PSA: Raisins are toxic to dogs

[lunacycles]

The H2O2 advice is good. My dog, as brilliant as she usually is, ate her own LEASH when she was in the back of the car, apparently in frustration that I had "contained" her when there were guests in the back seat. The H2O2 (I was told, about a tbsp the first time, if it doesn't work, can repeat one more time without harm...) caused her to throw it up quickly, and that literally saved her from a seriously invasive procedure.

Thanks for the links to the lists. I have a friend who insists almonds are fine (and good for) dogs, but I read online abt someone's dog eating a lot of almonds and then developing pancreatitis (due to high fat content). I have always heard raw eggs are good for dogs, so that is interesting.

My previous dog (lived to 16, aka the garbage disposal), a border collie/lab mix, ate at least 3 full sticks of butter (left to warm! sudden dexterity from a dog who otherwise couldn't reach the counter) over her life time, and a whole bag of chocolate Halloween candy, and was somehow no worse for the wear... She did develop some rather impressive lipomas on her belly which were named "stick of butter 1" and "stick of butter 2." She ended up dying after she fell down a couple of steps when she was really handicapped already from arthritis (she got out of my sight for just that instant...) and couldn't ever get her legs okay underneath her after that. Her kidneys failed her within a week.

So, point being, don't get too worried. A lot of dogs can be very resilient!

[OakLeaf]

I've read that it's very individual to the dog, and that even within breeds they can have different reactions. When I was a kid they used to make dog treats out of chocolate.

[Roadtrip]

BTW: Dark chocolate is much worse then milk chocolate too. Just something to keep in mind.

Shannon

[pfunk12]

So sorry to hear about AJ and Sammy, DB. I hope that you've already received good news about him.

[Possegal]

I'm so sorry about your pup, and it must be horrible to be away from him right now. And sorry about the loss of your other dog. Sending healing vibes to you both.

[IFjane]

So sorry to hear about both Sammy and AJ, DB!! Take care and I hope Sammy recovers quickly.

[divingbiker]

Out of curiosity, what symtoms did Sammy exhibit after eating the raisins?

He hasn't had any symptoms. My guess is he had either a guilty or self-satisfied look when he was caught, and that and the chewed up raisin box were the only indications of trouble.

The kidney failure shows up 48-72 hours after ingesting the raisins. I just talked to the vet, and his blood work today showed perfect kidney function, so hopefully it will be the same tomorrow and tomorrow night he can come home. He said that since the pet sitter and my vet got on top of it right away, the odds are much greater that he'll be fine.

The reason to treat so aggressively is the variability from dog to dog that someone mentioned. I had a dog that ate a whole Christmas stocking full of Hersheys kisses that my roommate had put out for her boyfriend. Nothing but a trail of foil wrappers was left. She was just fine.

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone. This has been a helluva week, but hopefully it will get better and he'll be home with me tomorrow.

Here's a picture of a pooped out Sammy after his first visit to the dog park Thursday afternoon.

[Dogmama]

So glad that Sammy is getting better! What a scare! One time, my German Shepherd counter-surfed & got the cat's food - unfortunately it was in a glass dish. I came home to shattered glass & no kitty kibbles. Off to the emergency vet who told us they can't see glass on an x-ray but he didn't seem uncomfortable when they palpated his abdomen. He turned out to be OK & kitty now eats out of plastic.

Pancreatic problems are often seen after Thanksgiving when people let their dogs lick up the fat-laden roasting pan or give Fido the fat parts that nobody eats.

[Aggie_Ama]

Hope he heals up with no lasting effects of his little binge.

My dog ate a whole Kit Kat, wrapper and all, we had to get the vet to induce vomiting. She also got into chocolate icing once, the on-call vet at A&M said baker's chocolate is worst. She was okay with a small lick of chocolate. I have heard milk chocolate is the worst, baker's is the worst, dark is the worst. So if it is chocolate I will call my vet, no use chancing it. She is so quick to grab a dropped item I hate having grapes in the house, luckily onions she walks away from.

[smilingcat]

dogs can't process theobromine in the cocoa, starting ingredient of chocolate. See wiki for more information. Higher the cocoa content of chocolate higher the content of theobromine.

Sooo... Dark chocolate 82% pure cocoa would have more theobromine than a 60% dark chocolate in turn has more theobromine than a milk chocolate. Most white chocolate really isn't chocolate so doesn't count.

Regardless, its not good idea to feed your dogs chocolate, raisins, grape... And dogs being an omnivore like human have sweet tooth. Cats are strict carnivore and do not have the sweet receptor, no sweet tooth. Cats are less likely to indulge in chocolate.

you should not feed your cat any chocolate, raisin, or grape either.

[badger]

I hope Sammy will be okay, and good on you for having pet insurance!! And so sorry about AJ.

My dog got into a box of cheap milk chocolates once. The vet pretty much said that the amount of chocolate that's in there was so minimal that there wasn't much to worry, and she was right. He lived to a ripe old age of 14.

That said, my dog LOVED garbage. He would knock you over to get at a bun covered in green fuzz. Combined that with him having inflammatory bowel disease, it was to say the least, explosive.

He ate some unidentified fungus that I had picked off the ledge in my sunroom once. Knowning how deadly some mushrooms could be, the peroxide went in out came the mushrooms.

Towards the end, after years of cleaning up after his indiscretionary consumption of things off the ground, I learned to have a bottle of activated charcoal handy. It really helped. Anything suspicious, I had him eat a capsule or two and he never had an episode.


Grapes and raisins are also toxic to cats. Going off on a tangent, but one should never give pepto bismol to cats, it's quite toxic to them.

[lph]

And dogs being an omnivore like human have sweet tooth. Cats are strict carnivore and do not have the sweet receptor, no sweet tooth. Cats are less likely to indulge in chocolate.

This is interesting, because that was my impression too, that cats don't care much about sweets while dogs will eat anything. Maybe it was the fat in the milk chocolate she picked up on. I mostly eat very dark chocolate though which is very toxic to them, so I'll have to keep it out of harms way.

And still she'll eat just the head off a mouse and leave the rest under the couch. Thanks, cat.

[divingbiker]

Yay!

Sammy gets to come home in a few hours! His blood work today was normal and his kidneys are working fine.

Whew!

[Aggie_Ama]

Whew!!! So glad he does not have lasting effects from his experience. And it looks like some of use learned some information from his event. Give him a big hug from all his TE buddies!

[jessmarimba]

Yaaaaay for Sammy!

I think garlic is also toxic, as it's related to onions.

My cats eat next to no people food (their choice) but one loooves spaghetti sauce. I'm pretty sure after cleaning that up that tomatoes don't treat them too well either.