Just 7 raisins or grapes can kill dogs

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Sat May 19, 2007 4:23 am

I was aware of the dangers of chocolate and onions but didn't know about this I checked it out and its true.

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 said to give IV fluids at 1 ? 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.

Laurinda Morris, DVM
Danville Veterinary Clinic
Danville , Ohio

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

big steve46 · Post by **big steve46** » Sat May 19, 2007 6:26 am

Why were they toxic? Was it the high iron content? If so, it would take more than 7.

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Sat May 19, 2007 7:00 am

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

I don't know why they are toxic but apparently they are. My dogs love muscadines and they are a common wild grape down here.

One more thing to have to worry about.

Post by **ezzy333** » Sat May 19, 2007 7:28 am

Bobman, dogs and raisins have been around for many years and I doubt if you can find anyone that has had a problem. I think what you posted says it could be a problem if a dog eats a bag or can full. Evidently that is true and its good to know but I have too many other things to worry about. I have seen dogs pull grapes off the vine and eat them and have fed cookies with raisins in them to the dogs when we are having lunch.

In my mind, this is good info if your dog would get into a large quanity but otherwise just not a problem that needs a lot of attention. I have fed food with onions in it for years and find the dogs really like the onion. Plus I can remember when people used garlic and onion to worm the dogs.

I think like most things in life, moderation is ok but an abnormal amount of most anything can be toxic. True for us as well as dogs.

Ezzy

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:20 am

I suppose you can choose to believe that but science is science so you might want to discuss it with your vet.

The onion thing is a real mistake I personally know a man whos lab ate half an onion and died.

I didn't know about the raisin thing but you can bet I will be discussiong it with my vet next visit. I'll let you know what hes says.

I believe you are probably correct about amounts being critical but why chance it at all, the toxicity amount probably varies from dog to dog

I guess I'll have to quit letting my dogs drink wine and move them to gin and tonics

Anaconda Pintler · Post by **Anaconda Pintler** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:56 pm

I agree bobman why chance it good info thanks, ezzy you go right on ahead and keep feeding your dogs onions I just hope we are not reading a sad story about your dogs on here someday. Just because the dog likes them is no reason to keep feeding them I feel it is our responsibilty to keep our dogs safe.

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun May 20, 2007 2:46 pm

I think you all misunderstood what I said. I do not feed onions to my dogs but they have been fed many things with onions in the past with no ill effect that I am aware of. And I also made the point that many dogs were fed onions and garlic as a wormer in the past. I'll bet in the 30's,40's and possiblty even in the fifties there were more coon hounds wormed with onions and garlic than everything else put together.

I think it is fine to be aware of the current lists that are put out but I am aware that they list anything that might be a problem if the dog consumed large amounts of it. How else do you account for things dogs have eaten for years and not been a problem till now. Knowing how these lists are compiled and the extreme consumption in most cases that it takes to produce the symptoms I will continue to not worry about it too much since nothing has changed since yesterday when I didn't worry about it at all.

That does not say that you should feed these items or you should ignore the info, just that I don't see the need to worry about them.

Ezzy

djswizz · Post by **djswizz** » Sun May 20, 2007 6:07 pm

I did a post a while back about raisins and grapes being poisonous (not to mention a whole list of poisonous foods for dogs). This is a great post again!

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:58 am

I know dogs that eat both in quantity and are alive (or lived long fitful lives). I am not going to willingly feed those things to my dogs, but my older v does like grapes and I don't - so figure that one out.

Anyhow, I guess each of us can ask our vet. Obviously, they don't know about it either (seeing as how this was her first case). If this were so bad of a thing - don't you think they would have learned this in their training? Just a thought.

Post by **Ayres** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:34 am

The last I had read on the topic is that grapes/raisins can be toxic to SOME dogs at various levels.

When Justus was a pup, we would let him play with a grape every now and then. He'd roll them around like a ball on the kitchen floor, only eating them once they were sufficiently flattened. Never had a problem.

Since reading this some time ago I haven't given him a grape. No need to take a chance. No need to panic about it either, though.

Theresa · Post by **Theresa** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:19 am

I have made a point to quit feeding them grapes - while some must be OK with it, if you have a dog sensitive to it the ER is a poor way to find out!

I have one that can eat anything; my rat terrier aka Iron Gut Ridgeway. She has eaten dark chocolate with nary an issue, and kept the hydrogen peroxide I made her swallow to vomit down as well! She got ahold of some dip with onion as did another dog; the rat was fine, the other dog had orangish urine - apparently the onion causes red blood cells to burst (?) so if you see them eat onion watch for dark urine and anemia. I did have one dog nearly die from eating chocolate - the reigning pitbull. No problems feeding garlic but I do try to avoid giving the dogs table scraps if I have used alot of onion powder. I don't do it perfect, but I try not to court trouble!

airman · Post by **airman** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:18 pm

tell you what, I live in the famed Napa Valley,Ca. The wine county, we have vinyards as far as the eye can see around me. Everyone has dogs on their vinyard i know and guess what they eat? I had a german sheperd that would eat all my grapes off the vine in the back yard, all he got was the runs.He lived to be 15. Would i feed my dogs grapes? No . Think of all the coyotes around here we have, i know i hunt them in the vinyard, and they eat alot of grapes, are they dead from them? No. I'm not saying to feed your dogs grapes or rasins, i wouldn't. But i'm just not buying the killer grape explation either.

RedWing · Post by **RedWing** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:37 pm

I read this post the first day it came up and didn't give it much thought until two days ago. My 7 month old Setter got into the pantry and ate over a pound of raisins in one sitting. I didn't know she ate them for a whole day. I looked in her kennel and found plumped up raisins in her stool and then found the empty box in the bottom of the pantry. I kept waiting for any signs of trouble but they never came. No signs of trouble at all. Not even a loose stool.

I'm no expert, but I'd have to say that I believe it would take a whole lot more than 7 raisins to kill a dog. Take my experience for what it's worth. I'm not saying raisins are bad or good, just that my dog had no problem. Maybe a vet on this BB can shed some light on the subject.

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Just 7 raisins or grapes can kill dogs

Just 7 raisins or grapes can kill dogs

My dogs eat about everything...

My dog just ate over a pound of raisins.