A Seasonal Warning for Pet Owners

pulliptears

There is a great PDF leaflet here from the British Veterinary Association which is worth reading:

http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/awf_poisons_leaflet.pdf

yangptangkipperbang

Without wishing to be accused of "Trolling", but just making a reasoned observation or two.......

A Wiki link is quoted as being "accurate" - I have to wonder why this should be the case - perhaps because the link agrees with the OP's post ??

If you do a bit more investigation, the first thing that becomes obvious is the wide use of "can" and "could" on this subject.

Investigation shows that the number of dogs that have died of renal failure is relatively small - even IF the cause of the problems was eating raisins.
Another quote on this subject:
"of the ten cases reported to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), each dog ingested between nine ounces and two pounds of grapes or raisins" - I dread to think what 9oz of raisins/grapes would do to my digestive tract - let alone two pounds!!!

I am not saying that there is not a potential problem with canines eating grapes/raisins - but please let's not get carried away with what appears to be a problem affecting a relatively small numbers of animals who may have eaten huge (by doggy standards !) quantities of raisins.

I don't think a small piece of Pud, with cream -will mean instant death to your dog .................

pulliptears

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Without wishing to be accused of "Trolling", but just making a reasoned observation or two.......

A Wiki link is quoted as being "accurate" - I have to wonder why this should be the case - perhaps because the link agrees with the OP's post ??

If you do a bit more investigation, the first thing that becomes obvious is the wide use of "can" and "could" on this subject.

Investigation shows that the number of dogs that have died of renal failure is relatively small - even IF the cause of the problems was eating raisins.
Another quote on this subject:
"of the ten cases reported to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), each dog ingested between nine ounces and two pounds of grapes or raisins" - I dread to think what 9oz of raisins/grapes would do to my digestive tract - let alone two pounds!!!

I am not saying that there is not a potential problem with canines eating grapes/raisins - but please let's not get carried away with what appears to be a problem affecting a relatively small numbers of animals who may have eaten huge (by doggy standards !) quantities of raisins.

I don't think a small piece of Pud, with cream -will mean instant death to your dog .................

If you wan't to take the risk then thats entirely your prerogative, but I suspect most dedicated pet owners would rather avoid giving their animals something that could potentially kill them. Rat poison may not kill my child but I wouldn't feed it to them to test the theory.

Personally I love my dog, and I wouldn't take the risk.

http://www.vpisuk.co.uk/portal/CommonPoisons/tabid/119/Default.aspx

MentalMinnie

Jesus, onions AND dog breath. You'd have to be mental to go there! :rotfl:

shaun_from_Africa

Another seasonal warning (although it's to do with the cold season and not the Christmas season).

http://www.petnet.co.uk/dogs/health/seasonal/the-dangers-of-anti-freeze-to-dogs

It's very easy to spill a little when topping up your car, and it only take a very small amount to prove fatal to a dog and as it's a sweet tasting liquid, dogs will happilly lick it up.

pulliptears

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Another seasonal warning (although it's to do with the cold season and not the Christmas season).

http://www.petnet.co.uk/dogs/health/seasonal/the-dangers-of-anti-freeze-to-dogs

It's very easy to spill a little when topping up your car, and it only take a very small amount to prove fatal to a dog and as it's a sweet tasting liquid, dogs will happilly lick it up.

Very pertinent Shaun, there was a spate of local deaths to cats through that near me last year. It was never certain whether they were deliberate or not but careful use of anti freeze is always good advice.

Oddly the BlueCross issued a warning last winter about cats with salt, I didn't realise but apparently Cats like to lick salt and this resulted in a few deaths.

http://www.bluecross.org.uk/2000-82588/cat-deaths-prompt-salt-warning.html

kermitfrog

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Investigation shows that the number of dogs that have died of renal failure is relatively small - even IF the cause of the problems was eating raisins.standards !) quantities of raisins.

Stayed with friends last Christmas. They have four dogs, one of which (a thieving beagle probably crossed with a pig), ate a small Christmas cake containing raisins. It nearly died of kidney failure and cost them just under £1,000 in vet's bills.

pulliptears

kermitfrog wrote: »

Stayed with friends last Christmas. They have four dogs, one of which (a thieving beagle probably crossed with a pig), ate a small Christmas cake containing raisins. It nearly died of kidney failure and cost them just under £1,000 in vet's bills.

A small dog can die from just 4 grapes. As I said very frightening considering I'd happily share grapes with my Westie until a few months back.

Glad your friends dog survived. Thieving beagles are exceptionally cute though aren't they?

yangptangkipperbang

pulliptears wrote: »

A small dog can die from just 4 grapes.

Are you a Vet - where did this gem come from, Wikipedia again ???

As you appear to have been giving your pooch grapes/plus raisins until you read of this "scare" might I suggest that your dog is quite safe eating these - in moderation !

Just about everything causes problems with some people - is that a reason to tell everyone NOT to eat it ? My wife has the most awful reaction to crab meat - should I stop eating it ?

Please don't misunderstand me - I am NOT saying that you should force feed your dog on raisins. But, after having read many of the comments on Google it does appear to be a bit of a "scare" story based on a very few cases.

yangptangkipperbang

pulliptears wrote: »

Rat poison may not kill my child but I wouldn't feed it to them to test the theory.

This is rather a spurious argument - apart from which most rat poisons work on the fact that rats are unable to vomit - which children most certainly are............

pulliptears wrote: »

http://www.vpisuk.co.uk/portal/CommonPoisons/tabid/119/Default.aspx

The link you have posted:
"Otherwise known as Vitis vinifera, again the toxic mechanism is not understood, but ingestion can cause kidney failure in dogs, and potentially other animals too. The amount which can cause problems seems to be very variable. Some dogs have eaten large amounts and developed no effects, while others have gone into kidney failure after ingesting a small handful of raisins or grapes." (My highlighting)

Again - a somewhat indefinite and uncertain statement !