DOH!!!

Call your vet! They will have a poison control number for pets, the number they provide may or may not have a fee attached.

VERIFY what Epsoma told you.

Here is a link that might be useful: LIst of emergence numbers.

That's weird, yesterday I applied tomato tone in a small raised bed and had some errands to run and when I got back all but 1 plant were all shredded not sure which of the 3 dogs did it but I was not a happy camper lets just leave it at that. they have never bothered any of my plants or fertilizer in the past, they obviously liked the smell of something in there.

Yeah they like the smell and taste of antifreeze too - drink like candy so it is reported - and that kills them.

Take him to the vet!!!

I'm sorry, I didn't mention that I did call our vet. That was the first thing I did. I don't want people to think I'm an irresponsible dog owner, because I am not. I told the vet what was in the fertilizer and he said he'd be fine but to also cross-check what he said with the fertilizer company.
I guess dogs like it from reading the other post--I'm only going to fertilize when he's not outside from now on just to be sure.
Patti

Just an update I called one of the animal poison control hotlines just now and read the entire ingredient list to the person and he said that the small amount (probably no more than a teaspoon or so because I caught him in the act)would not hurt him; if he ate the whole bag or more than a cupful he'd need to see the vet. He said that he might have diarrhea; but I've been home most of the day and he's been his usual self.
Sorry if I worried anyone.

And thanks Sam for the advice :) Guess it brings a whole new meaning to planting in manure!
Patti

Way back when I was a more naive gardener and planting roses, I put bone meal in the holes for the roses. Couldn't figure out what was digging around the plants and why it/they liked the newly planted roses so much.

One day, after planting more roses and using the bone meal, I decided to take a break and have some lunch. I left everything in it's place while I went inside. When I came back out the plant was flung several feet away and the neighbor's black lab had her head fully inside the bag of bone meal and was scarfing it down.

I grabbed the bag and the dog, called a vet, and gave them all the information. They said it was not a problem.

Anyhow, after that I stopped using bone meal, the digging subsequently stopped, and we didn't have to worry about the neighbor's dog getting into the expensive "dog treat". However, for the longest time after that, their dog used to come over and sit by me whenever I was gardening, which was very enjoyable, although she didn't get to score any more plant food. :-)

Mine eats it too. Hasn't hurt her yet. Waxes me to no end though...

Haven't had problems with dog eating Tomato tone... but I did a folliar feeding with fish emulsion and came out to see my dog licking leaves. LOL... no damage done to either dog or plant.

I buried a fish head under each tomato plant this year... apparently I didn't do quite a good enough job of covering up the smell because the raccoons dug up a couple of plants in the week or two following. For another ten days or so I'd occasionally find my PVC watering pipes popped neatly out of the ground, but no further damage -- I guess they were hoping to find more "treats" and decided after popping a few that none of the other plants had fish down there. (Thank goodness.)

The plants got re-set and they're completely fine, but I'll be even more careful next year. Those animals have good noses! :)

--Alison

Yikes, Peacekitty, glad to hear that the TT isn't supposed to cause any problems for your dog. It's always scary when they eat things they're not supposed to. My dog is really attracted to the smell of organic tomato fert. too. I can't keep him away from the stuff, but thankfully, it comes in a tallish bag and he is a shortish dog, so the most he can do is rub his face all over the side of it, and thoroughly investigate all the beds where it's been added.

Alison, have you noticed anything good coming from the planting of the fish heads? I forgot that I wanted to give that a try this year, after seeing it written about on a blog (Cynthia Sandberg's, of Love Apple Farm, in Ben Lomond).

Spaghetina, I did notice a difference with the fish heads. It was a mixture of salmon heads (bought from the fish market and split to cover two plants) and what Peter Vouvoulis always called fish frames, the bones and castoffs left over from filleting fish. I stored the frames in my freezer during the year so I'd have them for planting.

The effect was a healthy boost in the vigor of the young plants almost as soon as I set them in the ground; they quickly got tall and bushy, though it didn't sacrifice flower production for me. They set as usual, and only around now (as the first midseason varieties are thinking about blushing) have they slowed down to a crawl. I just gave them a dose of fertilizer last weekend, and they're picking up again.

Usually it's a slow spring, and I've had trouble feeding the plants enough in my N-deficient soil to get them to a decent size before they set a bunch of fruit and slow down... this year they hit 5' or more before they needed another feeding. Definitely a win in my book. Exercise caution in richer soil, of course.

--Alison

Glad your doggie is OK! I learned this year that mine REALLY like fish emulsion LOL! I used it on my seedlings while they were still indoors and my dogs went CRAZY sniffing them/trying to eat them. Luckily they never did. I fertilize with Tomato Tone also but haven't noticed my dogs trying to eat any of the dirt though.

Hi Peacekitty!
One of our Cocker Spaniels is doing the same thing! I used "Mater Magic" on my potted tomatoes and within minutes he had his snout buried in the dirt munching away. I called the vet and was told it wasn't harmful and he continues to much away each day. Their water bowl looks like a mud bath when he takes a drink afterwards...LOL! Our other Cocker is not intersted in it a bit. Funny!? Good luck with your tomatoes,
Roni

My dogs love all of Epsoma's Tone fertilizers. I found that if I water the fertilizer in well after I put it down that they aren't as interested in it and won't eat much. But I do have to watch and keep them away from that area if I can. My dogs have never gotten sick from eating it.

The first time I put organic fertilizer on my container plants my female pit mix was trying to eat it. One trick if your dog swallows something and you see it right away is to give the dog hydrogen peroxide (mixed with something palatable like milk). It will make the dog throw up. It's only useful for the first 20 minutes or so after swallowing.

I'm so glad I found this post after figuring out my dog ate the tomato fertilizer 'mater magic' from my potted tomatoes this morning! I noticed during our walk that his poop looked exactly like soil! Then I remembered how -when I was adding the fertilizer yesterday- he was super interested in what I was doing(usually he could care less). I quickly put 2 & 2 together, ran to the potted tomatoes to find the top inch or so of soil was missing! I got super worried, called his vet that was closed(4th of July), then immediately searched the web. I'm glad to see that other vets have said it won't harm him since I didn't put much in the pot. I guess it's the blood meal that attracts them. I should've known! I want to thank all of you for posting...

Depends a lot on the dog. My mixed breed is not that interested in materials put into the garden. Once he sniffed the compost pile for a few seconds immediately after I put fish parts into the middle, but he never dug up anything.

My golden retreiver is very attracted to tomato tone. When I found him licking up some I had sprinkled on top of the soil in one of my containers, I checked the label and saw that it includes cocoa meal. He loves chocolate, and I noticed the chocolate scent from the bag, so I'm pretty sure that is what he was after.

Cocoa contains theobromine, which can kill a dog in large enough quantities. I doubt that most dogs would be able to eat enough TT to be harmed, but I have made a special effort to keep him away from the stuff. According to Snopes.com there is some reason to be concerned. Check this link to learn more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Does cocoa harm dogs?

I know this thread is a couple of years old, but I came across it after my dog ate Tomato Maker fertilizer. She only got in a couple of licks, so my vet said it probably wasn't a big deal, although it could be if she had eaten more. She said she would double check some of the ingredients and call me back if there was a problem.

I thought I would post this for future dog owners whose dogs lick Tomato Maker. For what it's worth, the manufacturers don't even have a phone number on their product. You email them and wait for a call back.

As a container gardener, my main concern is blossom end rot. It rained a LOT this year and it washes the nutrients out of the soil. Next year I'm probably just going to go with the initial slow release stuff mixed with the soil and continue watering in the fish-and-seaweed stuff periodically. For BER I'm going to try Mike McGrath's suggestion in his tomato book - which is to add the dried shells of ten eggs to the soil to prevent BER.

It has happened to me too. Once I hade similar product(Bone Meal, I think) somewhere in the garden area and the rats had finished it ..hahaha.

I'm glad to see that my dog is not the only one liking fish emulsion and other organic fertilizers. I caught her lapping up a little puddle of liquid fish before it had fully sunk into the soil of one of my container grown okra plants. I had wondered why she was sticking so close to me while I was feeding the plants-usually she's on squirrel patrol at the other end of the yard. Also glad I hadn't used any pesticides. I almost lost a dog to rat poison pellets years ago. Haven't used them since, dont want another trip to the animal emergency room! I also stopped using the liquid fish because I definitely do not want to reinforce that type of behavior.

French Bull dog approx. 30 lbs. ate less than a tablespoon (believed) of organic fertilizer and within 8 hours it had a paralyzing affect on him especially his back legs. He also had the shakes. Eight hours later, he is eating a little and only drank approx. 3/4 cup of water mostly mixed with Gatorade. He had diarrhea this morning but his stool was harder on the 4:00 release. He didn't vomit but this morning was drooling shortly. His breathing is good. His back legs are only 30% back to normal. Any suggestions??

Any suggestions??

Yes, call your local vet.

You local vet will want to know what was in that "organic fertilizer". Do they not give you any clues? I do know that blood meal and bone meal are somewhat delectable to dogs, and they are quite hazardous to them if ingested. Some of these are fortified with iron, which just increases toxicity.

I am so greatful for stumbling on this site. My 5 year old male boxer just experienced the same symptoms as the Frenchie and it was the scariest thing to witness!! Louis lost mobility of his hind legs as well as breathing laboriously, trembling, and refusing to drink water.

He was fine when we left him for a few hours this past Saturday evening and when we came home to let him out noticed he was in great distress. Of course late Saturday we were unable to take him to his vet so I monitored him through the night while searching for answers. There really needs to be stronger warnings on these products. I would never have allowed this fertilizer to be put down if I knew how harmful it is to pets. He is perfectly fine now. I just felt a need to post this in case another pet suffers the same horrible reaction.

Sudden paralysis means emergency vet visit. Always.

Anything that smells of fish or manure is going to attract dogs and wildlife. Bonemeal and Bloodmeal will attract them too, so dog owners should be aware. Not only do they risk poisoning their dogs, but they also risk having their plants dug up.

I live in a rural area (lots of wildlife around) and have dogs, so I'm wary of what I use on my garden. I think it's usually ok to add "nutrients" to the planting hole and have successfully used fish meal and Tomato Tone when planting tomatoes.

We had a lot of fish die in our pond one winter, and we buried them underneath and around a new tree. I really expected it to be dug up by wild critters, but it wasn't.

Something else that dog owners should know is that 3% peroxide can cause dogs to throw up. A handy thing to have on-hand in case they have ingested something non-corrosive. It's a good idea to look up the quantity needed for the weight of our dogs in case they decide to eat something when the vet is closed. It could save a life.

Linda

My dog does this too. So I only buy hippy organic fertilizer and do my best to keep him out of it.

That happend to my dog

Yes, both my dogs do this. I will look for another type of fertilizer.

I came home tonight and the bag from the new purchase of Tomato Tone was shredded in my front yard. The neighbor's three big dogs devouted it all.

You might want to warn the owners!

Linda

I did. The dogs are OK.

That was kind of you. Perhaps they will stop allowing them to roam on your property now ;).

Linda

I just popped on googling the exact same thing! i just bought this same stuff in the spring. We are expecting the tail end of a hurricane here up in NY. thought that with the good soak thats coming up it would be the perfect time to feed the beasts. sprinkled this stuff liberally , next thing i know BOB was chowing down! So glad i caught him. who knew that this stuff was delicious to dogs! Glad to know that he is going to be ok!

My first time using Espoma Tomato-Tom Organic Tomato & Vegetable plant . I had the exact thing happen since I am planting in containers. Thank you for posting this. I feel so much better now.

So glad this forum is here, I've been panicking for the last half hour because my dog accidently ate a couple pellets of that Dynamite Organic Mater Magic you can get at home depot. Called the vet and she siad most of the same things your vets said that she will probably have an upset stomach and I could give her 1tbsp of peroxide so she could throw it up. Poison control person said they don't deal with animals but if a child had ingested the same amount they wouldn't recommend ER, just fluids and observation.

She's a lab pit mix, 65lbs.