OK, so I know the French consider snails to be a bit of a delicacy, but I really, really object to one of my pups eating slugs!!  Especially when I think I'm about to extract a chewed up leaf from her mouth and out comes a jellied slug! 
Wasn't too sure where to post this ... is it feeding, albeit unwanted, or is it health - she has diarrhoa, so plumped for general!
Said pup has had diarrhoa for the last few days, other pup is fine ... haven't spotted him choping on slugs, yet. Just wondered if anyone else out there had had a delightful dog who had a liking for eating slugs and if diarrhoa was a result. I'm not particularly concerned about her as she's absolutely fine otherwise, and although she's been starved for 24 hours, she's wanting her food.

Slugs carry a very deadly parasite - Lung worm I think?  Someone here will correct me.  But if your pup has been eating slugs and is ill as a result then I would get him to the vet ASAP.

To add:how long does it take for a slug thats eaten a slug pellet to die? Was thinking a perfectly normal little slug/snail may have eaten a pellet which also wouldnt do your dog any good.

....thinking it was a leaf and pulling out his mouth - UGH!!!! :-)

Best way to kill slugs is to pour salt on them :-)

slugs can carry french heartworm (sometimes also called lungworm i think) which can be fatal. Try to avoid your pup eating slugs by supervising him in the garden and distract him from playing with them. I would also go to the vets and ask for a wormer that treats for lungworm, panacur, milbemax or advocate, but the dosage needed for heartworm witll be different from the usual worming dose.

Salt also kills plants, so I'd caution against its widespread use in the garden. I find slugs don't cause any further problems after being dropped in a pail of boiling water--quicker than salt, and if you leave the slugs in the pail for a week they turn into a great fertiliser for fruit and other trees.

Ah, putting salt on the slugs in our garden is just adding seasoning for the dogs *rolleyes*
Can't touch the horrid things, so I safely get rid of them the only way I know how..............call hubby! He chucks them over the fence ;)
I've had a dog have lungworm through eating snails, but even they will spit the slugs out, usually on the kitchen floor!  *yuk*

OMG JAY! You've put me off my dinner lol!

But I shall remember that ;-)  There have been so many slugs this year!

Ewwwwwww!!!

I find slugs don't cause any further problems after being dropped in a pail of boiling water--quicker than salt

My dad used to do this when I was a little girl and I used to cry thinking I could hear them screaming as they died lol

I know about the lung worm and am sure she hasn't got that!  She's not ill, at all ... she's just got the runs!  I know that the slugs she's had access to haven't had slug pellets, unless they've travelled a very long way! 

Its like normal worms though, you don't know anything about it until the infestation gets too bad, i would still treat just to be on the safe side, she may have only injested a few lavae but you won't see any symptoms until time goes by and the numbers increase.

Slightly off subject, but my Cocker is always hunting out snails - he finds them in the garden, brings them indoors, chomps through the shells, and then leaves them in a discreet place in the house, usually on the bed............. not nice.

And the kid's room is often covered in snail trails........all over the wall, across the ceiling ........ because Beano has left a half-chewed snail on their bed.

Lovely!!!

a trainer told me once that slugs had a good source of protein in them but to many would give the dog the runs,also the slugs should not of had or been near any slug pellets or other sprays used in gardens, then  someone else on the other hand said that eating slugs can make them really ill, not much help sorry.

My latest pup loves Snails, had to watch her like a hawk when tiny.  We use Advocate monthly anway. She seems to be going off them now - thankgoodness

Awww i could never kill a slug or do that to it, however much i hate them, its still a living animal and it still contributes to the environment and to the whole cycle etc... so couldnt you just chuck them over the fence or something or dispose in a more humainly way than murder?! :)

To add to that, i am not a fan of them either, but just because you dont like something doesnt mean you should torture the poor thing, feel so sorry for it! Feel so strongly for it, i am terrified of spiders to the point of tears, but would still never kill one

Which of the following can be classed as torture or murder? Death by slug pellets (they take a while to get rid of slugs and can also kill birds, pets and damage human health), the boiling water (agreed, not nice but turns a garden pest into a fertiliser)...or enjoying a bacon sandwich? I guess we all have our views. I'm afraid heading out for the fields to repatriate a bucket of slugs is not going to happen,and the hedgehog family in the allotment probably wouldn't thank me for removing a good food source anyway.

Everyone has their own opinions, i am just saying i dont agree with it, as i dont agree with killing animals for food either! Same thing, i am a huge animal lover and i simply do not agree with any of it however small the animal may be. What happens in nature to the animals is something we will never have control over and shouldnt mess with!

> Awww i could never kill a slug or do that to it, however much i hate them, its still a living animal and it still contributes to the environment and to the whole cycle etc... so couldnt you just chuck them over the fence or something or dispose in a more humainly way than murder?! :-)

I agree completely. Slugs and snails run riot in my garden, and mean I have no chance of ever growing a hosta, but I could never kill them. When I'm clearing a patch of ground, or chopping firewood, I spend ages picking out the snails and carrying them to another part of the garden. My neighbours must think I'm mad. Come to think of it, so must the snails!

I particularly hate it when people revel in causing animals pain. I mean, dropping any living thing into boiling water is barbaric (needless to say, I don't eat lobster or crab) - and you can't argue that they can't feel pain, because another way to keep snails off your plants is to put broken eggshell around them, as this is painful for them to crawl over.

> i simply do not agree with any of it however small the animal may be.

How are you on nits? Fleas? Bed bugs? :-)

my pup eats snail shells and spits out the snail.
yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a way of getting rid of slugs in a environmentally friendly way- a can of brown ale..just pour in to a dish [with a small amount of depth] and they have a good drink then fall in and drown.
A lot less barbaric than salt or bowling water. At least they are half- cut before they go.. :-)

Sorry all you slug lover out there!

Mark, it's great that slugs and snails have found sanctuary in your garden and there are probably a lot of people out there besides me who wish they could send you theirs. If there weren't so many slugs here (wholly resistant to torture by broken eggshell, by the way, my hens couldn't lay enough in a hundred years to stop them) eating their way through my vegetable and soft fruit patch we could probably get along fine, but while I happily live without hostas I rely on the allotment to feed my family. It's no consolation to anyone I'm sure, but they help to produce some fine fruit for these barbarians.

could this be the origin of the phrase "wide eyed and legless?"

How spooky is this, slugs I mean, I've only just spied this post (at work) couldn't go on the forum all weekend cos I did a bit of tidying up on the  pc at home and I've knocked out the broadband and god knows what else :):):) stupid moo!! 

Any way the slug letter from the vet, they are offering the use of something called 'Advocate', a monthly spot on teatment for all the usual beasties plus slugs.  So has anyone used it what do you think and what sort of price is it?

We use Stronghold and Panacur at the moment, as we've got 5 dogs and a moggy, will this new stuff work out more expensive, and is the slug threat as bad as the letter implies.

> and is the slug threat as bad as the letter implies

A former pup of mine was made very ill from her snail eating habit with the parasite mentioned (French heart worm) and is on monthly treatments of Panacur.

Hi Brainless

So does Panacur deal with the slug/snail issue? One of my pups is a devil for eating all things ghastly, from slugs, sheep s**t, her own doings and anybody else's she can find. She did have a real 'slug fest' when we were on holiday in July and apart from the 'trots' which cleared up I've had no concern with her health, but has she likely to have ingested some of these worms? The dogs are all treated with Panacur regularly.

The dosage I believe is different and needs to  e monthly.

Nicola have your shelties been MRD-1 tested clear? If not I would stick to using Panacur as one of the drugs in Advocate - moxidectin, can cause problems for dogs that carry the mutant gene.

Thank-you satincollie, I will check on this an heed your advice