We had friends over for dinner last night and our extraverted Caramel wanted to take part, as is her custom. Upon arrival, Susan took our guests to see the puppies, while I pulled the roast vegetables and Moroccan Chickend Tagline with Apricots and Figs from the oven and tended to the finishing touches of getting the meal on the table. We put Caramel in the whelping room with the puppies and closed the door. I gave her a dental stick to chew on hoping she would settle for a while. The peace lasted for about five minutes while she demolished the Whimzee, then she began to make known her insistence to join the group. We caved and let her out and she spent most of the meal on the floor next to me. We had a lovely meal with the Tagline Roast Mediterranean vegetables and Couscous, followed by our friend Di's divine homemade Seville Orange Ice Cream. I followed this up with a cheese course and Port wine where we raised a toast to the 248th Birthday of the US Marine Corps, where I served for 11 years as a Commissioned Officer and helicopter pilot.
I had taken about two sips of Port when one of our guests dropped a grape on the floor. Caramel pounced on it and wolfed it down before any of us who are aware of grape toxicity to canines could react. Susan got down on the floor with her and tried using her fingers to retrieve the grape, but she had already swallowed it. Susan then tried to trigger her gag reflex to make her vomit it up, to no avail.
Grapes, raisins and grape products are known to be toxic to dogs; however, there is a great deal of conflicting information on the Internet about this phenomenon. We called the 24-hour Veterinarian in Woodstock, which is the nearest 24 hour Vet Office. They first recommended that we bring her in for induction of vomiting. We've done this a few times before when Caramel has eaten a raisin or some other toxic plant. The Vet injects apomorphine and this makes her vomit within 10-15 minutes. Soon the receptionist called me back and said she had spoken to the Vet and was told that apomorphine is not licensed for a lactating dog, as no testing has been done on if or how it affects puppies. They advised that I call the Animal Poison Line at PDSA. Once I waded through what seemed like excessively verbose voice menus, I was prompted to enter a credit card number to pay the £45 fee for the PDSA service. Unfortunately, their instructions that say to press hash after entering the card number are wrong. It took me two phone calls and four card number entries before I decided to not press hash and see what happens. The payment went through once I ignored their instructions. They said I need to take her to the Vet to have vomiting induced. This was very frustrating since the Vet had told they can't induce vomiting and to call the Poison Line for advice. The poison line then told me, "We don't give medical advice. It's up to your Vet to decide how to induce vomiting. I called back the 24-hour Vet and asked, "Can you give apomorphine to induce vomiting if we bottle feed the puppies. The receptionist checked with the Vet and said, "Yes, we can do that." But there was a catch. We would have to bottle feed the puppies from here on and not let them nurse from their mom. They would also put Caramel on a 48 hour drip to flush the toxins from her system. Meanwhile, our guests were Googling what to do and saying most of the websites say that one grape is not enough to kill an adult dog, but that it could take anywhere from 10-100 times the amount she ate to cause harm. The imprecise range was not re-assuring.
I then remembered we have activated charcoal left over from the last time we had a toxic plant scare, so we gave Caramel charcoal, mixing it with peanut butter to get her to eat it. Later, we gave her two teaspoons of Carbodote liquid with a syringe into her mouth. This morning I took her to our Vet, Beaumont Veterinarians in Kidlington. Theresa Alvarez was amazing, as usual. She had called the PDSA poison line and gotten through to a more knowledgeable person before we arrived. She examined Caramel and then explained that if an adult dog eats just one grape, you don't need to do anything. One grape or raisin is not enough to cause kidney failure. If you have activated charcoal on hand, you can give two doses spaced by four hours as a precaution. While I was at the Vet, the Service Manager at PDSA called and spoke to Theresa. Afterward, she briefed me on the conversation. The Manager had listened to the recording of last night's call and was disappointed with the poor handling of Caramels' case. She informed our Vet that she was going to refund my £45 fee and make sure their staff get training. She also indicated that she will call me later in the day. Theresa told me that the lowest known toxic dose of grape that has killed a dog is 3 grams per Kg of body weight. Caramel weighs 10.35Kg, so she could probably eat 33 grams of grapes before we should worry. She advised that blood tests for kidney function are not needed. I was relieved and grapeful for the caring service received from Beaumont Vets and brought Caramel home to a very relieved wife. Lessons Learned: 1. Know the toxic dose of any foods you keep that are known to be harmful to your pets. For grapes, this is 3 grams per Kilogram of your dog's weight. For garlic and onions, it's about 2.5 grams/Kilogram of body weight. One grape could be fatal for a small puppy, but not an adult dog. Raisins are dried, concentrating the toxins, so I need to determine how many grapes it takes to weigh 33 grams, then that becomes the raisin toxicity count. 2. Keep Activated Charcoal on hand in case your dog ingests a toxic substance. It can absorb 10 times it's weight of harmful toxins.
3. According to the American Kennel Club, in an emergency, you can administer 1 millilitre per pound of dog's body weight of 3% hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Just bear in mind that 6% and 9% solutions are common in UK stores. 1tsp=5 millilitres. Keep in mind this is a last resort, as hydrogen peroxide causes gastritis and it will upset your dog's system for a while. Hydrogen peroxide is not licensed for this application in the UK, so Vets won't use it and anyone who does, uses it at their own risk.
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