It’s hard to overstate how important grapes are as a food staple for humans. Not only can the delicious fruits be devoured on their own, but they can also be dried out to make raisins, squeezed to make juice, fermented to make wine, made into jellies and jams, and baked into bread and cakes.
What’s safe for one animal species might not be healthy for other species, though. Many animals may find the fruits tantalizing but should avoid them since their bodies react negatively to them. What animals can’t and shouldn’t eat these fruits, and why? Let’s go ahead and chew this topic over.
What Animals Can’t and Shouldn’t Eat Grapes?
Many wild animals like monkeys, raccoons, deer, birds, opossums, and squirrels incorporate grapes into their diets. Besides smelling and tasting sweet to them, the fruits also provide rich sources of nutrients like vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium, and natural sugars.
On the other hand, many domestic animals like dogs, cats, birds, horses, cows, and sheep should have little to no contact with these fruits at all. While they might be attracted by the scent and taste like their wild counterparts, these animals could suffer unpleasant and even life-threatening adverse effects by consuming them, as both pet owners and veterinarians can attest to.
What Causes These Fruits To Be Dangerous To Certain Animals?
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For years, scientists and veterinarians were unsure what caused animals like dogs and cats to contract kidney injuries after devouring these fruits. Many speculated that the tannins in the fruits bonded to their proteins and damaged their kidneys, that a mycotoxin or a salicylate drug found naturally in them decreased blood flow to their kidneys, or that pesticides used to treat them harmed the animals.
In a study published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care in March 2021, veterinarians at the ASPCA Poison Control Center described examining a dog that developed acute kidney injury after it swallowed homemade playdough containing cream of tartar. The lesions on the dog’s kidneys strongly resembled those found on dogs that sustained kidney injuries after consuming grapes.
Based on their findings, the veterinarians concluded that tartaric acid found in the fruits was the most likely culprit behind those injuries. Since the concentration of tartaric acid in these fruits can range anywhere from 0.2% to 0.35%, determining their toxicity levels can be difficult.
I-20 Animal Medical Center reports that the estimated toxic dose for grapes is 0.5 ounces per pound (or 1 pound for a 30-pound dog) and for raisins is 0.18 to 0.48 ounces per pound (or 0.8 ounces for a 30-pound dog). All varieties of grape products are considered toxic to dogs, including seedless ones, homegrown ones, raisins, wines, and more.
What Happens If a Dog or Cat Devours Too Many Grapes?
Dogs that contract grape poisoning can experience numerous symptoms within 12 to 24 hours after consuming the food: upset stomachs, vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, and diarrhea. Between 24 to 48 hours afterward, they might also show symptoms of acute kidney injury, including breath that smells like ammonia, abdominal pain, dehydration, excessive thirst, and excessive urination.
If left untreated, dogs, as well as cats, ferrets, and skunks, can experience kidney failure. If this happens, these animals can’t produce urine; this prevents their bodies from filtering out waste, causes too many toxins to build up in their bloodstreams, and can ultimately lead to their death.
How Should Grape Poisoning Be Treated and Prevented?
If your pet has consumed grape products or is showing symptoms of kidney injury or failure, you should contact your vet or a pet poison control center immediately. Even if your pet seems all right, it’s better not to risk issues cropping up later. The sooner they’re treated, the better the prognosis for them will likely be.
When treating animals that have grape poisoning, veterinarians will decontaminate the animals’ stomachs; they do so by inducing vomiting using a medication called apomorphine. Then they’ll orally administer charcoal medication to bind any substances that remain in their GI tracts.
Afterwards, they may recommend treatments like 48 hours of IV fluid therapy to help increase urine production and protect the animals’ kidneys from damage. Animals might be hospitalized for several days so the vets can track the treatment’s progress and the animals’ recovery.
If you still want to enjoy grape-related foods without worrying about your dog, cat, or ferret getting sick, you should keep those foods stored in places the animals can’t access. Keep this in your refrigerator, closed cabinets, and tightly sealed containers.
You should also make sure neither you nor anyone you live with gives these fruits to their animal companions or leaves them out where animals could easily grab them. Finally, make sure dogs can’t fish the remains of that food out of your garbage.
Final Thoughts
Grapes are delicious and nutritious for many humans and animals, but not all animals should savor their taste. Dogs, cats, ferrets, and other animals can experience severe medical issues, including vomiting, kidney injury and failure, and death, by consuming the round fruits. There are ways to prevent pets from eating those fruits and to treat any who make that mistake. If you take proper precautions, you can both enjoy the fruits and keep your animal companions safe.
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