill a small dog or a puppy.

Castor oil plants are popular in the UK, often being grown as houseplants, and in milder areas as garden specimens too.

Obviouly I don't know how common they are in other parts of the world, but I strongly recommend that if you do grow one or more you make absolutely certain that if they should flower you don't allow them to set seed. Or if they _do_ set seed, be sure that your dog cannot possibly have access to the plant.

(And of course if you're not a 'planty' person and you're not sure if there are any castor oil plants on your property or not, either enlist the help of a friend who knows what they look like, or else get your hands on a book with a good illustration of the plant.)

I think it's probably a pretty remote possibility that your dog would just stroll over to the plant and start munching away on the seeds, but not knowing what they taste like to a dog I've really no idea if it's a realistic concern or not.

But 'better safe than sorry' is my take on it.

P.S.
A subscriber sent me the following note -

"Regarding the Castor Oil Plant ... growing up in the Southern United States, there were many of these ornamental plants near our home, but we called it "Castor Bean Plant". The seeds are beautiful, which is probably why they are so attractive to children. They seem to grow well in temperate climates."

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