I miss-hit and typed that Steve and i have ben married for 19 years
when it's ten more years than that: 29 years. We began dating almost
15 months before we were wed but got engaged within 3 months from
when we began dating. What can I say, good things feel like they pass
faster! :-) He still can surprise me after 3 decades but at the same
time we know each other so very well.
---

>Vet Rec. 2009 Apr 4;164(14):430-1.
>Factors influencing outcome of Vitis vinifera (grapes, raisins,
>currants and sultanas) intoxication in dogs.
>Sutton NM, Bates N, Campbell A.
>Veterinary Poisons Information Service (London), Medical Toxicology
>Unit, Avonley Road, New Cross, London SE14 5ER.
>
> PMID: 19346542

Many thanks to Pam who got this to me.

The article is about the treatment of such poisoning and what is more
likely to result in survival. Basically, rapid treatment makes a huge
difference as do emetics. Repeated doses of activated charcoal are
recommended. All need fluid therapy at double maintenance rates for at
least 48 hours.

The VPIS, which is a 24 hour animal poisoning help service in England,
also had reports of such poisonings in cats and in a ferret as well as
dogs. In the U.S. all three have also had such poisoning situations.

Among dogs the amount which is poisonous varied among individuals. It
did not correlate to the size of dose nor to the size, breed, age, or
gender of the dogs in this new article. At this point it is not known
if some individuals are more sensitive or if some of the fruit simply
has worse concentrations of whatever caused the kidneys to fail.

Hypotheses which have been advanced over the last 8 years -- some of
which have been at least partly investigated -- have included:

* tannin overload
(Tannins occur naturally in plants and some can have medical benefits
such as the ones in cranberries, blueberries and possibly in bilberries
that prevent bacteria from sticking to the wall of the urinary bladder.
Others, such as the ones in oak leaves and those which must be soaked
repeatedly from acorns to make them safe to use for flour, are
poisonous. What is poisonous can also vary among types of animals, a
topic that has some up here in the past when people accidently poisoned
their ferrets with drug store meds that are safe for humans.)

* mycotoxins
(These are poisons that fungi such as molds produce.)

* pesticides
(I think that I recall seeing some studies into some of these in the
past without success.)

* heavy metals
(Boy, are heavy metals turning out to be a hot topic recently on the
FHL.)

* sugar overload

* Vitamin D poisoning (This is a topic that has come up before. In
humans we often do not get enough D but are more prone to overloading
on A. In dogs and it appears from some nutrition studies also in
ferrets there usually is not too much A -- perhaps not a surprise for
a type of animal who ancestors regularly ate liver -- but they can
more easily over-do Vitamin D with health consequences. Again, perhaps
not a surprise since the ancestors denned in daylight.)

*"idiosyncratic reactions due to enzymatic differences"

So, no answer yet for why these poisonings happen, but more info about
what to do when they do occur.

PLUS, people in Britain might want to look up the contact info for this
service and share it to help others in case a poisoning occurs. I've
so often heard that there is no service like the ASPCA's Animal Poison
Control hotlines in nations other than the U.S., but obviously there is
at least one but it is just not well enough known. If people would post
the contact info for animal poison control in their own nations it
would be handy in the Archives when other need it.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

[Posted in FML 6367]