Another reason to buy organic!

[Sprocket*]

Always thought organic food was a bit of an expensive luxury (but have always been nearly organic on the lottie) but after sending £80 at the vets then I have changed my mind.... Sprocket my little Springer/Collie Cross has been running through the field and without me knowing the farmer has sprayed it with chemicals. She is now covered across her tummy with red puss filled scabby spots and is very very sore. The vet says she is very concerned about it, but I just feel bad that she is in pain. She is on antibiotics x2 and is having to be going into the bath every day.

What worries me is if the chemicals can do that to her what are they doing to us when we eat them. It has certainly made me think and I will definately be making our house organic. Went to ask the farmer about it but he would not tell me and just said he is following the DEFRA guidelines.

[Hans Mum]

hope she recovers soon.....just goes to show we dont really know the effect of the stuff they spray on commercial crops

[TEB]

Its bad that he wont tell you what it is as it could help in the cure, hope she gets better, I see and chat to the local farm workers occasionally, do you want me to ask around.

[Snadger]

Surely your vet could contact the farmer and he would HAVE to tell him what he'd been spraying. How can the vet treat something if he doesn't know what he's treating?

[NOG]

Why was the farmer spraying your field with chemicals?...I would have told him keep off my land.

[sewer rat]

The farmer may well have been sticking to DEFRA guidelines but this should not stop him from informing you what chemical he had been spraying. I agree with Snadge - get your vet to contact the farmer and explain the situation - farmers may be more receptive to vets than members of Joe Public - wrong I know, but a fact of life.
Was the field in grass or was it crops ?

[bluemoon]

That's horrifying, Sprocket. Hope your dog makes a speedy and full recovery.

[pipscariad]

Scary story, hope little Sprocket gets better very soon. Yup, it's alarming what gets sprayed, perfectly ligitimately, onto the fields. I once had a nasty experience of this when we went out for our usual trog about at the weekend, wearing shorts as it was a glorious summers day. One of the fields we went through was quite a tall crop of wheat, which, although the path went around the edge, still grew across the path somewhat. Very soon after walking through it, my legs began to itch, and by the time I got home they were covered in huge raised wheals - really nasty. Luckily a soak in a cool bath offered quite a bit of relief, and as it's about 14 years ago I can't remember how long they took to go down, but it did make me think hard about what must get put on crops.

As others have said, perhaps the vet could find out what it was? Bit of a closed shop all that kind of thing though...