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Grapes ?!?!?!?

19K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  Oisin's Aoire 
#1 ·
I have been down with "the" flu since Friday. Found out last night throug casual conversation that while I was in a fog my dog got into a bowl full of grapes that was left on the coffee table and ate most of them. So my mom , who was here helping , gave him some more since he loved them and they are sooo healthy :shocked:

I called the vet and they said if they were going to be an issue they would have by now..no runs , no ill effects , no vomiting..he is peeing like a racehorse as per usual. Absolutely nothing even off about him .

The vet said only some dogs are effected by grapes and they are not sure why? I thought they were fatal. I do not keep grapes or raisins in the house for that reason ( my mom did shopping for me and bought them for my son who loves fruit even more than any kind of candy).

Reading up on it I see that only 1/3 of dogs who eat grapes will have an issue and that is only documented from 1989 and on? Weird. They think it is a reaction to a fungus or pesticide maybe?

In any event I wont be testing it again and will put a list of no no foods on the fridge for dogs next time I am incapacitated .
 
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#2 ·
Oh , and my mother said she always gave our dogs grapes as treats..I do kind of remember that. Strange.
 
#3 ·
No, there is something in the skin.

It really depends on the size of the dog, and the amount of grapes he took down. I see your dog is almost one year old. So I'll assume about 70+ lbs. Although grapes could have an ill effect, I believe that your dog would need to consume A LOT of grapes for them to be fatal. You might have a little stomach discomfort, so just watch him.

If by now nothing has happened, you're probably in the clear of any major issues.
 
#5 ·
My gut feeling is the pesticides, but I definitely haven't done the research. I had an australian shepherd that loved to pick our home grown grapes off the vine. He'd pick them and pinched the peel off, just eating the meat. He lived a long life and never had any medical issues.

I will not recommend continuing feeding grapes to your dog though, as from what I under stand, the grapes harm the kidneys. I assume this could be a slow process where the effect eventually adds up, damaging the kidney.

One thing that I would caution is your note about the peeing like a race horse. This could be a sign of trouble if he is peeing too much. He could be taking in more water and peeing more to flush whatever toxins are ingested from the grapes. I'm not saying this is the case either just a heads up. If the grapes are a cause of excessive urination, this overworking of the kidneys is not good.

Again, I offer all this as opinion. I have no medical background, I only have a minor in chemistry which involved some biochem.

No one on here can tell you for sure that the grapes will or will not harm your dog. Your best bet is to avoid them, and not stress if he gets a couple here or there. Mostly just be vigilant.
 
#7 ·
What good will blood work do besides line the vet's pockets at this point? It's too late for a stomach pump and the dog isn't showing any symptoms of poisoning. The OP only needs to stop her mom from feeding grapes, so she puts her no-no list on the fridge.

Unless the dog starts vomitting, showing signs of weakness or any other symptoms you can find on the wiki, blood work is not needed.
 
#10 ·
The peeing is his normal level of pee :) He is Raw fed and does not drink excessive water.

Everything with him is just as usual , vet said nothing to do. That the toxicity would have reared its head within 48 hours ((shrugs)) He said most dogs are simply unaffected while others dogs , regardless of size , can eat a handful of grapes and go down from it.

Well , I have a list for each kid on the inside of our cabinets ..what they eat , their activities , where their stuff is , bedtimes , etc .For the dogs I just have basic instructions like feeding times and how often they need to go out . It has not been updated since back when they were on kibble.

So I went ahead and did a thorough note for them too.Nobody knew "how " to feed them , to defrost stuff , and so on. My husband did ok with the feeding and walking , but there is now a red list of common items that are dangerous for dogs.

I started asking around and it seems plenty of people do not know about grapes ,onions . They know about chocolate ..but not other less publicized toxins.

And for some reason there is a prevailing myths that dogs cant have turkey?!?!?
 
#12 ·
It can take as little as just over ½ oz. of grapes to poison a 10 lb dog. Though not all dogs seem to suffer the effects of eating grapes and raisins, those that do will suffer severe and possible permanent kidney damage if not treated immediately. Since the exact toxic dose is unknown, and even the cause of the kidney failure is still unclear, it is recommended not to feed your dog ANY grapes or raisins.

This is from a link I posted a while ago. The author is veterinarian, Geoff Stein.
 
#15 ·
My greatest fear with Grapes and raisins is that no one understands why and how much some dogs are affected. So a 4 lb chihuahua can eat a lb a day and never have an issue, but someone give a 100lb Mastiff 1, and it's in kidney failure. You never know which dog is going to be affected or how much it will take. It's not a straight wt vs amt issue like chocolate. Never worth the chance.


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#16 ·
For years and years my dogs ate grapes with the kids. Never thought anything of it.... Kids grew up moved away dogs still occasionally ate grapes with hubby, then I saw that it was on the list of bad foods for dogs. Dogs no longer get grapes but thankfully no one ever got sick from it.
 
#17 ·
the damage from grapes and raisins is cumulative....it causes kidney problems! Keep an eye on the dog for any issues, and do NOT FEED any more grapes or raisins.....A friend was mine was doing BARF and using grapes in his mix and the dog DID develop problems....luckily there was no permanent damage...I cannot remember the details now....but it took a while before she got sick.

Lee
 
#18 ·
Yeah , they are not allowed in my house because I worry about the kids dropping them or leaving them around...which is exactly what happened when my mom brought some in when she came to help while I was flat on my back in bed.

My 7 year old is good about house rules and knowing stuff like that , but she was sick in bed with me.

Mom goes down the ship just does not sail right.
 
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