Raisins and grapes causes kidney stones and failure in rabbits!!!

[Sage]

 Hi everyone, I took Tigger to a very “rabbit savvy” vet today (where I found out he is actually about 2-3 years old instead of the 6-12 the humane society told me ) and the subject of treats came up, the skin of grapes and raisins actually causes kidney stones and kidney failure! At a time people were skeptical of this theory but it has now been proven to cause kidney problems in dogs as well as many other animals. I have read many different places (like the Rabbit House Society website) that raisins are a good treat for rabbits and I’m just trying to get the word out so no one accidently causes these health problems for thier rabbit! (Sorry if this is actually old news)

 

vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/f/grape_raisin

[Tate]

Hm, I wonder what the actual mechanism is because I thought that most kidney failure was caused by excess protein or other illnesses/treatments. Are grape skins actually toxic to rabbits like ibuprofen or something?

ETA: I just read the attached articles. Hehe. Still not sure how it pertains to rabbits though? It only covers cats and dogs who have a completely different physiology than buns. 

[mocha200]

I know that grapes and raisins are bad for cats and dogs but I didn’t think that its bad for rabbits.

[Sage]

 Yeah the article is only about dogs and cats haha. Maybe my vet is wrong.  He said that if a human were to eat a large enough amount of raisins they would also experience kidney stones and/or kidney failure, rabbits are much smaller so it takes a small amount for that to happen. He said a raisin/grape once in a while shouldn’t be harmful. 

[Monkeybun]

My vet says they are fine for rabbits, and he is one of the top rabbit vets in the pacific northwest.

They are toxic for dogs, yes, but rabbits are a total different animal.

[Sage]

Hmm okay! I’ve fed them to my rabbit before, my vet scared me (he warned me that many people don’t believe it’s true but he says it is lol)

[Monkeybun]

I’ll trust my own vet on it

[Sage]

Haha yeah Tigger loves raisins I’m glad that I can keep giving them to him

[Tate]

Posted By Sage on 07/15/2011 07:13 PM

 Yeah the article is only about dogs and cats haha. Maybe my vet is wrong.  He said that if a human were to eat a large enough amount of raisins they would also experience kidney stones and/or kidney failure, rabbits are much smaller so it takes a small amount for that to happen. He said a raisin/grape once in a while shouldn’t be harmful. 

Interesting!!! I’m glad I don’t like raisins. Lol.

[jerseygirl]

In the article, the dog ate 12oz box of raisins. If a rabbit were to do that, then yes it would probably be pretty sick! I think the sugar overload would cause problems before anything else.
As far as I know, raisins and grapes are suitable treats but are high in sugar so should be very limited. There are plenty of alternative treats that rabbits get excited about that aren’t so sugary.

@Tate: are you referring to ibuprofen for rabbits or other animals? As far as I’m aware, it’s a rabbit safe med. Would like to know if I have that wrong.

[LoveChaCha]

I’m not sure about this lol.

I have a lot of customers that buy raisins for themselves… and no problem there.

Chacha doesn’t get many raisins anymore, she just gets her little pieces of papaya

[Tate]

Jersey: It’s acetaminophen (sp?) that’s not rabbit safe, sorry! As I understand it, ibuprofen is “rabbit safe” but should only be used in emergencies because it can cause gastric ulcers. I’m not sure how often that actually happens though, it could be only 1-2% of the time or 90% of the time!

[jerseygirl]

OK, thanks.

I’m not familiar with acetaminophen. Shall look it up – coz, you know, got nothing better to do.

ETA: So discovered its paracetamol.  Way more familiar with that term. Sorry to go off topic.

[Tate]

Dumb question: do you have Tylenol in Aus? Acetaminophen is the main ingredient in it.

[longhairmike]

i’ve eaten a whole box of raisins in one sitting before,, had pretty much the same result as eating the 3lb jar of applesauce in one sitting, except this time i made sure i wasnt going running for at least 48 hours afterwards…

[jerseygirl]

I saw tylenol come up when I looked before. Pretty sure we have it here.

[jerseygirl]

lol @ longhairmike. 3lbs of applesauce? Why? lol

[RabbitPam]

I passed a kidney stone. So after that, I got a pretty thorough lesson in them and their related issues. In humans, there are 12 different types of kidney stones, and each type is produced by some, and possibly quite different, parts in foods. In other words, calcium oxolate stones are not bothered by calcium (a misnomer so milk is fine) but oxolates, which are found in chocolate, spinach, coffee (not caffeine, the actual coffee bean) and rhubarb. The kidney can’t process them well, they stick in the kidney and form crystals, the crystals get bigger and turn into unpassable stones. So if you drink a lot of water you can flush out your own crystals. The more bad foods, the more crystals, the more stones.

But calcium oxolate stones are only one of the 12 options. So raisins and grapes I’m sure form a certain kind of stone in a certain kind of kidney, and might be found more frequently in cats, dogs and some rabbits. But I wouldn’t make a sweeping statement like that since I know it isn’t possible to say that for humans. Just needs to be a bit more specific to the individual animal.

That said, if you ever have any doubts about any food being harmful, use my favorite motto: When in doubt, don’t.

[HoneyBunnyLover]

I know this is an old post, but it’s something that’s been worrying me, so I’m wondering if there is any newer insight in the past 5yrs since the last comment in here,lol. The vet didn’t say anything bad about me feeding my bunny raisins,then again I want to switch vets lol… But this lady who’s a rabbit rescuer for 40+yrs said absolutely NO RAISINS OR GRAPES they can get stuck in the intestines! So now I’m torn. Raisins are his absolute favorite treat, he gets mad if he doesn’t get them lol. But I’d never want to hurt him! Has anyone heard anything from a reputable source? Or better yet, experience with giving a rabbit raisins long term? I’d love to hear! Thank you!!

[Bam]

HoneyBunnyLover, this is an interesting question so please start a new thread about it! We ask people to rather start new threads on “old” subjects than revive old threads, because as you’re saying, there are new insights all the time when it comes to rabbit health and medicine.

Looking forward to seeing a fresh thread about this. To start a new thread, you click the “add Topic” button to the upper left in your sub-forum of choice. if you can’t make it work, PM me and I’ll help you! I’m locking thies thread now.

Bam

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