Frequently (and not so frequently) Asked Questions
BRIEF: Dou you know why my dog is acting this way?
QUESTION:
Last evening my 3 year old, 85 lb. husky/malamute/shepherd went over to an Easter
Lily someone had given me (I believe it's probably Lilium longiflorum), stuck his
nose inside a bloom and took a sniff (did not eat any). Almost immediately after,
he began acting very strange (not toxic, but very weird). He kept sticking his
nose straight up in the air as if sniffing (at first we thought he had something
in his nose), but then started relentlessly pacing, suddenly turning his
head looking at nothing, kept extending his head/nose straight up in the air, was
very nervous, couldn't lay down, acting as if he were hallucinating.
ANSWER:
This is a new one on me. I am searching literature like crazy, but have found
nothing. Your idea of a previously unknown pollen effect is a good hypothesis, and
perhaps some kind of insect or mold might be at work here, too. Sorry I do not
have a definitive answer for you.
It is also possible that the dog did get a bit of plant oil or some other source
of aromatic compounds stuck in its nose and spent those hours with a strong
olfactory signal blasting into its brain.
Jeff Hall at Utah State (jhall@cc.usu.edu) has studied toxic effects of Easter
Lily on cats. Maybe he has some insight into sniffing the things.
(Hall, JO: Nephrotoxicity of Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum) when Ingested by
the Cat.
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.
1992.)