tuesday was not a good day and it turned into an even worse 48 hours. i did a moronic thing and left some just washed grapes in the sink to dry…and let the dogs in and forgot about the grapes. cue doom music, enter carly. i came into the kitchen a short time later to find carly standing over some little tell-tale water marks on the floor, saw a few chewed stems and at first thought “oh carly” and then “oooh carly” (which doesn’t look that much different but believe me it is).
i decided to do a quick internet search and i really believed because she weighs 110 lbs that i would find the amount she ate wasn’t an issue (similar to chocolate) but after reading for a few minutes it was clear there is really very little known about the toxicity of grapes. i called the aspca poison control center and got some direction for inducing vomiting at home but after calculating the amount of grapes she ate and a comical first attempt at trying to make carly a vomitee we decided an er visit was the safest bet.
at the er they were able to induce vomiting quickly and, guess what guys, they even let me count the grapes! that was fun! because there is so little known about grape toxicity the vets at the er always call poison control to get the latest treatment protocol. because of her size and the likelihood that we got all the grapes (most whole with stems still attached), i had the choice of taking her home, watching her for 48 hours and checking kidney function at that time or being more conservative and diuresing her for 24 hours. i chose the conservative approach and off we went.
it has been a very long 48 hours but i’m elated to report that carly’s kidney functions were perfect this morning and she’s totally in the clear. here’s my hard-earned advice: (a) keep grapes away from your dogs and if you fail at (a) then call the aspca poison control hotline immediately for the most up to date treatment. unfortunately i bought a very expensive bag of grapes but thankfully it was a bag of grapes i can forgive myself for.
aspca animal poison control center 888.426.4435
i've got some other good news (that doesn't start with bad news) but that will have to wait until later...it's a cliffhanger!