Help! Dog bit a blister beetle!

[Annabellaa]

My 8 year old shepherd/husky just found and picked up a blister beetle. She grabbed it with her front teeth and immediately started foaming at the mouth. I was able to pretty quickly grab her and wipe her mouth out with my shirt and then tried my best to flush it (all she tried to do was drink the water). I know these beetles are deadly, but she didn’t eat the whole bug. Should I still be taking her to the vet ? Will a nibble kill her ? It’s a Sunday and there are no vets open anywhere near me. What should I look for to be alarmed? (She is about 25kg)


Edit: I took her in not even 2 minutes after making this post as her breathing became shallow. In case anyone else was wondering a little nibble is all it takes to almost kill a large dog. She’s fine now thankfully. If anyone knows how to delete a thread lmk

 

[SunriseChickers]

You will have to contact a moderator in order to delete the thread, but I'd keep it up to help folks in the future, just in case! I'm glad your girl is okay.

 

[AshVau22]

I've never even heard of a blister beetle. So naturally I had to educate myself. Quick Google search. Now I can add this to my list of things to worry about Glad your doggy will be ok.

 

[Annabellaa]

You will have to contact a moderator in order to delete the thread, but I'd keep it up to help folks in the future, just in case! I'm glad your girl is okay.

That’s a good point maybe I will. And yeah she’s just dealing w the after math of morphine and puking up poison lol.

 

[Annabellaa]

I've never even heard of a blister beetle. So naturally I had to educate myself. Quick Google search. Now I can add this to my list of things to worry about Glad your doggy will be ok.

Unfun fact about them is the poison they produce is still stable after death so make sure not to touch any dead ones with your bare hands if you find them. I usually put a hefty ring of DE around my chicken run (it looks like a salt ring from an horror movie lol) and it deters them enough that I haven’t had a problem with them in my run in a long time. It just didn’t dawn on me that my dog would put one in her mouth

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Goigle's AI said this:

There is no specific antidote for blister beetle poisoning; treatment is supportive, focusing on aggressive intravenous fluid therapy, electrolyte supplementation (especially calcium and magnesium), medications to protect the gastrointestinal lining, and pain relief. Early administration of activated charcoal can help absorb the toxin, and antibiotics may be needed to prevent infection. The primary goal is to support the body's organs and flush out the cantharidin toxin, which is particularly damaging to the kidneys and digestive tract.

I hope you leave the thread up for future use. I never heard of these bugs. Can you tell us in general where you are? Is this a tropical bug? Thanks.

 

[Annabellaa]

Goigle's AI said this:

There is no specific antidote for blister beetle poisoning; treatment is supportive, focusing on aggressive intravenous fluid therapy, electrolyte supplementation (especially calcium and magnesium), medications to protect the gastrointestinal lining, and pain relief. Early administration of activated charcoal can help absorb the toxin, and antibiotics may be needed to prevent infection. The primary goal is to support the body's organs and flush out the cantharidin toxin, which is particularly damaging to the kidneys and digestive tract.

I hope you leave the thread up for future use. I never heard of these bugs. Can you tell us in general where you are? Is this a tropical bug? Thanks.

Yeah, so from what the vet said they induce vomitting if it’s caught really early (she saw a vet within a half hour of ingesting it). After that it’s just supportive care. What decides the outcome is more so how fast u act and how much they ate. Which is why I immediately cleaned her mouth wiped her down and flushed her mouth out as best as I could. I’m in Ontario Canada. They are very common in the prairies, I googled it apparently in Mexico as well and some places in the states. My hens have refused to eat them from the beginning so there may be something kind of off putting they notice besides the poison.

If they harvested with hay they can kill horses. Permethrin kills them if u have any, same with DE. Farms with alfalfa fields and hay fields will spray for them. Where I am I notice them mainly this time of year when it cools down. It’s gross watching them start to leak lol. There’s other beetles that look similar that don’t leak orange poison but I try not to wait long enough to find out the difference.