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Truly Man's Best Friend
My
dogs are truly part of the family, more like children then
pets. The following scared me as I’m always feeding
them table food. What you are about to read was written by
Laurunda Morris, a DMV at the Danville, Ohio, Veterinary Clinic.
I know I will be more careful from now on.
“Recently 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 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
He started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking about 1 a.m.
on Wednesday but the owner didn’t call my emergency
service until 7a.m.
“I had heard somewhere about raisins and grapes causing
acute renal failure but hadn’t seen any formal paper
on this. 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 to said give IV fluids at 1 1/2 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 p.m. 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 three 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 seven 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. Even if you don’t have
a dog, you might have friends who do. This is worth passing
on to them. Confirmation from Snopes about the above...http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp.”
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