What happens if my dog ate a poinsetta?

[Lisa]

You might read a lot saying that it's not toxic and that the dog will just vomit it out of their system. If you have a full fledged animal hospital in your vicinity, get your dog there ASAP, not to a clinic. I woke up last Wednesday morning 12/22 around 6:30 am to find a poinsetta we had moved from a crowded fireplace ledge to an empty corner at ground level) shredded to bits all over the living room. I have two dogs. The one who tore the plant up was Molly, a 11 or 12 year old shih tsu hardly 12 pounds. When i had seen she had vomited around 7:15 am and half of it poinsetta, I called the hotline for the county emergency animal care and was told to get her to her vet at 8 am when they opened. This was my first big mistake to wait so long. She vomited some more before getting to the clinic. She was not lethargic, and at the time the vet saw her said she was not dehydrated. The vet expected her to vomit it and they would watch her and give her fluids. They expected her to be ready for pick up at noon. I headed to work. My husband went to pick her up at 2pm. The clinic had given her a shot of Cerenia and she had done well there, but when she got home, she had defecated in the car on the way back and began vomiting at the house. He got her back to the clinic and after leaving was called and told she had had a seizure and they had placed her on oxygen. I made it to the clinic around 4:30 p.m and was informed basically she was on supportive care. The clinic was closing at 6 pm. I was waiting for my brother to find relief to get to this clinic because Molly is officially his. (My brother and I had lived together for a few years and when we tried to split up his dog and mine once before my dog stopped eating, seemed depressed, so I kept Molly under my care.) We were told we could take her to the full fledged animal hospital but she may die on the way there. We wanted to see if there was anything else the hospital could do so we took the chance. My brother held her in his arms in the back seat of my car and we took her lifeless body to the animal hospital hardly 5 minutes drive away. She had died in the car before we arrived at the hospital. Her fiesty, energetic and protective spirit we had enjoyed and loved for 10 years had disappeared too quickly before our eyes. Despite what you read about poinsettas not being toxic, if you have indoor pets, please do not keep them within reach of the pets. Supposedly they are foul tasting with irritating sap in the stems, but they must also have some cocaine effect more powerful upon ingestion because our dog had apparently ingested quite a bit despite the taste. Her death was explained that she had some "unknown, underlying condition". Her condition was her innocence, our neglect, and the questionable appropriateness of the use of Cerenia by the vet. Consider the age, the size, and the amenities of your local vet office before taking poinsetta ingestion not so seriously. Experiencing sudden loss is traumatic in itself, and much worse during Christmas holidays. Our hearts are heavy with grief. I never want a poinsetta or image of a poinsetta in my home again.