Today is the day Dex can reach the back of the countertop

[tacit]

Dex ate half a kilo of raisins this morning, which are highly toxic to dogs. I got home soon after he ate them - between half an hour and 90 minutes, depending on when he got into them - and though he's asymptomatic I took him to the vets. They've admitted him and are going to pump his stomach, and put him on a drip until Friday at least. I won't know if he'll live until tomorrow. A handful of raisins can cause kidney failure, and he ate half a kilo.

I AM FREAKING OUT. Reassure me?

Fuck, dear flist.

Fuck.

Comments

[stillane.livejournal.com]

BRB. Hunting for raisin intoxication info on our vet online library.

*hugs tight*

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Disclaimer: I'm not certified yet, so when in doubt, go with whatever your vet tells you if we disagree on something. Also, any of this that your vet has already covered with you, please feel free to ignore, of course. Same goes if you'd rather not know about any of this (although I promise it's not doom and gloom).

Okay, so, from what I can tell, raisin toxicity is still pretty poorly understood. No one seems to be very sure exactly what the kidney-damaging process involved is, or how to predict what the effects will be on any given dog. For some dogs, a little bit is a problem (kidney issues can start at 11-30 g of raising/kg of dog, according to the Merck vet manual), but others can eat massive quantities with no ill effects at all.

An important thing to keep in mind here is that there's a big difference between kidney disfunction and kidney failure. That number above is just where disfunction can start, not necessarily where failure does. And disfunction, scary as it might sound, isn't a death sentence; with supportive care, the kidneys can get their act together and be okay, so don't panic.

Unfortunately, it's still a wait-and-see situation overall, though. Sorry.

The good news is, you caught it way ahead of the game. The fact that the vet's even inducing vomiting in the first place indicates to me that this was early enough after he ate the raisins that they feel he hasn't gotten the full dose into his bloodstream. Raisins are funny, too, because while they're more concentrated than grapes, they're also harder to digest and therefore take longer. The fluids themselves might sound especially scary, given how long he should be on them, but really aren't. They're serving a double purpose: both to replace what he's losing through the vomiting and to flush his kidneys out so that they can stay on top of the game. If he does start to show some kidney signs, there are also some drugs that can help keep urine production moving along that they might want to discuss with you, so be prepared.

I know the waiting sucks, but it sounds like he's getting excellent care, and like they're taking all the right steps to be as cautious as they can. I'm so sorry poor Dex is having a rough time, and I'll keep my fingers crossed.

*hugs again*

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

MARRY ME.

This is exactly what I wanted to know, but didn't want to google. Because you know how it goes when you google - you get a hit that says '90% of the time it's all fine... but here are some graphic details on the other 10 percent OF DOOM.'

I called them and they're going to let me go over and take him for a walk tomorrow, if he's still asymptomatic. So, if they're willing for me to do that (I'll find out in the morning) then they must feel ok about him coming off the IV for a couple of hours and going for a good run. I think once they agree to that, and once I see him, I'll feel ten times better. At 4.30 this afternoon he was his usual crazed self... I know they have staff on at night and really want to call and check up on him again - is that clingy?! It's past 10... And I sort of don't want to know, as well. He'll have gone a bit nuts from the confinement by now, and the last thing I want is to hear him yipping and whining in the background when there's nothing I can do about it.

And... if he was going to have outright kidney failure then surely he'd be showing signs by now? And if he was sick, they'd have called me, I'm sure of that. (They listened to me blub earlier on, I think they get how worried I am!) And... kidney dysfunction is bad, sure, but I've been down that road myself so it's not the terrifying unknown.

I am never leaving food out, ever again. Not even a crumb!

Thanks so much for finding this out for me. Not knowing is the worst thing. *hugs you hard*

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

I couldn't restrain myself - I rang their emergency line to talk to the nurse on duty. She says he's still asymptomatic. \o/

I quite want to capslock, but I'm holding it in until after I walk him tomorrow, when I can see for myself how he is. But, you know. THANK FUCK.