The Alternative and Complementary
Veterinary Centers of New York

Newsletter

Raisin Toxicity and Martha Stewart

In just one week at our hospitals we saw three cases of Raisin Toxicity and Martha Stewart came calling and asked Dr. Raclyn to be a special guest on her show. There's no real connection between the two, except for the fact that we'd like to GIVE you advice about toxic things your pets can eat, and we'd like to ASK you for advice about the Martha Stewart show.

Dangerous Foods

GRAPES and RAISINS: The holidays are particularly difficult times to control what our pets eat. There's just SO MUCH food around! Some of it is great for both dogs and cats. Some of it can give them a pretty upset stomach. And some of the foods we celebrate the holidays with can be downright dangerous.

We chose this particular photo below because it shows a triple whammy. Both grapes, raisins and chocolate are all toxic for dogs. So if you're going to keep chocolate coated raisins in the house, please make sure to keep the far away from the gluttonous eyes of your pooch.

A computerized animal toxicity database helped veterinarians see a trend in 1989, noticing that in some cases of acute renal failure (sudden kidney failure) dogs shared a common history: the consumption of raisins or grapes just prior to the kidney failure.

The type of grape or raisin doesn't seem to matter, and the amount consumed may be a single serving of raisins or a pound or more of grapes. (Raisins are much more concentrated.) Researchers are exploring the possibilities: a mycotoxin (fungal toxin), pesticide, herbicide or heavy metals, but thus far the actual toxin is unknown at this time.

An unfortunate choice of a logo

Vomiting and jittery (hyperactive) behavior are seen immediately to within the first 24 hours after ingestion. Diarrhea may also be seen, and the vomitus and feces may contain partially digested grapes or raisins. After 24 hours, the dog may become anorexic, lethargic and depressed. Additionally the abdomen may be painful, the dog may stop drinking and urinating. Ultimately, the kidneys fail, and without aggressive treatment, many dogs will die.

Macadamia Nuts: The exact cause of the clinical signs of toxicosis resulting from macadamia nut ingestion by dogs is unknown. Since toxicity has only been seen in dogs, the actual mechanism of action could be specific to the dog and may involve constituents of the nuts themselves, contaminants from processing, mycotoxins, or other unidentified causes.

In most cases, dogs develop an inability to stand or use their hind limbs within the first twelve hours post ingestion. Depression, vomiting, lethargy, tremors, and fever can also be present. Clinical signs were reported after dogs ingested as little as 1.2grams of nuts per pound of dog.

The prognosis in most cases is extremely good as most dogs return to normal within 24 to 48 hours with treatment, however, potential complications could be intestinal obstruction, pancreatitis, gastritis or enteritis.

Chocolate: By now, most dog owners understand that chocolate is toxic for dogs. But let's talk for a second about WHY it's toxic. There are substances called Methylxanthines in chocolate. They are part of what chocolate is and you can't really have chocolate without them. The two major toxins of Methylxanthines are Theobromine and Caffeine. Below is a shortened list of different types of chocolate and their Methylxanthine concentrations.... starting with the MOST toxic.

Believe it or not, at VETSnyc, we have access to a "Chocolate Toxicity Calculator" that can give us the potential outcomes of ingestion of different types of chocolate on different size dogs. Some recent calculations showed that:

• a 20 pound dog eating 1oz of semi sweet chips will develop symptoms and will need hospitalization
• a 40 pound dog eating 10oz of milk chocolate can be potentially fatal.
• a 10 pound dog that eats 1 oz of dark chocolate will need to hospitalized
  

So keep that chocolate close to you! Don't let the dogs be tempted!

POINSETTAS and TINSEL

Tinsel: Let's not forget our kitties. Although cats can be somewhat more discerning than dogs in terms of what they put in their mouths (as anyone who has ever tried to change a cat's food will attest to) they can however, be somewhat indiscriminate at times about what they swallow. And we know that cats just LOVE tinsel. Christmas tinsel is one of the most dangerous things that a cat can ingest. It causes their intestines to bunch up and become totally obstructed. Surgery is almost always neccessary, and is not however, always successful. So please, keep the tinsel on the upper branches of the tree, or don't use tinsel at all.

Poinsettas, on the other hand, have gotten a bad rap. They are NOT toxic. The typical christmas poinsettia is of the family Euphorbia spp (spurges) and is of the species E. pulcherrima. Experiments with rats with this plant failed to produce a toxicosis. The "highly toxic" reputation of poinsettia is thought to have come about due to a misidentification of a plant that was attributed to a lethal toxicosis.

Lilies: Most lilies are toxic to cats, and can cause fatal kidney failure. To see a great website by the ASPCA about toxic plants, please click here.... ASPCA Toxic Plant Database

Martha Stewart Calling!

Ms. Stewart has invited Dr. Raclyn to be a special guest on her show in January. It will be a special about cats, and they were hoping that we might have some great ideas for things we can do on the show with cats. There will be an audience of about 150 people in the studio, and they are all invited to bring their cats. The producers expect there to be about 75 cats in the audience, and a few more that will be on the stage working with us. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? We can't wait!

In terms of ideas of what we can do on the show, they would like something "vet" related. That means, no grooming, no nutrition advice (Purina is a big sponsor), no behavioral ideas. We came up with two ideas, and they are:

• How to perform a full body exam on your cat
• Acupuncture demonstration

But we really need your help. The show will be taping on January 6th, 2010, and if you can think of anything that we can do on the show that will be entertaining and educational, please let us know. We've created a special email address just for suggestions, so please click on the following link, and send any and all suggestions to us so we can pass it along to the producers.

Email us at MarthaStewartShow@VETSnyc.com, and thanks! And don't forget to watch the show, which will air on January 11, 2010 on NBC at 11am. Set your DVR or TIVO !

Happy Holidays to all!

and the staff of all three hospitals of VETSnyc!