Thread: Dog Lover's Beware!!!

It's not political but important for dog owners & possibly even all pet owners!

If you have a dog ... read this and PLEASE send it on

Checks out ok on snopes.com
Snopes reference is at: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp

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-year-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 thesubject. 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 this 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-handlers. 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.

Im sorry they had to put it down
thanks for this
we never could get ours to eat raisins but they will eat other fruits grapes and apples
One of our cockers loves and eats raw onions and peppers and tomato

Ours loves to eat the green apples that fall off the tree and gets herself really sick about every July .. She's 13 yrs old and still hasn't learned.

Originally Posted by safari

Ours loves to eat the green apples that fall off the tree and gets herself really sick about every July .. She's 13 yrs old and still hasn't learned.

LOL silly thing Green apple make me sick too

We have a new female pup got her right before Christmas, she’s doing just about the same thing with chicken nuggets
she wont stop till she drops and then she blows and sleeps for ever she sleeps alot any way cause she stll little and then wants to play with the big dogs all night long they aint playing back
Hope she learns to sleep at night cause our older male is startin to want to stay up and play two.
We do have her sitting and speaking already which is fast for us cause she’s only 11 weeks
She is cool she barks at the kitchen sink for water
we cant leaves the bowl out cause she plays and gets the other water all over the floor
She’s the first cocker we have had that dives under the water in the bath tub and pulls at the stopper.
I can’t wait till spring and see what she does when get her out to the lake
Man that raisin thing seems like a tough one for those folks I’ve never heard of dogs doing that on dried fruit
I’m wondering if it could have been something else in the can with them

I don't give my dog any "people food". Who would have thought that raisons would do such a horrible thing?

Thanks for the heads up Safari,I already knew about raisins,my vet just alerted me to turkey-can cause pancreatitis-been feeding it to my boys since I got them

My pups LOVE sweet potatoes and paper products.

Originally Posted by Rawhide

Thanks for the heads up Safari,I already knew about raisins,my vet just alerted me to turkey-can cause pancreatitis-been feeding it to my boys since I got them

My pups LOVE sweet potatoes and paper products.

Paper and my slippers is her (the new Pups) diet when shes not eating food

WHY DO RAISINS MAKE DOGS SICK? IS IT THE RAISINS THEMSELVES? OR IS IT SOMETHING ADDED TO THE RAISINS? IS THIS ALSO DANGEROUS FOR CATS?