Can Dogs Eat Fly Agaric?

Fly agaric is the classic red-and-white spotted mushroom most people picture when they think of a toxic toadstool, and while it's less immediately life-threatening than a death cap in terms of liver damage, it contains its own set of dangerous toxins - ibotenic acid and muscimol - that act on the nervous system and can cause significant disorientation, unusual behaviour, and in more severe cases seizures. It's a fairly common sight in woodland, often growing near birch trees, which makes it a realistic thing for a dog to stumble across and investigate during an off-lead walk in the right kind of environment. The neurological symptoms can look alarming and somewhat unpredictable, ranging from a dog seeming oddly disoriented or wobbly to more serious muscle twitching or seizure activity depending on how much was eaten. Given the significant effect on the nervous system and the difficulty of reliably identifying mushroom species in the field, any known or suspected fly agaric ingestion should be treated as an emergency.