Attention ALL dog owners!!!

[SandyRN]

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 Center and they sai d 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...

[Bessie]

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I did not know that raisins were toxic to dogs. I knew about the chocolate but not about the other things. I feel so sorry for that dog and his owners.

[ICNDonna]

I knew about them. You could also add to the list to be very sure your dog doesn't eat any raw fish, especially trout, shrimp, or salmon. If you go fishing, don't bury the scales, etc., but wrap them and dispose of them in the garbage! We had a dog with salmon fever and almost lost him.

Donna

[Trishann]

Thank you Sandy for letting us know, I never heard of it.
Also you Donna, my husband like to fish and we clean the fish in the back yard. We do clean it up and throw it away but now I know to be even more careful, the dog will eat anything, she is still pretty young.

Sending hugs, Trish

[dancemomof2]

Thanks Sandy!

[lisabar36]

Thank you Sandy. I had no idea about that, I only knew about chocolate, and thank you Donna, I had no idea about that either. That is so sad for the dog and his owners.

[mlzippy7]

Thanks Sandy for the information!! I had no clue about this!!

[waterflow]

Wow, I didn't know about this either. It's a wonder my dogs lived to be old. They had chocolate, onions, raisins, nuts ect. Will pass this information onto others I know who have a dog. Thanks for posting this. It might save a doggies life.

[Claredale]

Waterflow, same with me! Prancer loved Tootsie Rolls so much! That is how it was when I was growing up too. My grandmother gave all the leftover to her 2 collies (They both lived a very long life). The didn't even eat much dog food if any when I was a little girl. No idea if they ate raisens. My dogs when I was growing were feed leftovers as well, that was just what was done. My dog always had the last bite of everything ate. We would hide green grapes & carrots around the house, and he would find them. I have had this article sent to me via email several times. I talked to my vet and he said that it was true, raisens were not good to feed to your dog. We never gave Prancer raisens. I don't like them myself. I told Dr. Miller that Prancer had grapes and carrots practically every day of his life. We had to put him to sleep 2 months before his 16TH birthday because his hips were so messed up he could barely walk, and he was in so much pain. I told Dr. Miller that no telling how long Prancer would have lived if we hadn't given him grapes. He agreed, Prancer lived a long time to be a large breed. His last 5 years or so, I made my New Years resolution to no longer feed him my last bite. He was so overweight and I knew that would help with this hip displacia, but I did continue to feed him grapes and carrots. It was his "go find it" game for years. He also was known to steal tootsie rolls anytime he had a chance.
With my new dogs, I just feed Mollie carrots, Mollie used to get the occasional grape, but I did quit feeding them to her when I read this article several months ago. Misty doesn't care much for carrots. Just her regular dog food. First time for that!

Tracey