Tuesday 28 November 2006

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Dogs can't look up

I never thought I'd find myself having a heated debate about dogs' capacity for grape consumption of all things.

I was standing in the park the other day waiting for my furry friend 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 snatched them out of thin air like a hyper-vigilant-bug-eyed lizard catching flies.


It was at this point I was approached by a complete stranger who was inexplicably 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 Lassie's sake!"

Anyway, we volleyed back and forth for a while longer, our voices ascending higher and more exasperated with each exchange. For a fleeting moment, I was struck by the absurdity of standing around in the waning illumination of a bitingly arctic November evening bickering over the intricacies of the dog-grape-digestion complex, but, of course, I wasn't going to let it go.

I was dumbstruck (and more than a bit intrigued) by the notion that this misguided canine crusader was prepared to defend his stance so vehemently, armed with not a shred of substantial 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.

Speaking of which, it turns out that there's very little scientific support for the theory that dogs are harmed by ingesting grapes. While a small minority do suffer acute kidney failure resulting in death, it's not known which breeds are susceptible or why that might be the case. Thousands of perfectly caring dog owners continue to feed their dogs a balanced diet including grapes and raisins without witnessing any adverse effects.

What's the most ridiculous, entirely baseless advice you've had unsuspectingly foisted upon you?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

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.

dreamkatcha said...

*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. ;)

rainbow said...

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. :)

dreamkatcha said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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.

dreamkatcha said...

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.

Andrew said...

Giving dogs grapes can cause kidney failure, as can raisins:

http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsandevents/facts/petsafety/Grapes.html

Anonymous said...

I never heard anything about grapes causing kidney failure in dogs, but once when I was a kid, I fed my cocker spaniel, Buddy, a ton of grapes. Then I remember coming back into the house only to find about 6 mountains of shit strewn about the house. From my experience, I can tell you that grapes are a natural laxative, and they give dogs the mad shits.

Anonymous said...

I already have regret even posting on such an ignorant mans blog but I feel like I have to say something.

By now I'm sure in all of your infinite wisdom you've googled "grapes bad for dogs" and found out that you were in fact completely wrong. Grapes are in fact bad for a dog’s health, as are raisins.

"Why are grapes harmful?

As far as grapes and raisins go, no one is sure why they're harmful. It's been confirmed that even grapes grown without fertilizers or pesticides can be toxic to dogs. But not to every dog, and not every time. It's also not known whether small amounts eaten over a long time period could have a cumulative effect.

What we do know is that the end result in nearly all reported cases of grape or raisin toxicity is acute kidney failure. (The term "acute" means that the condition is severe and comes on quickly.) The dog ultimately can't produce urine, which means they can't filter toxins out of their systems -- a process essential to life.

During the twelve-month period in which the effects of grapes were studied, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center handled 140 cases involving one or more dogs. Over a third of the dogs developed symptoms ranging from vomiting to kidney failure, and seven dogs died. The ASPCA based their study on reported cases, so naturally there may be cases where a dogs health is entirely unaffected by eating grapes. But until they know all the facts, the Society advises against feeding pets grapes or raisins in any amount."
- http://ezinearticles.com/?Grapes,-Nuts,-and-Your-Dogs-Health----Foods-that-Fido-should-Avoid&id=20315

There are several resources on it but there is a little "evidence" which you apparently were unable to find on your own.

Now to my point, you ridicule this man for trying to help you and protect your animal without even checking his story out? I mean how arrogant are you, that you know EVERYTHING in the world so much that you don't even need to research for your pets health. You sir are a pathetic human being who needs to take a good long look in the mirror and realize where you really are in life.

Nessa said...

aww that picture! Really looks like firefox is so cute!

Only Me said...

Adam Johns, what kind of a creature are you, then, to give so much abuse to someone over such an insignificant mistake made in a park between strangers? Clearly you are more advanced than the average human and have reached a state nearing perfection. Unless you're a hypocritical internet troll who dishes out invective anonymously via the internet without the nasty side-effects one usually encounters when treating another human being in such a way face-to-face. I bet you're a quiet, insignificant little person who has few opinions when faced with people in the flesh, and become a loud-mouth, self-righteous prat on the net.

Anonymous said...

Iknow this is an old post, just had the same thing happen to me, feeding my puppy a couple grapes while watching tv, my goyfriend came unhinged and started screaming about killing the dog and such. he showed me the aspca website. which merely peaked my interest, since there seemed to be a complete lack of science and no explaination as to why grapes/raisins kill dogs. i did recently expierence something i think is significant though. we had a dog party at my house and I fed my puppy and my cousins dog (an older retriever)a handful of fresh garden peas which the puppy loves and has eaten for months. my dog eats table food scraps and dog food..my cousins dog has only ever had dog food. needless to say..her dog spent the next hour running around pooping and vomiting. I am sure grapes would have the same affect on her dog or for that matter any other type of food besides dog food. dogs are omnivours..much like us..they are designed to eat everything...and they are scavangers naturally and will eat any dead thing they find laying about. i think after asking a vet i trust..that the issue is not grapes so much, as it is, feed a dog something it isnt used to and that food item upsetting the dogs system and making it sick. we all know that diarrea and vomiting can kill us and cause renal failure..the same applies to other animals.

bpc said...

For what it's worth on the chocolate: my dog ate about three-quarters of a block of the 70% cocoa stuff. Somewhat foolishly left on a coffee table overnight. And...appeared to be on e for the next two days.

Yeah, I know this post is from four years ago, but I thought you might like to know.