Jelly Fish Stings and Ingestion by Dogs

I recently had a client ask about Jelly Fish being toxic or harmful to dogs.  This is a question I had never been asked(being that there are no jelly fish where I practice) but did some research on Jelly fish to find out any side effects from stings or eating them.  Don't ask me why a dog would eat a jelly fish but they also eat their own poop.... Go figure...

Cabbagehead

What I found from consultants at the Animal Poison Control Center was that jelly fish in North America are usually not fatally toxic, except in the very rare case of severe allergic reaction.  They can cause some very irritated mouths and muzzles in the case where the dog gets stung in the mouth or some intestinal/tummy upset in the case of the dog actually eating the jelly fish.

Moon jellyfish

My advice is to rinse the dogs mouth with fresh water and monitor closely.  If the dogs starts to vomit, acts like the mouth is starting to swell or become irritated; I would take him/her immediately into a local veterinarian for some medications/injections.

And of course if your headed off to the beach with your dog make sure you take plenty of fresh clean water for the dog to prevent it from drinking a bunch of that salty water.  Which can lead to some pretty exciting vomiting in dogs not used to drinking salt water.  Be safe and have fun!!