Something all dog owners should know

I want to first start this post by saying that Bailey, so far, is just fine. But we had a bit of a scary experience on Tuesday. I’m sharing only because had I been armed with all of this information at the start, I would have done things quite differently. Now that I know, I feel it’s my responsibility to share should you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

In case you don’t know, raisins and grapes are toxic for dogs.

In fact, according to my extensive internet research, they’re rarely described as anything other than fatally toxic. So, yeah. Thanks Dr. Google for that additional heart attack. This isn’t like the chocolate thing where you’ll hear stories from people who don’t understand that it’s baker’s and dark chocolate that are toxic. One raisin, one grape can be enough to cause severe injury. Research has yet to determine any kind of reliable formula to determine exactly how or why. Which also means regardless of your dog’s size of how little they’ve ingested you have to take immediate action.

On Tuesday evening, I was running out to pick up some moving boxes from a woman on Facebook Marketplace (update on that coming soon…I hope). Oh a whim, I invited my mom to join me–you never know with these internet pick ups. The pick up was less than 10 minutes from our house, and we couldn’t have been gone more than 30 minutes. But Bailey acts fast. Especially since we’ve been living at mom’s, if there is any food left remotely accessible to her, she will eat it. There is no rhyme or reason here either. Sometimes she can be left for hours at a time and not touch a thing. Other times I’ll be gone 10 minutes and she’ll eat an entire loaf of bread. This dog, even at 9 years old, is mayhem.

As we pulled into the garage, it dawned on me. I left meatballs defrosting on the counter. Mom stared at me, an amused knowing look on her face. We knew before walking in the door those suckers would be long gone. But Bailey does something…strange. You see, Jonathan and I are living at Mom’s right now. Everything my mom needs is on the first floor–so we live on the second. We have a little living room area, a tiny kitchenette (we’re talking a coffee pot, mini fridge and toaster oven), our bedroom, bathroom, my (closet) office, you get the picture. Basically, we have our own little “apartment” up here sans a real kitchen.

I don’t know why Bailey does this, but whatever she takes from the kitchen, she brings it upstairs to consume. It’s the most bizarre thing. I walked in, checked the counter and sure enough–the meatballs were missing. But it wasn’t until I got upstairs a few moments later that I discovered that wasn’t all.

My mom had been gifted these amazing pastries that were filled with…raisins. And what did I find when I climbed the stairs? The pastry box…empty. Before you criticize, it’s important for you to know that 1) those suckers had been in the SAME PLACE for 2+ weeks and the dog never bothered them. 2) They were OUT OF HER REACH…or so we thought. This dog is a freaking Macgyver I tell you. Initially I was just annoyed. I vacuumed up the mess (side note: apparently she doesn’t really like raisins because she spat about 5 of them out, eating only the pastry). I vacuumed the downstairs for my mom. And then I sat down to research.

Uh, this is kind of a big deal I said to my mom as I walked into her bedroom, laptop in hand. We have to do something about this. The thing is, what? As a pet owner, my instinct was to bring her to an emergency vet. So I started a Google search.

I called a local vet who didn’t close until 7, but unfortunately their doctor had called out with strep throat. But the tech gave me some vital advice.

When this happens, she said to me, if the ingestion was within the last 2 hours, we advise you call animal poison control first to get your dog to vomit before we proceed with treatment.

I had no idea there was an animal poison control. We have had Bailey for 9 years. I grew up with dogs. How is this not more of a widely known thing? 

Dog owners: here’s what you need to know:

Animal poison control: 888-426-4435

What you need on hand:

• 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
• A pediatric syringe (without the needle–you know, the kind you could use to squirt a liquid into the back of a dog’s mouth)
• AND/OR something to mix the peroxide with

If you suspect or know that your dog has consumed a grape or raisin, and it’s within the first 2 hours, call animal poison control immediately. There is a $75 fee for the service, but you and I both know that’s less than the initial fee to simply walk into a vet’s office. And the vet is going to call poison control the moment you bring them in anyway–so DO THIS FIRST. The key here is that you want this stuff out of their bodies before it digests and starts to absorb into their bloodstream.

Raisins and grapes threaten the kidneys. Even just one raisin or grape can cause severe kidney injury or renal failure. Poison control will ask you all the important questions like how much your dog weighs, what and how much they consumed, how old they are, their medical history, etc. From there, they will give you an exact, specific measurement of the solution to give to your dog. DO NOT JUST READ ON THE INTERNET AND BALLPARK. This is critical! 

They will also give you instructions on what to do if your dog doesn’t vomit within 15 minutes of administering the solution. They give you a case number and a specific call back number so that you don’t have to keep explaining the situation over and over again (and to save precious, critical time).

In our case, I mixed the solution with yogurt (per instructions) and Bailey was a champ. She ate all of it and did vomit within the first 15 minutes. Twice.

When I called back, the Dr on staff felt fairly confident we had thwarted any further threat to Bailey’s kidneys. She did say that in some cases for further certainty, to take the dog to a 24 hour vet to get some bloodwork done. If there were still any immediate threat, they would administer IV fluids which is the most aggressive way to flush the dog’s system.

In our case, we were given very specific instructions of what to look for. We were told that if we see any of the symptoms (I’ll refrain from sharing only because she did say these were dog/case specific) to call back immediately.

So far, Bailey is doing just fine. She is drinking regularly, and voiding properly (TMI but hey, here we are). There doesn’t seem to be any further threat to her kidney function. (Praise Jesus!)

If I had known any of this, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time. Sometimes that one hour can be the difference between an all clear and devastating damage. 

TLDR: If your dog eats ANY raisins, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, preferably within the first 2 hours call animal poison control. Be sure you have (fresh; read: bubbly) hydrogen peroxide in your house at all times. The immediate urgency is to get your dog to vomit as quickly as possible and then take them in to an emergency vet unless they are showing immediate signs of distress.

I am not a veterinary professional. All of the information in this post is for the sake of sharing my own personal experience and what I wish I’d known. Seek professional veterinary consultation to make any informed decisions.