The Toxic Secret of Raisins

So, true story--my mother just got a goldendoodle puppy, Lucy, a/k/a Lucy Goose. Little Miss Goose, while we were cleaning house, managed to sneak her way into the pantry (she's pretty wily, for a puppy) and ate 11 oz of raisins.

This is about three-four cups of raisins. She's like a hoover, she had it down in thirty seconds or less and by the time we got to her, they were all gone but for four far flung raisins.

My brothers and I, naturally, are in hysterics while Lucy's wagging good-naturedly--until my mother, laughingly, asks, "Oh what did she eat this time?"

"A whole thing of raisins!" we tell her. Her face drops and she gasps. She had heard from a friend of hers that raisins and grapes were toxic to dogs.

Immediately we call the poison control center for pets, who told us the following:

1. feed our dog a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and milk to induce vomiting

2. get her to the nearest pet hospital for constant monitoring for the next forty eight hours.

Grapes and Raisins cause acute and sudden renal failure--kidney failure--in dogs and puppies. The scary thing? You essentially see no symptoms until they go into complete kidney failure, which is fatal.

Some dogs only experience the inability to produce urine or digestional problems (such as vomiting or diarrhea), but obviously this has the potential to be hugely serious, and the amount they don't know about what is really going on scares me.

Experts suggest a myotoxin is involved (don't ask me what that is, read the full shindig on Wikipedia) but they don't know for sure. As few as seven raisins can induce these symptoms (my dog ate roughly two hundred, by my guess). The dog also, even after vomiting the offendors up, has to be kept on IV fluids and close monitoring for 48 hours, like I mentioned in the treatment for Miss Goose.

First of all, this all ran us to the tune of $2200, which is ridiculous, especially if you don't have pet insurance, which is becoming increasingly popular due to reasons like these. Some good ones?

VPI Pet Insurance is the one we use, and I've heard good things about Pets Best.

Also, keep up to date on a list of things your pup should be no where near:

(copied from the ASPCA site)

"Experts at the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center urge you to avoid feeding the following foods to your pet:

- Alcoholic beverages - Avocado - Chocolate (all forms) - Coffee (all forms) - Fatty foods - Macadamia nuts - Moldy or spoiled foods - Onions, onion powder - Raisins and grapes - Salt - Yeast dough - Garlic - Products sweetened with xylitol"

Find more information to most frequently asked poison and care questions here.

Pay attention people! May your pets be happy and healthy, and hopefully Lucy will pull through ok--she's on about hour 28, so we can take her home tomorrow!

As always, check me out at my blog.