Source: blogs.menupages.com - Amanita phalloides, or "death cap" mushrooms. Do Not Eat! (no matter what the newspaper tells you)
PSA about some potentially toxic mushrooms in our community: As many of you know, we had to put Nancy Farmer’s sweet little dog Homer to sleep last week after he experienced acute liver failure. While I was not able to confirm 100% that this was due to mushroom poisoning, all tests for infectious disease were negative, and Homer vomited some mushrooms after he became ill. I am concerned that these mushrooms were Amanita phalloides or a related species. (Google for pics and info). Nancy collected some samples of mushrooms that Homer had eaten, which I am going to try to have analyzed. (If anyone knows of a mycologist in the area, please let me know, as I am having trouble finding someone). I debated on whether or not to post this because I don’t want to raise undue alarm, but I felt the community should be aware of this potential danger, especially those of us with pets and young children. The first signs Homer exhibited were severe lethargy, refusing food, and diarrhea. While these are common signs that we can see with a lot of different illnesses, please keep the possibility of mushroom poisoning in the back of your mind and have any illness checked out as soon as possible. And if you decide to remove any mushrooms you see, use a glove or baggie over your hand and wash hands carefully afterwards.
