Hi EVERYONE, There are several dogs in my area  (Sherwood Forest Nottinghamshire) that are falling ill after walks in the local forest,This also happend last year at the same time the local vets are saying it may be something to do with the fungus growing in this erea??? but not sure . If your dog starts vommiting and has dirorea you MUST get it to the vets within 24hrs
or you may loose them. The local council and forestrey are looking into it but as yet have no answers. I stopped going into th woods when my last dog was very ill and i nearly lost him.So pleased be warned  and watch what your dog eats or licks when you visit your local woods it might not stop local to Nottinghamshire.

It said on the news tonight that there is a high proportion of fungi in sherwood forest due to the weather.  It will disappear by November or when frost hits.  They advised not pick or eat them.

My nighbours dog fell ill very suddenly during a walk in the woods. She spent 3 days at the vets on a drip. They never found out for certain what caused it, the vet suggested she may have eaten slug pellets. Thankfully they had got her to the vets quickly and she made a full recovery.

Ooh Mushrooming is a favourite pastime in Europe, spent many late summer/Early Autumn days out with my basket. 

Of course you do need to be with an expert who knows which ones are edible and which are not.

Nothing tastier than wild mushrooms, the cultivated forms are just a poor cousin.

I feel so sad when I see some of the good ones trampled or destroyed by walkers assuming all Fungi are toadstools.

Someone killed off one of our sources of Oyster mushroom in the country park.

http://www.foragingguide.com/edible_mushrooms.html

Barbara - what a fantastic link!   Thank you - I'm putting it into favourites, so that I can really compare what we have picked with what we can eat!

Yes some wonderful fungi about  I wish I knew which were good and which werent. i am not brave enough to try. They have a strange beauty about them
I do hope they work out what the problem is that is making the dogs ill. Surely fungi arnt that common a food for dogs to nibble on are they ?

im in the notts area and i walk in the woods a lot(not sherwood, though) so thanks for the warning!

I know that we mostly stick to the various Bolette species, the best /tastiest mushrooms and steer clear of any that have poisonous look alikes. 

Generally it is the gilled mushrooms that are msot likely to be a worry so we stick to teh oens with teh spongy cap undersides.

On yesterday's "Look East" there was a report that some dogs had become seriously ill after being walked in the grounds of Sandringham - including the "dog walk" attached to the Caravan Park there. Owners were very upset that the Caravan Site wardens hadn't been warning people about this. Again fungi were suspected.

MY OH brings me loads home that we have on a Saturday morning huge field mushrooms.

There are some in our local field which look just like the ones I buy in Tesco, but I wouldn't dare try them. There are also some which look pretty much the opposite!

News report this morning, there is now a sign up advising people there is something poisoning the dogs, another one has been affected, the dog agency is now going to investigate and try and identify the cause.

They haven't said to stop walking but keep your dog on its lead.

Hi  this happend to our dog benny  four years ago we took him into sherwood forest  for a walk he was running around quite happily but within 24 hours he was vomiting had really bad dirorea and had to be rushed to the vets were he later died we couldnt understand how this could happen he was a really fit and healthy dog upto then, we was distraught  but quite a few months later decided we had to have another dog then 18 months ago also took him to sherwood forest at the same time of year and we were totally stunned when the very next day he   fell really ill again exactly  with the same symtoms as our last dog we rushed him to the vets were he was admitted for 5 days  it made him so ill so fast when we went to see him in the vets we thought he was going to die he looked so ill and he was only one year old and so full of life until we took him there  but he recovered thankfully, now reading about all this in the news 4 years on we are so shocked  and will never take him to sherwood forest ever again  and i urge any dog owners who this happens to go straight to the vets and dont waste time it upsets me think the out come could of been so different and we might of lost two of our beloved dogs to this illness just for taking them for a nice walk through sherwood forest.

They now think the most likely cause is blue-green algae

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-11484242

Since the beginning of August 2010, several dogs which have been walked on the
Sandringham Estate, in Thetford Forest, in Clumber Park or Sherwood Forest have
been taken seriously ill and currently vets and scientist are baffled by the
cause.

The AHT has launched an investigation to try and find out the source of the
illness which develops suddenly and causes vomiting, diarrhoea and lethargy. To
enable us to learn more about the illness we need dog owners who have walked
their dogs in any of the four sites to fill in a questionnaire - regardless of
whether your dog was taken ill or not.

The information we glean from dog owners who have walked on these sites will
hopefully help us piece together the puzzle.

Please click on link below and then follow their instructions:

http://www.aht.org.uk/news.html#msi

Thanks for the link.  My dog has been walked at Weald Country Park, Brentwood, Essex and had exactly the same symptoms and ended up on a drip at the vets for a few days.  She is still unwell, but is at home now.

i too live in nottinghamshire ,and have been many many times in the summer but will not be going back there now thanks xx

I'm keeping away from there also.  at least they have found the cause.  Don't know when the threat disappears

what was the cause?

Blue/green algea from the water.  i suppose when a dog goes in as they come out it spreads it, especially with the well timed on the owner.

My girl would always shake over us as sh got out, we tried moving out the way and the little (big) minx chased us until she could shake.  she loved doing that.

A puppy we homed to the nottingham area earlier this year was taken for walks in the Sherwood Forest..she became seriously ill and it was touch and go for 2 days...Thankfully the quick thinking of both new owners and the vet saved her. They dont walk her there anymore.

Hi
We have siberian huskies and a lot of our friends train their dogs in Sherwood. I was made aware that this is doing the rounds again, no one seemed to know what it is was as it was the same time last year so I will let everyone know. I hope everything is ok
Px