vet warning on raisins

[Tracy]

i took my dog into have her shots done and we got talking about all the bad food out there. But what got me thinking was her telling me that raisins are poisonus to dog and rabbits. Shuts down their kidneys. So has anyone else heard this?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hello!
Raisins are poisonous to dogs, Rabbit’s are fine with them as far as I know!! They’d better be, we’ve been training with raisins for a while… There seems to be more info on what is poisonous to dogs now; It used to be just chocolate and black licorice…New one’s I’ve learned are
cooked onions
tomotoes
raisins AND grapes

[Tracy]

…thats good…cause we always share my raisin bran at breakfast time…lol

[MooBunnay]

Hmm, I had heard that raisins are very sugary so they must be given very very sparingly (for example, only about 1 per week) – but I had not previously heard that they were poisonous. They are definitely not a “necessity” in your bunnies diet, so you could definitely avoid raisins and grapes all together without doing any harm to your rabbit, so I might recommend not feed them as a “just in case.” However, I have spoken with many different rescuers that offer raisins as treats and have not had any problems, but since this COULD be new information, its best to stay on the safe side I’ll do a little more investigating and see if I can find anything out.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Here are some resources on dogs and raisins
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html

I am searching the veterinary journals online right now (I have access to university of alberta libraries!!) and not finding anything…but I will keep ya posted!

[Tracy]

…thank you…(bunny smiles)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ok, *phew* I’ve done tonnes…Checked all the vet journals I have (Veterinary journal ; Veterinary medicine ; The Veterinary record; Veterinary sciences tomorrow ; Veterinary research communications ) and NOTHING on raisins and any other animal…Only dogs need to stay away from them…here is a wikipedia linke for dog owners…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_and_raisin_toxicity_in_dogs

[Gravehearted]

They’re not toxic to bunnies – but I really wouldn’t offer your bunny the ones from your raisin bran, since aren’t they coated in more sugar?

it also brings up a red flag of concern about how much you vet knows about rabbit care. is she the same vet you bring your bunny to? since rabbits are still considered an exotic, many vets don’t know enough about them to give them first rate care.

[Tracy]

…He dosent eat the raisins from the cereal…He just likes the bran flakes but if they get milk on them forget it. (pickey little Man)

[MarkBun]

Heck, it would be unhealthy for ME to stop giving my bunny rasins! She’s had at least one a day for the last five years and I also use them as a training aid. I whistle everytime I give her a rasin – that way when I whistle, if she doesn’t come she’ll at least stop and wait for me to come to her and give her her treat.

Funny story, I was eating dates one day and my rabbit had a coniption – thinking it was a HUGE rasin. Of course I didn’t give any to her as it was so sugary but to watch her going bonkers around me while I had them was too funny.

[Tracy]

…but i do have to hide in the bathroom with the door locked if i have peanutbutter cups…he can hear me open one from the other room…lol

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Ha, tracy, I know what you mean about the peanut butter cups. If my bun smells anything peanut butter & chocolate he won’t stay away! He got into a butterfinger bag when he was a baby and has been an addict ever since… luckily, I keep a good eye on him (and lock my chocolate up!)

[Scarlet_Rose]

Wow raisins? That is new to me as well.  I could see where if a rabbit were to eat a whole huge box, it would be a very bad thing and you could lose your rabbit but as far as I know, they are OK and Kokanee & Kahlua you’ve got some great stuff at your fingertips! I’m jealous!  I think I would be a bit concerned about that vet treating my rabbit too. 

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Just to add on something I said… I walked out into the living room right after my last post on this thread to find my bunny eating a chocolate chip granola bar that he pulled out of my purse. He’s such a fiend. *sigh*

[Tracy]

i think my vet was just concerned about the sugar coated raisins in the cereal. she is a exotic and rabbit vet that checks when she knows im in with my dauchunds girls with my dog vet. They are in the same vet office.

yep…My Mr. Man was a choco fiend!!!!

[Tracy]

here is My Mr. Man before he went to heaven

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[wendyzski]

My bun weighs about 6 lbs and gets 1-3 treats per day – papaya tablet, raisin, craisin, or other similar-sized piece of dried fruit.  She particularly likes the small bits of freeze-dried strawberry from the Special K Red Berries.  She’s never had any problems with these, and she got into a bag and ate a handful one day before I could stop her.

The only thing that’s ever given her a tummyache was when she ate half a bag of horehound throat drops (knocked on the floor when my home was burgled) and she was hunched and miserable for about 2 days.

[Gravehearted]

speaking of sneaky bunnies – one of my friends has a set of lazyboy recliners and there’s a snack drawer in the middle for snacks. The drawer always had empty wrappers, which she assumed was her boyfriend’s doing. She finally realized her bunnies were tunneling in through the back and having a field day! yikes! ha ha

[BinkyBunny]

Tracy – I’m sorry about your loss – he was beautiful!!!

My bunnies also love love love raisins. I have to be careful to open up any package that crinkles or they are at my feet intantly – almost magically it’s so fast. It’s funny how some of us actually have to hide from our bunnies when opening packaging. LOL!! I do cut up the raisins into tiny little bits so I can give them little tidbits without overloading them.

Wendyyzski – HOLY COW – your home got burgled?  That’s so scary. I have two friends whose homes have been burglarized before.   I am so paranoid about that stuff and about my bunnies getting hurt if it ever happened that we have a major alarm set-up going on in our place. The only problem with that though is that our poor bunnies do have to be put in their pens when we leave so they don’t set off the motion detectors. But they have big ‘ol pens.) Anyway, so sorry you had to go through that. That must have been scary and hopefully you didn’t incur a huge loss or had insurance.

markusdark – That story about the prune – your bunny thinking it was a huge raisin – HILARIOUS!

[wendyzski]

Well, actually it wasn’t too traumatic.  I had lost my best friend to cancer less than 2 weeks before that (she was only 48) and it forcibly reminded me that "stuff" isn’t what is important in life.  I was fine, Pepper was fine (though tummy-sick from being a greedyguts) and I had really good insurance.  I was able to replace everything and even upgrade most of it. 

[skunklionshow]

Tracy, Your Mr. Man was a huge gorgeous boy!  I love big bunnies.

The hubby actually bought giant raisins.  They are about the size of prunes, but they are raisins.  I think that was the primary weight gain culprit for Mr. Leo.  I don’t think that Jess could go on living w/o raisins….she’s obsessed w/ them!

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