Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › The Dangers of Round-Up
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October 18, 2009 at 12:00 am #198206maravillaMember
this morning on our walk through the sugar cane plantation, Blue (my crazy cattle dog) spotted what looked like a piece of pizza lying on the side of the road in the grass. i stupidly had him off the leash so he could poop, but instead he took off down an embankment with the pizza and inhaled it before i could get it away. within two or three minutes, his gait had changed, his back legs were wobbly, and he attempted many times to go to the bathroom to no avail. then he started hyperventilating and gagging, so we went back to the house and i called the vet. on the way back to the house, we passed Chico my gardener and Blue didn’t even let out one bark! That was when i knew he was in serious crisis, because Blue terrorizes Chico whenever he sees him. it was 7 a.m and the vet said he was at the clinic so we jumped in the car and went to our little town 15 minutes away. my husband carried him into the consult room and by this time he had the shakes. the vet examined him, took his temp which was elevated, and immediately started him on an IV to clear his blood. then he gave him 5 other shots of various things to counteract what he suspected was some kind of poison. two hours later we took Blue home and he slowly recovered over the course of the morning. then i looked at the grass alongside the road and realized that it had been sprayed with Round-Up, so no doubt whatever it was he ate was covered with it. that’s the last time Blue is ever off the leash, even though most times he walks right next to me and doesn’t ever run off or eat anything that may be there such as dead birds or lizards. i try not to use any chemicals in my yard or in my gardens (although i am guilty of poisoning the leafcutters who ate my citrus grove!), but the rest of costa rica is in love with petrochemicals. if Blue had had the same extensive treatment in the States, it would’ve been nearly a thousand dollars, but my vet only charged me $48 for everything. that was the good news!
October 18, 2009 at 4:08 pm #198207AndrewKeymasterDelighted to hear that Blue recovered …
You may have read: The Hidden Dangers of Roundup by Dr. Gregory Damato, Ph.D., citizen journalist?
You can read it at:
[ http://www.naturalnews.com/025534_Roundup_herbicide_GMO.html ]
“Roundup is claimed to have an active ingredient known as glyphosate (G) and said to be safe for humans even though plants are readily killed. In a first of its kind published study, French researchers recently sought to examine the toxicity of four popular G-based herbicide formulations on human placental cells, kidney cells, embryonic cells and neonate umbilical cord cells and surprisingly found total cell death of each of these cells within 24 hours.”
My own dog, a beautiful feisty three years Australian terrier died after going into convulsions earlier this year while staying with a friend.
I was travelling at the time and and most distraught to return to this tragic news, we’ll never know exactly what the cause was but this sounds remarkably similar to what I was told had happened…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comOctober 18, 2009 at 4:26 pm #198208maravillaMemberlo siento mucho — that must’ve been terrible for you and for your dog. there is nothing safe about any of these chemicals that are so ubiquitous in costa rica. i hadn’t seen that article so thanks for posting it. i am going to forward it to everyone i know.
October 18, 2009 at 6:11 pm #198209*LotusMemberSorry to hear about both your dogs! I don’t have a yard where I live so no need for such things. But on or property in CR I see they are usually spraying the side of the roads and the grass just dies off wherever the chemical has been sprayed.
I get a kick out of how they tell us these various agents are safe for humans but they are able to kill off living plants or insects.
October 18, 2009 at 6:46 pm #198210maravillaMember“safe” is a relative word here in cr. i especially love the guys on bicycles with the poison canister on their backs. i could tell by the way Blue was wobbling that whatever he ingested was a neurotoxin. ugh!
October 18, 2009 at 7:13 pm #198211costaricafincaParticipantI am sorry to hear what happened to your dog, maravilla.
We use RoundUp on the farm, as do many others. We try to as careful as possible.
But, I am wondering if in fact, what your dog ate, could have been what is often used to poison dogs when attempting a robbery? It is put on ‘food’ as they know dogs will accept this. If you think about it, how usual is it for you , where you walk your dog, to see ‘people food/pizza’ on your trail?
We lost two dogs after they were poisoned by thieves. One survived.
I am not trying to promote RoundUp or anything similar, by any means, but think for this to be so fast acting, it could possibly be something else.October 18, 2009 at 7:23 pm #198212maravillaMemberwe’re not even sure what it was he ate — it was my neighbor who was with me who said it looked like a piece of pizza because it was reddish in color and flat. where i live it is coffee picking season and we have a lot of itinerant workers who go down that road. not far from where the suspicious food was there was a pair of sneakers in the road, too. we thought that odd. the vet gave Blue ipakek so he could examine the stomach contents, but he never threw up, and after doing some research and considering that the item was on the recently Rounded Up grass, i’m inclined to think it was probably that instead of poison, but i am not 100% positive. about 5 years ago our other dog had a similar reaction after chemical exposuresure at a neighbor’s house — vet said it was probably Swiffer that did it because it has ingredients that are also in antifreeze. dogs walk on floors where swiffer has been used, then lick their paws, et voila, you have a sick pet.
October 18, 2009 at 9:52 pm #198213maravillaMembermystery solved. it was a reddish brown plastic wrapper, the kind that is on sausage here. he just threw it up. there was only a little sausage in the end that is tied in a knot. and they say cattle dogs are the smartest breed in the world. i have my doubts.
October 19, 2009 at 12:18 am #198214orcas0606Participantmaravilla. Sounds like (lanate) to me and used quite frequently to poison animals. I had a fox terrier which was poisoned and did not last even 10 minutes after eating a piece of salchicha. Sometimes even the police throw poisoned food out in areas where there are a lot of stray animals. I have even seen it used in cantinas mixed with kola syrup to kill flies. Not a good place to drink a cold beer. Best train your dogs or keep them on a leash when out of the yard and drink your beers at home.
October 19, 2009 at 12:35 am #198215maravillaMemberi have never heard of lanate and am clueless as to where the wrapper may have come from, but i guess it’s possible that someone put it there deliberately in the roadside grass that has recently been sprayed with roundup. will never let the dog off leash again on a walk. we don’t have any strays in our neighborhood, but we do have a tico neighbor who isn’t particularly fond of any of our dogs. thanks for the warning. won’t be drinking any beers anywhere except my terrace.
October 19, 2009 at 2:20 pm #198216AndrewKeymasterPosted in the wrong pace and reposted here by Scott
Posted Oct 19,2009 8:52 AM Janice
http://www.dirtworks.net is the address of a product in the States that does the same job as Roundup but is totally biodegradable, it would be great to get this product here in Costa Rica…..Janice
October 19, 2009 at 4:51 pm #198217maravillaMemberthat would be great, because after doing reserach on glyphosate, it seems that almost all rivers worldwide are polluted with this stuff. but costa rica’s love affair with chemicals is a dangerous one and i would love to see a shift from the use of toxic carcinogens to something that is less harmful to plant and animal life and won’t further damage our earth.
October 20, 2009 at 2:59 pm #198218VersatileMemberI have sprayed thousands and i mean thousands of acres with Roundup and i have never heard that. Could always be a first time. I tend to vote for poison. I have been thru that with my dogs.
October 20, 2009 at 3:48 pm #198219maravillaMemberoh, come on, you’re using a toxic chemical that kills weed and you think it would be safe for a living, breathing thing? check this out — http://www.drugs.com/enc/roundup-grass-and-weed-killer-poisoning.html or google “effects of ingesting glyphosate” or Roundup. These are the folks who made DDT and Agent Orange, and they won’t even release what else is in their Roundup formula. My dog is still not out of the woods. Had to take him back to the vet yesterday for another infusion to clear out his liver. The vet examined the plastic wrapper, and it was probably from someone’s garbage, because when he rolled it up, it formed a neat tube, no meat was in it, plus it was lying in grass that had been recently sprayed. He didn’t think my dog had been poisoned because the symptoms weren’t consistent with what people generally use for that, but it was definitely chemical toxicity. if you really want an eye opener, google “worldwide pollution from Glyphosate” – it will make you shudder.
October 20, 2009 at 9:08 pm #198220VersatileMemberI read the link and it refers to humans not dogs; unless i missed it somewhere. Dogs can take so much more than humans it is amazing. My boss is a Veterinarian and a farmer and we just never run into this at all. Were this to be true then every city guy in the country with 5 acres would be suing all the time.
Others have described the same to you about their dogs. Kinda like a country mugging when they poison your dog so they can come rob you. I would be on the look out for strange vehicles late a night.
Back in the late 80’s i had an experience of this sort except my dogs wouldn’t eat anything that a stranger offered.Ikept finding steaks wrapped in cellophane down by the road. I Came home about 2:00 am and sat on the front porch and lo and behold a Volkswagen van pulls up and a guy starts whistling for my dogs (two German shepards). I just happened to have my 44 Cal. Ruger right next to me and it was only 150 ft down to the road. I yelled take this you ***. Capped around down his way and over his head. I never new a Volkswagen could burn rubber.lol Never had anymore problems at all.
I think your idea of keeping your dog on a leash is best.
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