I wanted to warn our Malibu neighbors and fellow pet lovers about an extremely dangerous plant that might be in their yards. We recently almost lost our beautiful young dog to toxicity due to a brunfelsia a.k.a the Yesterday Today and Tomorrow plant.
When our 13-month-old Labrador started vomiting, we immediately took her to the vet, but within 12 hours, she began experiencing severe neurological symptoms. When we transferred her from Malibu Coast Animal Hospital to the critical care emergency hospital, Access Specialty Animal Hospital in Woodland Hills, she was experiencing convulsions, difficulty breathing, stiff legs and blindness.
After seven days of around-the-clock supportive care including a feeding tube, fluids, anticonvulsants, anti-inflammatories and a battery of tests—including an MRI and a spinal tap—the vets determined her symptoms were most likely due to toxicity from the brunfelsia plant. We don’t have one of these plants in our yard, but I discovered that our next door neighbors do.
Seeing our dog so close to death was the worst week of my life. We were fortunate that the amazing veterinarians were able to save her life and that she’ll make a full recovery. I had no idea that an innocuous-looking little plant with pretty purple and white flowers could pose such a danger to our beloved pets. I urge everyone to look around for this extremely dangerous plant and remove it. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this or lose their pets.
Christina Dowling