No more tomorrows for tragic dog Sally

Taranaki dog owners are being warned to avoid a popular plant after two pets were poisoned in the last month.

One of the dogs, a bichon frise named Sally, died after eating the shrub commonly known as the "yesterday, today, tomorrow plant" on Thursday.

Owner Robyn Sanders, who manages the Coronation Lodge Rest Home in New Plymouth, said she'd had the plant for three years, and Sally for eight, but had never seen the dog eat it before.

"It's just really sad. Sally lived with us on site at the rest home and was part of the family here," she said. "We would like to see the plants removed out of gardens where there are dogs."

Sally's vet Rob Mills has also treated a labrador which survived after eating the plant, but says owners need to know it can be toxic.

"For some bizarre reason dogs really like the taste of it," he said.

"If they eat enough of it it can produce seizures, convulsing and salivating - much like if they'd eaten rat poison or something similar."

Poisoning was dose-related, meaning it was only lethal if dogs ate a lot of the plant.

"If they only eat a little we can pump their stomachs and give them a sedative, but in Sally's case it was just too much."

The yesterday, today, tomorrow plant - brunfelsia latifloria - is a fast-growing decorative shrub popular for its leaves which fade in colour from purple to white in the days after it blooms. It is particularly common with people doing 'garden makeovers'.

The plant's principle toxin is brunfelsamidine, a neurotoxin.

- © Fairfax NZ News