I thought I was pretty on top of what to keep my dog out of. I've never come accross anything about lightning bugs. Saturday night, I was enjoying a campfire with the wife and dog. There were lightning bugs all over the yard at dusk, and Calvin was having a blast snapping at them. I didn't think anything of it, and I watched him spit most of them out. Apparently he ate some as well.
I ended up being up with him all night Saturday night. He was vomiting every half hour or so. Sunday morning, he refused rice and yogurt and refused water. My wife took him to the emergency vet.
It was while she was on her way, it hit me that it could be the lightning bugs. I looked on the web and found that they are extremely toxic to reptiles. As far as being toxic to dogs, most sites seemed to think not. There were some forums mentioning dogs getting sick from them. I called my wife and asked her to mention it to the vet. She did, and the vet thinks that is what caused his sickness.
He is doing much better today. He's on a bland diet and limited water for a couple of days, and hopefully he will be back to himself in a couple of days. I just thought I would share this as you an ounce of prevention may save you a $400 emergency vet visit.
