My five month old GR pup had eaten some willow bark and is now doing cow pats - he is completely fine in himslef and wrecking the place as we speak!

should I call the vet? Is this poisonous - couldn't find anything on the web except it is a herbal remedy but thought I'd check with you guys

Cheers Oz xx 

I don't want to uduely scare you, but one of the first widely used drugs(so I'm told)was Asprin and this was derived from the bark of the white willow tree. It can cause irritation of the digestive system, high fever, blood thining and flu like symtoms, so perhaps a call to the the vet for reasurance would be a good thing to do. This is only IMO though and I'm not a medic.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have called the vet and I am waiting for them to call me back after they have checked with a poisons unit.

The tree is coming down tomorrow as he will just keep chewing it now he has discovered it.

Thanks again - I'll post back what they say incase anyone is interested x

Please do let us know what is said. My pup eats bark- its only bagged bark for the garden but he chews it and spits it out, maybe your dog spat it out too?
I asked my vet and she said that its fine and he's just exploring-
let me know x

> its only bagged bark for the garden

Hasn't garden bark ( mulch ) been treated to make it rot more slowly? Be careful if it has

Be careful with cocoa mulch too, which is poisonous with the same stuff chocolate is!

Well I called the emergency vets - they rang a poisons centre and called me back. willow bark can cause serious gastro problems and they said he may need support (i.e put on drip, tablets to absorb toxicity etc) - I burst into tears - my poor little one! Anyway as he was still okay in himself and hydrated (I had been giving him lectade) we decided between the vet and I, that it would probably be okay to watch him for now and bring him down if he got worse. - By lunchtime the next day he was right as rain.

He only ate a small very small amount so I dread to think what would have happed if he had eaten more. Suffice to say we have had a busy weekend digging up a tree and returfing!

In response to ooh - I think the problem was specifically with willow bark as it has similar compounds to aspirin. My dog is forever chewing the bark mulch in the borders - so far with no ill effects - it keeps him, from chewing my plants so I usually turn a blind eye. I will check to see if it is treated now however.

Thanks Oz x