i got a dog!

[Sapphyre]

very cute dog. im so sorry to hear about your first one, thats terrible. doctors really piss me off sometimes. all i know is that when you have a gut feeling you should follow it, because if something happened like that to one of my dogs and the doctor kept saying crap like that he would be sued right now.

 

We looked into what rights we have as far as suing the vet goes, and really, there's nothing we can do- it would just end up being a huge waste of time & money. they're not really the ones at fault though & the shelter we got him from has no legal responsibility, nor do they have to treat sick animals. As its a state run animal control shelter, the most they have to do as far as the dogs medical health is concerned is to give them a vaccine for kennel cough & rabies and thats it. it's the previous owners fault for having not taken care of him and for having allowed him to end up being picked up as a stray. A second vet said he'd probably had the heartworms for about 5 or 6 years and even if we had done the treatment for it, there was a very slim chance that it actually would've worked- it would've more likely killed him instantly.

[wannaBstuntin]

From another forum....

 

 

 

If you have a dog... PLEASE read this and send it on If you don't have

a dog, please pass along to friends who do.

 

 

Written

by:

Laurinda

Morris, DVM

Danville

Veterinary Clinic

Danville

, Ohio

 

This week I had the first case in history of raisin toxicity ever seen at MedVet.

My patient was a 56-pound, 5 yr old male neutered lab mix that ate half a

canister of raisins sometime between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday.

He started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking about 1AM on Wednesday

but the owner didn't call my emergency service until 7AM.

 

 

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND grapes causing acute Renal

failure but hadn't seen any formal paper on the subject. We had her

bring the dog in immediately. In the meantime, I called the ER service at

MedVet, and the doctor there was like me - had heard something about it,

but... Anyway, we contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control

Center and they said to give I V fluids at 1 1/2 times maintenance and watch the

kidney values for the next 48-72 hours.

 

The dog's BUN (blood urea nitrogen level) was already at 32 (normal less than 27) and creatinine! over 5

( 1.9 is the high end of normal) Both are monitors of kidney function in the

bloodstream. We placed an IV catheter and started the fluids. Rechecked the

renal values at 5 PM and the BUN was over 40 and creatinine over 7 with no urine production after a

liter of fluids. At the point I felt the dog was in acute renal failure and

sent him on to MedVet for a urinary catheter to monitor urine output overnight

as well as overnight care.

 

He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet and his renal values have continued to increase daily. He produced

urine when given lasix as a diuretic. He was on 3 different anti-vomiting

medications and they still couldn't control his vomiting. Today his urine

output decreased again, his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was at 10, his

phosphorus was very elevated and his blood pressure, which had been staying

around 150, skyrocketed to 220.. He continued to vomit and the owners elected

to euthanize.

 

This is a very sad case - great dog, great owners who

had no idea raisins could be a toxin. Please alert everyone you know who has a

dog of this very serious risk.

 

Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or grapes could be toxic. Many people

I know give their dogs grapes or raisins as treats including our ex-handler's.

Any exposure should give rise to immediate concern.

Onions, chocolate, cocoa and macadamia nuts can be fatal, too.

Even if you don't have a dog, you might have friends who do. This is worth passing on to

them.

Confirmation from Snopes about the above..http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp