Dog dies from raisins

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

I got this today from a vet tech friend of mine. It never hurts to remind owners again about raisins and grapes.

If you have a dog.... PLEASE READ... then pass it on!

This week I had the first case in history of raisintoxicity 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 ½ 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.

[mara]

Thanks for posting Debbie.

[jnc_mcguire]

That is why I do what the vet tells me to do about not feeding different things that is harnful to your pet. Some people feeds things that they know that it is a nono! I am not going to put my pet in danger I love her to much.

[whimzikal]

Thanks Deb.
It's weird, I made a bowl of oatmeal lastnight. We love oatmeal I say the word & all 4 go crazy. Lastnight I put rasins in mine. Well they gobbled thiers up and wanted mine. I gave everyone a few bites but remembered the grape/rasin thing and picked every single rasin out.

[jimmysgal]

So sad. My heart goes out to this family.

[EmmaGirl]

A good reminder to be very careful of what we feed our dogs...or place the toxic food in places where the dogs might get at it. This case is so sad but hopefully, has sent a message to many to extra careful, thus saving other dogs from a similar fate.

[fairlight]

Thanks so much for this post Deb. I didn't know raisins were toxic until I came to this forum. It's amazing what we can learn when we are in the right place.

[JavaNoire]

I know I fed my IWs grapes...Mebbe even the much smaller muttchkins! The Sibes refused to eat fruit, so I'm innocent there. I am very, very grateful that my ignorance about this didn't cause them harm. I'll certainly never again give a dog grapes or raisins.

I know about onions & chocolate. Are there other common foods that are toxic to dogs?

[Hudsons~Mom]

Ohhh do I know about this...Hudson ate a whole bowl of grapes a year ago...off to the emergency vet we went, the pumped his stomach and induced vomiting....350.00 later...

[Dobified]

Thanks Deb for the reminder.

Grapes
Raisins
Onions ( cooked and raw )
Tomato plants ( leaves and stems )
Chocolate ( the darker the more toxic )

are all poison to dogs. There are sevarl threads here listing more just do a search.