Forbidden fruit .
Discussion
I know that grapes /anything grapey is dogs worst nightmare .
But I've got a fruit loving grandson ,who we look after a few times a week . He's fruit mad - tangerines/oranges /melon / kiwi - pinaple etc . But at 2 and a half ,he's not great at keeping it to himself ,and Toby ( our 10+ Cairn -approx 12KG,and on a diet) hovers, looking to hoover .I've seen toby eyeing up tangerines ,and wondered ,apart from danger to his wasteline, what other fruits can be dangerous to the dog .
ANYONE
But I've got a fruit loving grandson ,who we look after a few times a week . He's fruit mad - tangerines/oranges /melon / kiwi - pinaple etc . But at 2 and a half ,he's not great at keeping it to himself ,and Toby ( our 10+ Cairn -approx 12KG,and on a diet) hovers, looking to hoover .I've seen toby eyeing up tangerines ,and wondered ,apart from danger to his wasteline, what other fruits can be dangerous to the dog .
ANYONE
Had to google... wiki suggests "If dogs eat the pits of fruits such as peaches and apricots or apple seeds, they can get cyanide poisoning due to cyanogenic glycosides. However, the dog has to chew on the pit or seed to release the cyanide. Swallowing them whole will not cause poisoning but may lead to choking. It should be noted that a very large amount of seeds would need to be chewed and swallowed in order to cause problems."
There's a factsheet from the Dogs Trust here: http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/_resources/resources/f... that lists a load of poisonous substances 
Th trouble is though, how much does a dog need to eat before it becomes dangerous. We had a panic on when our two year old opened up a chocolate orange, which our working cocker promptly stole and devoured. It turns out though that she would have had to have eaten four and a half chocolate oranges for there to be a real danger.
With chocolate, it depends on the cocoa content. A cheap milk chocolate biscuit is a different matter to a bar of 80% cocoa solids dark choccy.
I suspect that with many of these things, the issue is the dog that gets in the cupboard and eats an entire bag of sultanas rather than the one that eats a grape the kids have dropped.
I suspect that with many of these things, the issue is the dog that gets in the cupboard and eats an entire bag of sultanas rather than the one that eats a grape the kids have dropped.
otolith said:
With chocolate, it depends on the cocoa content. A cheap milk chocolate biscuit is a different matter to a bar of 80% cocoa solids dark choccy.
I suspect that with many of these things, the issue is the dog that gets in the cupboard and eats an entire bag of sultanas rather than the one that eats a grape the kids have dropped.
You're right with the chocolate (though dogs with heart probs more of a risk re chocolate at lower doses). However the grape is different. No one has been able to work out properly the toxic effect of them. It seems to be showing that some dogs can easily eat a bunch of grapes to no ill effect another dog could eat just a few and end up in kidney failure. The general guide is 1-2 grapes/kg but the veterinary poisons unit adv same tx for all dogs no matter how many grapes or raisins may have been ingested and no matter the size of dog. They are currently still a bit of a mystery as they still can't figure out why grapes should cause kidney failure in dogs in the first place. Though it'd be one unlucky dog to suffer as a result of eating one dropped grape.I suspect that with many of these things, the issue is the dog that gets in the cupboard and eats an entire bag of sultanas rather than the one that eats a grape the kids have dropped.
Yes, my sister used to feed grapes to our GSD when we were kids, and he lived to a ripe old age, so I think you would have to be pretty unlucky - which isn't to say that you shouldn't be careful, and obviously I now wouldn't let a dog have any grapes at all if I could help it.
What I was getting at, though, is that most of these things we can eat but our pets can't are moderately toxic, with the major risk of serious illness being when the animal gets his face into a big pile of it rather than when a kid drops a bit or the dog snaffles it off an unattended plate. So what I would really worry about is safe storage of large quantities of food.
With the cats, cut flowers and houseplants worry me more than inappropriate human foods, some of those are much more than moderately toxic. We lost a kitten due to a bouquet of flowers with asiatic lilies in it, and my sister's cat was seriously ill after chewing the leaves of a tomato plant.
What I was getting at, though, is that most of these things we can eat but our pets can't are moderately toxic, with the major risk of serious illness being when the animal gets his face into a big pile of it rather than when a kid drops a bit or the dog snaffles it off an unattended plate. So what I would really worry about is safe storage of large quantities of food.
With the cats, cut flowers and houseplants worry me more than inappropriate human foods, some of those are much more than moderately toxic. We lost a kitten due to a bouquet of flowers with asiatic lilies in it, and my sister's cat was seriously ill after chewing the leaves of a tomato plant.
Bit of a minefield though - as said - fortunately Toby turns his nose up at grapes/rasins/currents , but is very partial to a bit of home made fruit cake -he's home baking mad . Made sure that he's not gotten near any fruits ,as I think too much of him to see him get problems from GS feeding him titbits -or throwing them to him - Toby is a glutton - anything sweet gets gobbled up . Yesterday it was a Maltesser - throwen by GS . And as Toby is a tad overweight with a slight heart murmour - I'm not taking chances -hence the request for info .
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