Scrub life… Eating Right

What do we know about grapes, raisins and their affect on our dogs’ kidneys?

Easter is less than a month away and, although there appears to be a deficit in certain personal hygiene items, there is definitely no deficit in Easter paraphernalia. Easter is synonymous with Easter eggs, Easter buns and Easter holidays, all of which are enjoyed by the whole family including our canine and feline companions.

Most of us are aware of the detrimental effects of chocolate when ingested by ourselves, even more concerning are the effects that chocolate can have on our pets. Chocolate contains three components that are known as methylated xanthine alkaloids (i.e. caffeine, theobromine and theophylline). These three components are found in chocolate, caffeine tablets and cocoa bean mulch. The ingestion of these products by our pets is known to affect their central nervous system (clinical signs include vomiting, excitation, tremors and seizures) and their cardiovascular system (clinical signs include tachycardia/fats heart rate and heart arrhythmias).

Most of us have personal experience with the effect methylated xanthine alkaloids have on us in excess, but imagine the effect on our furry companions who are a fraction of our body weight.

The higher the cocoa content of the product the more potential there is for intoxication in our pets, this means that the darker the chocolate the smaller the amount required to cause clinical signs.

Did you know that grapes and/or raisins are also considered potentially toxic to our pets, as is raw/uncooked bread dough. If you are considering making hot cross buns this Easter be careful to keep the uncooked product out of jumping/climbing reach of your sneaky furry friends.

Grape and/or raisin intoxication in pets is somewhat of an enigma as we know it can cause acute kidney injury but we don’t exactly know why. What we do know is that the acute kidney injury does not appear to be dose-related (i.e. there does not appear to be a relationship between the number of grapes/raisins ingested and the severity of the kidney disease) and that not all dogs that ingest grapes or raisins will be adversely affected.

SO WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT DOGS WHO HAVE INGESTED GRAPES/RAISINS?

• Dogs typically develop clinical signs (i.e. vomiting, lethargy, anorexia/inappetance, diarrhoea, ataxia, abdominal pain, weakness) within 8-24 hours of ingestion of grapes/raisins.

• Affected dogs typically will show abnormal kidney levels on blood testing 24-48 hours after ingestion

• The survival rate for dogs with clinical signs and abnormal kidney levels on blood testing following grape/raisin ingestion is estimated in excess of 50%.

• Not all dogs will show clinical signs before having abnormal kidney levels on blood testing.

• The best outcome is seen in dogs if they are made to vomit within 4 hours of eating the grapes/raisins.

• The management of grape/raisin ingestion is to induce vomiting (ideally within 4 hours) and then administer activated charcoal to reduce the absorption of any residual toxin in the stomach.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break and please rest assured that dogs have not been identified or implicated in the transmission of Coronavirus.

Dr Naomi Hansen BVSc (Hons) MVS MACVSc Veterinary Director