🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾 Yew

🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾

(A little series combining my love of plants and pets 🌿🐶)

Today’s tiny check: Yew (Taxus).

That familiar evergreen hedge with its soft-looking needles and bright red berries?

Beautiful.

Snack? Definitely not.

Yew contains highly toxic compounds called taxines, which can affect the heart and nervous system.

Most parts of the plant are toxic, and poisoning can be extremely serious.

Signs may include:

🐾 Vomiting

🐾 Weakness

🐾 Trembling

🐾 Difficulty breathing

🐾 Changes to heart rate or rhythm

🐾 Collapse

And importantly, serious poisoning can sometimes develop very quickly.

This isn’t one where I’d recommend waiting to see whether symptoms develop.

If you know or suspect your dog has eaten Yew, contact your vet immediately.

🐾 One small thing to do today:

✔ Learn to recognise Yew

✔ Check your own garden and the places your dog regularly explores

✔ Be mindful of fallen or cut pieces after hedge trimming

✔ Don’t leave garden clippings somewhere a curious dog can investigate

This isn’t about being frightened of our gardens.

It’s about knowing which plants deserve a little extra awareness.

Knowledge gives us the opportunity to act quickly when it matters 🩵

One tiny check. One safer environment.

🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants is a bite-sized series exploring common plants and other little things that may be worth a second look when sharing our homes and gardens with pets.

Got something you’d like me to cover next? Pop it in the comments!

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