With all of the recent rain in the Valley, it's perfect environment for fungus growth, and keeping a close eye on your pet is important because some types of mushrooms can be toxic to them.
Erica Richards, a veterinarian at Massanutten Animal Clinic, said most mushrooms will make your pet sick and cause diarrhea and vomiting, but a lot of the most dangerous mushrooms are fairly uncommon here in the Valley.
Mushrooms can grow very quickly, even overnight after a rainstorm. Richards said it's a good idea to look around your yard for anything that could be dangerous to your pet and remove it.
"That would be a great idea," Richards said. "Just keep an eye out for what's growing in your yard, and if your pets are chewing any sort of plants or mushrooms, definitely at least take a picture of it or bring a sample into your vet office, and they can look it up for you."
She said it's important to watch what your pet tries to eat outside. If they do eat something they shouldn't, she said you should take a sample in to your vet.
"Pets will eat whatever they want," Richards said. "Collecting a piece of that mushroom and bringing it in to your vet so they can identify it and see if it is a bad one or not would be the best solution."
She said the office tends to see incidents of pets eating mushrooms every year, but luckily they haven't seen any yet this year.
