I garden and right now it is tomato season. I've been noticing for the last few days that my Lab's head smells like a tomato vine. I like the smell, a nice tomato vine odor mixed with his own doggy smell, and he doesn't seem to be getting ill, so I figured he was probably just eating the grass that grows along the sides of my raised beds, as he is prone to do, and his head was brushing against the tomato vines.

Then, yesterday, I noticed a lot of red in his stool. Naturally concerned, I inspected and found that the cause was......tomato.

Last night, he came back in from outside, laid down and promptly began to eat a red, ripe tomato that he had apparently harvested himself.

Now, this hasn't been of concern to me, since I have looked around to find any information on whether or not tomatoes are bad for dogs, and have found nothing to indicate that anything other than the vine itself is toxic. It doesn't bother me if he wants to eat fresh tomatoes off the vine, as I understand just how irresistable vine ripened tomatoes really are (one of the very best parts of summertime), and we have plenty to go around. His stools seem normal, other than the big red pieces of tomato, and he is acting otherwise healthy and normal.

But, since I just don't know, I'd like to ask if anybody has had any experience with tomatoes causing problems for their dogs? I know that raisins and grapes can kill, but what about tomatoes? Does anybody know if this is really bad for me to allow him to do, healthwise? Or does anybody actually feed their dog tomato? It's just not something I would think of putting in his dinner........

Sorry if this seems like an idiotic question, but I figure with enough dog people reading this, there has got to be someone else out there that has had similar experiences.

My sister had a bad experience with her Lab. He was eating tomatoes that were over ripe to the point of being rotten & got botulism poisioning. She thought it was fine if he ate the tomatoes but when he ran out of good ones decided to eat old ones. He was rushed to an emergency hospital & almost died. Now she has a fence around her garden.

Blondie

I know some people that do include a bit of tomato in the dog's diet - ground up with the other veggies. Others cook it a bit before they give it to their dog.

My pup loves tomatoes but I don't let her in the garden - she's has far too voracious an appetite and has gotten sick from eating too many. Not seriously sick, but there was some vomitting and diarrhea.

Hmmm, didn't know you could get botulism from tomatoes, as they are a high acid fruit, which is why you can can them in a boiling water bath rather than a pressure canner.....though I do understand that there is contention about that in the food preservation circles.

Fortunately, he doesn't appear to be gorging himself on them, and he hasn't been vomiting or having any unusual stools, so I'm not worried about him eating too many at this point. I'll definitely keep the rotten ones picked up, just to be safe, though.

The leaves and stem of the tomato plant are toxic to canines,is the problem,small amounts being ingested with the tomato and not botulism.
Several vets I have spoken to are unaware of the toxin in tomato plants.
Paul

As I understand it, the leaves and stem are toxic to humans, too! I've been aware of that for quite some time, having had toddlers many moons ago. As my Lab is a habitual forager, I have always kept an eye on what kind of greenery it is that he's munching on. He seems to have enough sense to stick with the plain old grass and stay away from the poinsonous stuff.

And I thought this was a stupid question! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

What I was thinking of was the small amount of stem that remains with the tomato when it falls,maybe not so stupid after all.

You mean the little green part on the top of the tomato? I've never heard of anyone getting sick from eating one of these, though I've never heard of anyone eating one of these, either. Guess I don't really feel like finding out either.