POISONING. Raisins can be toxic.........this may be of interest.

[Enfys]

I was sent this by a friend and thought it might be worth passing along to dog owners.



If you have a dog... PLEASE read this and send it on. If you don't have a dog, please pass along to friends who do.

Written by:

Laurinda Morris, DVM

Danville Veterinary Clinic

Danville, Ohio

This week I had the first case in history of raisin toxicity ever seen at MedVet. My patient was a 56-pound, 5 yr old male neutered lab mix that ate half a canister of raisins sometime between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday. He started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking about 1AM on Wednesday but the owner didn't call my emergency service until 7AM.

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND grapes causing acute Renal failure but hadn't seen any formal paper on the subject. We had her bring the dog in immediately. In the meantime, I called the ER service at MedVet, and the doctor there was like me - had heard something about it, but.... Anyway, we contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Cent er and they said to give I V fluids at

1 1/2 times maintenance and watch the kidney values for the next 48-72 hours.

The dog's BUN (blood urea nitrogen level) was already at 32 (normal less than 27) and creatinine! Over 5 ( 1.9 is the high end of normal). Both are monitors of kidney function in the bloodstream. We placed an IV catheter and started the fluids. Rechecked the renal values at 5 PM and the BUN was over 40 and creatinine over 7 with no urine production after a liter of fluids. At the point I felt the dog was in acute renal failure and sent him on to MedVet for a urinary catheter to monitor urine output overnight as well as overnight care.

He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet and his renal values have continued to increase daily. He produced urine when given lasix as a diuretic. He was on 3 different anti-vomiting medications and they still couldn't control his vomiting. Today his urine output decreased again, his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was at 10, his phosphorus was very elevated and his blood pressure, which had been staying around 150, skyrocketed to 220.. He continued to vomit and the owners elected to Euthanize.

This is a very sad case - great dog, great owners who had no idea raisins could be a toxin. Please alert everyone you know who has a dog of this very serious risk. Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or grapes could be toxic. Many people I know give their dogs grapes or raisins as treats including our ex-handler's. Any exposure should give rise to immediate concern.

Onions, chocolate, cocoa and macadamia nuts can be fatal, too.

Even if you don't have a dog, you might have friends who do. This is worth passing on to them.

Confirmation from Snopes about the above...

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp



Danielle Egan | (807) 626-1412 | <degan@grainscanada.gc.ca>
facsimile / télécopieur (807) 626-1433 |
Canadian Grain Commission | 221 North Archibald Street 2nd Floor, Thunder Bay, ON, P7C 3Y3
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Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada








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[brightmount]

My dog obviously defies the laws of nature. My mother in law makes the most densely packed fruit cakes known to man. One slice fills a normal human being for 24 hours. My dog however helped herself to an entire cake. There must have been a pound of raisins in there, plus sultanas, cherries, almonds, mixed peel, treacle ... etc, etc!

I'm not saying she didn't have a very dodgy rear end for a day or two, but she's still with us, and then there was the case of the lemon drizzle cake...

Thank you for the warning though Enfys, I will certainly take more care to keep these things out of the way.

 

[Damnation]

Haha! One of my dogs has eaten Rhodedendrone (Poisonous to most animals) and was fine! And Citronella candles :3
It wouldn't surprise me if Raisins are toxic since grapes are toxic to dogs, seems logical.
Good to point it out though, its one of those things that you wouldn't think was a threat to a dog.

 

[Minnies_Mum]

I think it's one of those things vets call an idiosyncratic reaction, meaning that some dogs are fine and some have problems. Some breeds are more predisposed than others. But I believe the advice is to avoid grapes, raisins etc because until you feed them you can tell if your dog is going to react or not and then it may be too late if they do. Best not to risk it.

 

[jasmine]

Untill i heard about the grape problems, about 2 years ago. I used to feed my shibas grapes whenever i was eating them. They showed no ill effects. So maybe it is only certain breeds which will suffer from the above problems.