Autumn is when most Guildford households feed the lawn, go after the moss and clear the beds for winter. Once granules are watered in and the grass is dry, the risk to pets is low. The problems come from the open bag, the spill, the fresh pile of product and the shed shelf nobody latched.

Why the garage fills up in September and October

Lawn care in the Lower Mainland is a fall job. The rain returns, the grass starts growing again, moss takes hold in the shade, and the garden centres put everything on display at once. In a few weekends, a normal Surrey household can bring home moss control, a bag of fall lawn feed, a jug of weed killer, bone meal for the bulbs and a fresh tub of slug bait.

Most of those products are designed to sit on a lawn that children and animals walk on. Used the way the label describes, they are not the emergency. What brings dogs into our hospital is concentration: a mouthful straight from the bag, a lick from a spilled pile on the driveway, or a bucket of concentrate left mixed and unattended while the phone rings.

Dogs are the usual patients because dogs eat things. Cats are affected differently, mostly through their feet and their grooming, which we come back to below.

The products worth knowing about

Moss control

Most moss products sold here are iron based, often listed as ferrous sulphate or ferrous ammonium sulphate. Spread thinly and watered in, they are a minor concern. A dog who eats granules from the bag or from a heap on the path is a different situation, because iron in quantity is genuinely hard on the stomach, and larger amounts can affect the liver and the heart. Vomiting, dark or tarry stool and a sudden drop in energy after a moss product has been out are all reasons to phone us.

Worth knowing: the dead black moss raked up afterwards is unappetizing to most dogs, but the granules themselves look a lot like something edible.

Lawn feed and weed and feed

Straight fertilizer granules usually cause an upset stomach: drooling, vomiting, loose stool, a pet who is off their food for a day. The amount matters, and so does what else is in the bag. Combination products add a herbicide, and some autumn blends add insect control, which changes the picture. Read the label, keep it, and tell us the full product name rather than the colour of the bag.

Bone meal and blood meal

These are the two most underestimated items in the shed, and they are on every bulb planting list. They smell like food, so dogs do not just taste them, they gorge. Blood meal causes heavy vomiting and, in some dogs, a painful inflamed pancreas. Bone meal can clump into a firm mass in the stomach that may not pass on its own, and removing one can mean a trip to our surgical services team. A dog who has eaten either of these needs a phone call, not a wait and see.

Weed killers

Once a sprayed lawn is properly dry, most weed killers cause little more than mild stomach upset if a pet walks on it. The hazard sits in the garage: the undiluted concentrate, the mixing jug and the sprayer left on the ground with liquid in it.

Slug and snail bait

This one deserves its own line. Baits containing metaldehyde act fast and are a true emergency. Twitching, tremors, a wobbly walk or a seizure after a pet has been in the garden means you drive in now and call on the way. Iron based slug baits are a lower risk but still worth a call.

Mulch, compost and the rest of the yard

Cocoa shell mulch carries the same compound that makes chocolate a problem and smells irresistible to dogs. Mouldy material in the compost bin can cause tremors within an hour or two. Bagged soil and manure are mostly a stomach upset risk, though they are another thing dogs enthusiastically eat.

What you might actually notice

Most exposures show up as ordinary stomach trouble, which is exactly why they get dismissed. Watch for drooling, lip smacking, vomiting, diarrhea, a reluctance to eat, or a dog who suddenly wants to lie on the cold floor and be left alone.

The signs that mean now rather than later are: tremors or twitching, unsteadiness, a seizure, pale gums, black or bloody stool, a swollen or painful belly, or repeated unproductive retching. Any of those, phone us and come in through our emergency veterinary services.

What to do if your pet gets into something

Phone first, before you do anything else. While you are on the line, we can tell you whether this is a watch at home situation or a come in now situation, and the answer really does depend on the product.

• Bring the bag, the jug or a clear photograph of the label, including the ingredient panel.
• Estimate how much is missing, and note the time it happened.
• Do not try to make your pet vomit at home. With some products that makes things worse, and with others it wastes the window where help is most straightforward.
• Bring your pet, not just the information. A lot of what we need comes from examining them.

Where the amount or the ingredient is a real concern, blood and urine testing through our pet diagnostics tells us how the liver, kidneys and red blood cells are coping, which is far more useful than guessing from the outside. Our guide on what to do if your dog eats something toxic walks through the first few minutes in more detail.

Habits that keep the whole season uneventful

• Follow the re-entry time on the label. Most products name a period to keep animals off, usually until the granules are watered in and the grass is dry. That instruction is the whole safety system.
• Water granules in properly. It gets the product down to the soil and off the surface where paws and tongues are.
• Sweep the hard surfaces. Granules that bounce onto the driveway, path or patio are the ones dogs find. A broom sorts it out in a minute.
• Store everything sealed and high. Not the floor of the garage, not a paper bag on a low shelf, and never decanted into an unlabelled container.
• Never leave a mixed sprayer or an open bag unattended. Not even for the length of a phone call.
• Rinse and dry paws after a walk if you know a boulevard or a neighbour’s lawn has just had something applied. Those little lawn signs exist for a reason.
• Bury bone meal deeply when you plant, or skip it entirely if you live with a digger.
• Tell whoever cuts your grass that a dog uses the yard, and ask to be told before anything goes down.

Cats and the paw route

Cats rarely eat lawn product, but they walk across it and then wash. That is enough for irritation around the mouth, drooling and an upset stomach, and it is a good reason to keep an outdoor cat in for the day when anything has been applied, yours or a neighbour’s. Indoor cats meet the same products when a bag comes into the house: a cat who chews at a paper sack is a real thing.

Cats also sit in freshly dug beds, so bulb planting season is worth a thought if your cat uses the garden as a litter box.

The autumn yard, briefly

The same weeks bring windfall apples fermenting under the tree, fungi popping up after rain, and rodent bait going into sheds and garages. None of that is a reason to stop your dog enjoying the garden. It is a reason to do a lap of the yard once a week with a bag, and to know what is stored where.

Frequently asked questions

How long should my dog stay off the lawn after moss control or fertilizer?

Follow the label, and when in doubt, keep them off until the product has been watered in and the grass has dried completely. That is usually a matter of hours rather than days. If the label is long gone, err on the side of a dry lawn and a rinsed set of paws.

My dog ate a mouthful of fertilizer from the bag. Is that an emergency?

Phone us straight away and have the bag in your hand. A mouthful of straight lawn feed often means a day of stomach upset, but combination products, added iron and added insect control change the answer, and so does your dog’s size. That call takes two minutes.

Is bone meal really a problem? It is natural.

Natural and safe are not the same thing. Bone meal is appealing enough that dogs eat far more of it than they would any chemical product, and a large amount can set like cement in the stomach. It is on every bulb planting list, which is exactly why it turns up in so many gardens at this time of year.

What about pet safe or organic products?

They are generally gentler, which is worth something, but the label still assumes the product is used as directed and not eaten out of the bag. Iron based moss and slug products are often marketed as the natural option and still matter in quantity. Read the panel rather than the front of the packaging.

My cat walked across a sprayed lawn. What should I do?

Wipe or rinse the paws and legs with warm water and dry them, then watch for drooling, mouth irritation or vomiting over the next day. If any of that appears, or if your cat is unwell in any way, phone us and let us know what the lawn had on it.

Should I stop using these products altogether?

No. Most Guildford yards can be looked after without any drama at all. The households that end up in our hospital are almost always dealing with a spill, an open bag or a container stored where a curious nose can reach it, not with a correctly applied lawn.

Speak to the team at 108 Avenue Animal Hospital

If your dog or cat has been into a lawn or garden product, phone us with the label in front of you and we will tell you what to do next.

Published by the team at 108 Avenue Animal Hospital.

This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for an in-person veterinary examination or advice about your individual pet. If you have an urgent concern about your pet, contact 108 Avenue Animal Hospital or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital right away.

108 Avenue Animal Hospital
14675 108 Avenue, Surrey, BC V3R 1V9
Phone: (604) 581-1108
Email: info@108aveanimalhospital.com
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM; Saturday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Sunday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM