Dogs and yew berries

[pcolbeck]

We have a large yew tree overhanging one corner of our garden and its laden with berries lots of which drop into our garden. Tilly thinks they are delicious and goes mad for them. I know they are toxic (well the seeds in the middle of he berries if broken open) and so have tried to fence this bit of the garden off. She still manages to get into it sometimes or gets the ones that drop of my wellies when I have been to the shed (which is in yew central).
So far no ill effects, they just come out in her poo. Has anyone else had experience with yew berries and dogs ? How concerned should I be and do I need to think about building a permanent fence to keep her out of this part of the garden or do these seeds always pass through dogs without harming them?

[Ian H]

Though the berries are harmless, the seed within is highly toxic. Unbroken it will pass through the body without being digested but if the seed is chewed poisoning can occur with as few as three berries.

http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/taxus_baccata.htm

[pcolbeck]

Yes I've seen that plus loads of articles saying they are really poisonous. Its more about in reality do they actually poison dogs that eat them ? Its a big tree and it will be a major undertaking to fence the area off properly. At the moment its OK as the overgrown end of the garden restricts access at one side of the chicken run and I have used pallets to fence off the other but I need tpo sort out the overgrown bit this winter so will need to do something more permanent.

[Ian H]

As the article, it's about chewing the seeds.  I suspect a dog would wolf the berries down pretty quickly, so be unlikely to break the seeds.  But it might happen in time.

[pcolbeck]

I didn't even know yew was poisonous until I noticed her eating the berries. She's also scrumping the crab and eating apples plus plums and damsons, its the lab genes they are all canine waste disposals.

[hellymedic]

AIUI some fairly nasty anti-cancer medication is made from yew.
I am not:
a vet
a pharmacologist
 poisons expert.

[Wowbagger]

I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the only bit of the yew that isn't poisonous is the berry. Sickly sweet, but I have seen birds eating them. Blackbirds tend to prefer hawthorn, I think, and have seen male blackbirds in the late autumn appearing to guard their tree.

[Legs]

Yew berries are delicious    (just mind those seeds!)

Our tree is completely bereft of berries this year, which isn't a bad thing because I got fed up pulling baby yew trees out of the gravel last year.  More of a shame that we've barely got any plums or damsons either...    Stacks of sloes though.  Is there anything you can do with sloes that doesn't require buying gin?

[SteveC]

Stacks of sloes though.  Is there anything you can do with sloes that doesn't require buying gin?

I'm fairly sure I have a recipe or two for sloes but they will be on my main computer which is nearly 300 miles away. I will try to remember to have a look at the weekend.

[hatler]

Sloes ?  I caught sight of a slightly different thing to do with them.

Rum, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and sloes (and sugar). Apparently it is Christmas in a bottle. We'll be giving that a go this year. (We're long on rum.)

And here's the link.

[Legs]

Ooh, that does sound good!  Thanks hatler.

[hatler]

Cool. No worries. I'm sure there's a Sloe Gin thread somewhere, I ought to pop this one on there too.

[SteveC]

Stacks of sloes though.  Is there anything you can do with sloes that doesn't require buying gin?

I'm fairly sure I have a recipe or two for sloes but they will be on my main computer which is nearly 300 miles away. I will try to remember to have a look at the weekend.

...but I was wrong 
Could have sworn I has something, but it may be that I looked at some once and decided we'd never get round to making any of the recipes so didn't bother keeping them.  Sorry.

[Ruthie]

I've had sloe whisky before.  It's amazing and yummy.