Dogs can't look up
I never thought I'd find myself having a heated debate about dog's capacity for grape consumption of all things.
I was standing in the park the other day waiting for his royal highness to finish watering the lamp posts when he came bounding over to me, suddenly distracted by the bunch of grapes I was eating. His tongue was sloshing back and forth so maniacally I suspect he must have mistaken them for mini Cadbury's cream eggs, albeit those rare-as-rocking-horse-deposits, green, rubbery ones. Not wanting to deprive him, I hurled a few in his direction and watched while he scooped them out of thin air like a lizard catching flies.
It was at this point I was approached by a complete stranger who was overly concerned that I was feeding my dog grapes. The conversation went a lot like this...
Park-loitering nutter (henceforth known as PLN): "You know you shouldn't give grapes to dogs."
Me: "Oh really, why's that?"
PLN: "You just shouldn't, it's not good for them."
Me: "Hmm, so do they have trouble digesting them properly or something?"
PLN: "Err... well... I don't know, but I'd stop it if I were you."
Me: "If us humans can eat them without keeling over with uncontrollable abdominal spasms I doubt very much they can be harmful to dogs."
PLN: "Well if you're happy to take the ris--"
Me: "Risk of what exactly? They're grapes not used heroine needles for Christ's sake!".
You know how sometimes posts sound funnier in your head? If this were someone else's blog you'd have to pay me to read this drivel.
Anyway, we went back and forth for a while longer, our voices getting higher and more exasperated with each exchange. For a fleeting moment I was struck by the absurdity of standing about in the waning light of a freezing cold November evening arguing about the intricacies of the dog-grape complex, but I wasn't going to let it go. I was dumbstruck (and more than a bit intrigued) by the notion that this guy was prepared to defend his stance so vehemently when he had no evidence of any kind - not even a dubious, hand-me-down anecdote from a three-times-removed demented auntie - that what he was proclaiming contained an ounce of truth.
What's the most ridiculous, entirely baseless advice you've had unsuspectingly foisted upon you?
8 comments:
Grapes huh. No idea myself but i wouldn't pay him much attention, if my dog used to eat lemons and apricots surely grapes aren't that bad.
Anyone with siblings has probably had a huge party of an argument on something as insignificant as... well grapes and dogs.
Baseless advice tho, well there was the straight guy when I came out who suggested I have gay sex to show I'm not gay. I still don't really understand what electrons passed through his skull.
BTW British dogs look really... odd. If your picture is anything to go by that is.
*Scratches head* The only explanation I can come up with is that he thought you could give it a whirl and if it wasn't your cup of cha - ta da! - you're not gay.
The theory might not hold up for those gay people who aren't all that keen on gay sex. Hmm...
*Shrug* Dogs, red pandas, they've all got four legs and a tail. Hover your cursor over the pic to read the tool tip. ;)
The picture of the "dog" looks like a red panda. Ohhhh, he is so cute! :D I wish I could pet him. :) About the grapes: Hmmm, I dont know anything about grapes that will harm the dog though. :-\ Maybe chocolates. :)
I can see there's no fooling you. :p
Chocolate and dogs don't mix, but it still takes a heck of a lot of the stuff to kill a medium sized dog. By my calculations a fatal dose would equate to 1.77 of those Cadbury's dairy milk slabs. Darker, less sweet chocolate e.g. cooking chocolate is 4 times more toxic to dogs though.
Ibuprofen is another thing to keep out of the reach of dogs - apparently they love it. 1 tablet is enough to give dogs stomach ulcers and 6 can cause kidney failure!
Those snail pellets are bad too. Our dog got at a packet of little blue marvels to start frothing at the mouth. Evidence of the ripped container nearby we took him to the vet. He was quite close to kicking it apparently but lived through that.
Phew, that was close. I thought the manufacturers put something in slug pellets to make them taste nasty to pets? There's no accounting for personal preference I suppose.
Giving dogs grapes can cause kidney failure, as can raisins:
http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsandevents/facts/petsafety/Grapes.html
On a scale of 10 to 10 guess how stupid I feel now. You'd have thought if I was prepared to go to such lengths to post this rant I could have Googled it first. Thanks for putting me straight.
...*scurries off to find a rock to hide under*
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