poisons

POISONOUS FOODS

Here is a list of some poisonous foods you should be aware of:

Chocolate

Dogs are particularly sensitive to a class of chemicals called methylxanthines. Theobromine and caffeine all belong to this family. Dogs cannot metabolise and excrete these compounds as efficiently as humans. These compounds, once swallowed are taken up by the liver, transmitted back to the small intestine and converted back to the original methylxanthines. After which, they take another trip around the body. This is repeated a number of times, so instead of getting rid of the compounds (as a human being does) the dog will just keep poisoning itself. The difficulty is that there are many different formulations of chocolate, from sweet milk chocolate, which is the mildest form to the dark bitter chocolate, commonly produced for the continental market, but increasingly consumed in the UK. A lethal amount of sweet milk chocolate is said to be around two ounces to every Kg in bodyweight. For example: A dog weighing 22lb the lethal amount would be around 20 ounces. Dark bitter chocolate is considered to be about ten times as toxic, so a 22lb dog could actually die from as little as 2 ounces of dark chocolate. Although many people are aware of this fact, there are many others that are unaware and still others who have been given the facts but choose to ignore them. We have all heard someone say "I've given my dogs chocolate for years and they've never come to any harm". They may not have done, as they've probably been given a small amount of milk chocolate but what it has done is give the dog a taste for it and who knows when they may find a bar of dark chocolate? It comes as no great surprise that Easter and Christmas are times when many dogs are at risk, especially when family members visit and often give titbits to a dog, or dogs are left alone to consume any left out chocolates.
It has also been reported that two labradors were found dead one morning after consuming a tin of drinking chocolate between them.

Clinical Signs of Theobromine poisoning: Nausea, Vomiting, Increased Urination or Incontinence, Hyperactivity, Restlessness, Hypersensitivity when touched (A dog will jump on touch), A raised rapid respiration and Heartbeat Muscle Tremors, Seizures, Weakness, Lethargy, Depression, Coma and Death.

In domestic pets - especially dogs - including birds, chocolate may harm the heart, kidneys and their central nervous system. The effect is very serious. Just 200g of cooking chocolate can kill a 30kg dog. All chocolates containing theobromine and caffeine are toxic, including chocolate powder and milk chocolate. If a young or small dog steals a bar of chocolate, then two hours later it may be sick, in 10 hours it could be dead. If treated within two to four hours it could be saved.

Theobromine also irritates the GI tract and in some dogs can cause internal bleeding which in some cases kills them a day or so later. Theobromine will stay in the bloodstream between 14 and 20 hours. It goes back into the bloodstream through the stomach lining and takes a long time for the liver to filter out.

Within two hours of ingestion, try inducing vomiting unless your dog is markedly stimulated, comatosed, or has lost the gag reflex. It takes up to six hours for the stomach to absorb its contents and the sooner the toxins are removed the better. You can induce vomiting by naking your dog drink very concentrated salt water. He won't want to drink it because of the bad tast but you will need to hold his mouth open and pour the solution down. Veterinary treatment is still necessary after this. If your dog has eaten a considerable amount of chocolate, or displays any of the above symptoms, take it to the vet without delay.

In the absence of major symptoms, administer activated charcoal. The unabsorbed theobromine will chemically bond to this and be eliminated in the feaces. If charcoal is not available try using burnt (as in thoroughly burnt, crumbling in hand) toast. Alternatively Washing Soda crystals, available from hardware shops are a fairly reliable emetic. One to two crystals (depending on the size of the dog) are given orally and should induce vomiting within five minutes.

Dog Choc Drops Danger

Macadamia nuts
Macadamia Nuts- Several cases of Macadamia nut poisoning have been reported by the National Animal Poisoning Centre in the U.S. None of the dogs died, but within 12 hours of eating about 12g per kilo of body weight, dogs began to develop weakness, tremors and depression. Two days after poisoning dogs recovered.

Walnut-Outer green Hulls
Walnuts are poisonous to dogs and should be avoided. In particular, there is a type of fungus common to walnuts (especially wet deadfall walnuts) that will cause severe episodes of seizuring. Many nuts are not good for dogs in general, their high phosporous content is said to possibly lead to bladder stones.

Potatoes
Green skins and Green sprouts in potatoes - these have also poisoned humans too - although cooked, mashed potato is alright. - Due to Solanum alkaloids that are found in the green skins and green sprouts.
The Solanum alkaloids can be found in the green sprouts and green potato skins, this occurs when the tubers are exposed to the sunlight during their growing time or after they have been harvested. Although it is rare that actual poisoning occurs please do not take any chances with your dogs and keep them away from the potatoes in your garden and kitchen.

Tea, coffee and cola type drinks
These drinks contain Theobromine. Please see Chocolate.

Raw Liver
If you feed raw liver in large quantities every day it can cause a vitamin A toxicity in dogs. Especially if your dog is fed a diet already containing ample Vitamin A. The toxicity symptoms that show are poor growth, impaired reproduction and vision problems.

Fruits
Pear pips, kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple pips . They contain cyanide and in large quantities can prove fatal.

Grapes, Raisins and Sultanas/Golden Raisins
Grapes, raisins and sultanas - extremely poisonous!! - can cause kidney failure.

McGee died of a RAISIN OVERDOSE. Three days ago, he ate 18 ounces of raisins that were sitting on the coffee table.
He loved raisins, and he would sit politely waiting for his turn while my two rabbits begged for their raisin treats. The overdose caused renal (kidney) failure, which in turn caused an unusually high concentration of calcium in his blood. The veterinarian originally suspected rat poison. He vomited repeatedly and by the second day, he could not walk. He died at the Metropolitan Emergency Animal Clinic in Rockville, Maryland with me and one of his other human housemates at his side.
MCGEE'S DEATH IS THE FIRST DOCUMENTED CASE OF RAISIN/GRAPE TOXICITY IN MARYLAND.

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Please could you put a warning on your web site of the dangers of feeding dogs' grapes and raisins. My 4 ½ year old Lab managed to get hold of a bunch and within 24 hours was diagnosed with acute kidney failure, he is still seriously ill and I would not like to see other people watching there pets get so poorly so quickly.
My vet was unaware of the fact grapes are toxic in large quantities, but fortunately for me the nurse had read something in passing so bloods were taken very quickly.
It is still too early to say what Scooby's outcome will be, but the death rate from cases in America would appear to be 50:50.
If this could just get people talking and thinking twice of using these foods as training treats it would be a great start to preventing these deaths or at least getting them treatment early.
As yet the reasons are unknown as to what causes the problems but pesticides and sprays have been ruled out.
Many Thanks
Alison Stewart

Alcohol
Alcohol poisoning is usually fatal.

In one case, a Jack Russel drank 50ml of whisky in 15 minutes on an empty stomach and nearly died. Other dogs that have scavenged fermented, rotten apples have died of ethanol poisoning, which is the toxic constituent of alcohol.

Onions and Garlic
Onions especially raw onions - Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Sulphur in them cause the problem. This can damage the red blood cells and cause anaemia. Garlic is less toxic than onions. If you wish to give your dog garlic to naturally repel fleas please check amounts with your vet first.
All parts of the onion are poisonous. Even if dried or hidden inside foods like pizza, the theobromine component of it can kill. Garlic is also a problem but less toxic. Symptoms can be delayed for a day; vomiting and diarrhoea are often seen at first. A haemolytic anaemia rapidly develops, where the
pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. followed by breathlessness and death.

At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.

The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion

While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

Turkey Skin
Currently it is thought that Turkey skin can cause acute pancreatis.

Turkey Tummy in Dogs

At Christmas time, many dogs are fed large amounts of scraps, which can result in gut overload, vomiting and diarrhoea. Sometimes called "turkey Tummy", this syndrome can cause severe illness in some dogs.

Eating too much causes mild gut signs, which pass in a few days. But more worrying symptoms, such as belly pains, lethargy and profuse diarrhoea can be seen if food is inadequately cooked or reheated or in dogs that have gut sensitivities. If you do feed scraps, make sure they are thoroughly cooked and in reasonable amounts: beef and turkey are the most common causes of problems.

Each year, following Christmas I have to put dogs on medication and a drip with fluids for a variety of gut illnesses, such as eating toys or chocolate, but the most common problem is overeating.
Harvey Caruthers

Raw Fish, see also Raw Salmon below
Too much raw fish. This is because some raw fish can cause a deficiency of the vitamin thiamine (a vitamin B).

The symptoms of a thiamine deficiency include anorexia (complete loss of appetite), abnormal posture, weakness, seizures, and can even cause death. This includes cats as well as dogs.

Raw Salmon
Salmon eat snails that carry a fluke (Rickettsai-infected flatworm larvae (Nanophyetus Salmincola) that contain bacteria that can harm dogs if ingested by them. The flukes can be found in any part of the raw salmon but mainly the head and the guts. Sadly your dog can be harmed by just coming into contact with the salmons blood. You can kill this bacteria by freezing, smoking or cooking the fish. Diagnosis of this is difficult due to the fact that it mimics other canine diseases like Parvovirus but it is easily treated with antibiotics once diagnosed. Please be very careful if you take your dogs anywhere where salmon might be.

The symptons of Salmon Poisoning include high fever, swollen lymph nodes and is usually fatal within 5 days if left untreated.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/salmon.asp

Bread Dough
When bread dough is ingested, an animal's body heat causes the dough to rise in the stomach. As alcohol is produced during the rising process, the dough expands. Pet's who've eaten bread dough may experience abdominal pain, bloat, vomiting, disorientation and depression.

Xylitol
Xylitol - a sugar substitute that is now being used in some sugar free gums and sweets, breath freshners (designed for both humans and pets), smoking cessation aids (e.g. nicotine gum), toothpaste's, some household baking products and various vitamin and supplement products, can cause serious - possibly life threatening, problems for dogs.

Xylitol has been documented to increase blood insulin levels, resulting in significantly diminished blood glucose levels. One to two pieces of xylitol sweetened gum can pose a concern for the development of hypoglycaemia in a 20 lb (9.1 kg) dog. The amount of xylitol ingested in 20 pieces of gum would be 40g. Dogs ingesting large amounts of products sweetened with xylitol may have a sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, loss of coordination, vomiting and seizures.

Because of the propensity of xylitol to cause a rapid drop in blood glucose it is extremely important to manage xylitol ingestion's to prevent hypoglycaemia. Administration of small, frequent meals for approximately 8 - 12 hours after exposure may aid in preventing or minimising development of hypoglycaemia in asymptomatic dogs. (Hypoglycaemia - blood sugar level drops too low to provide enough energy for the body's activities.).

These signs can develop quite readily, at times less than 30 minutes after ingestion of the product. Therefore, it is important to stress the need for veterinary care if a dog becomes asymptomatic while being monitored at home. Signs such as vomiting, ataxia or depression warrant an immediate trip to the veterinary clinic.

Some data appears to point to a possible link between xylitol ingestion and the development of liver failure in dogs, however, this data is insufficient to draw firm conclusions.

It is important for pet owners to be aware of the potential hazards of seemingly harmless foods. In this case xylitol ingestion in dogs, full recovery depends on appropriate and timely initial decontamination, vigilant observance by owners of their pet following exposure and prompt veterinary care for asymptomatic pets.

Avoid offering your dogs food meant for human consumption and be especially diligent in keeping sweets, gum or any foods containing xylitol out of the reach of pets.

Dexter

Dexter, our seven month old puppy loves treats and so, when our three year old daughter Sophie started feeding him mints, he loved it and "wolfed" them down. I was watching television and down on the floor I could se Sophie playing with Dexter with her bag of mints - "one for you, one for me". I don't know how many mints the puppy ate but within the hour he was having seizures and vomiting. Frank, my husband was down the garden building a wall and rushed in when he heard me screaming. We rushed him to the vets at breakneck speed and when we arrived there he was basically in a coma. We told the vet about the mints and he immediately "phoned DEFRA Animal Poison Control and they confirmed that Dexter was being poisoned by xylitol.

Dexter stayed in the veterinary hospital for three days but even when he came home the vet told us that he needed to be watched very closely to make sure that there wasn't any permanent liver damage.

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Bodie and Doyle

After taking Bodie and Doyle for their usual romp through the woods and taking off my wet clothes and boots, I towel dried the dogs and made myself a cup of tea. I left the boys in the kitchen to dry off a bit and settled down for five minutes with the daily newspaper. Lovely. When I returned to the kitchen shortly afterwards, they both looked at me in a certain way that you know they have been up to something. And sure enough, there on the floor was my handbag and the two little monkeys had been rummaging through and had eaten a full pack of Trident sugarfree gum. I felt quite worried just in case the gum would cause an intestinal obstruction so I telephoned my vet just to be on the safe side. He told me that he would check and would ring back. To my surprise and horror he told me that xylitol is a sugar substitute that is now being used in sugarfree gum and sweets as well as other products and is very toxic to dogs and he needed to see us urgently. I was shaking and crying. What had I done to my precious boys. If I had known this, I never would have been casual about leaving a pack of gum where they could get it, any more than I would be leaving a bottle of poison within reach.

I told myself to "get a grip" and I put the boys in the car and drove to the vets surgery. The vet explained to me that, apparently, xylitol is not digested by humans but it is in dogs. It causes insulin production and a resulting drop in the dog's blood sugar. Hypoglycemia is the result with possible seizures, coma, and possible permanent liver damage. Deaths have also been reported. The boys were checked out and their blood sugars were already dropping.

They were put on dextrose drips which seemed to do the job and the boys had none of the complications that go with xylitol poisoning. They had to stay in the vets and thankfully their sugar levels eventually stabilized. Because I happened to "phone the vet and check out the gum I managed to get them there on time but I was actually checking because I was worried about intestinal obstructions, I had no idea at all that the gum was toxic. Please help spread the knowledge of this danger so that no other dogs and owners have to go through this nughtmare.