# Dog eaten Xmas cake!



## stencilface (9 December 2012)

Ruddy dog! Ate my advent calendar on Friday (was in same position for a week prior) and today, having been left for half an hour he polished off 2/3 of my homemade brandy Xmas cake  

Cake was in a tin, and was in the same place on top of the piano for a month! Dog will be going for a very long on lead walk in a few mins and will have a bland rice/scrambled egg dinner.

Needless to say food security which is pretty tight in my house needs to be reviewed


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## gunnergundog (9 December 2012)

URGENTLY make your dog sick......if you don't know how/don;t have the requisites to hand, call your vet.  Depending on weight of dog and weight of cake eaten (sultanas, currants etc) this could be urgent.  Also, compounded by the chocolate he had 48 hours ago.


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## meandmyself (9 December 2012)

I think I'd phone the vet! Good luck OP!


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## SaharaS (9 December 2012)

as above, brandy, chocolates & raisins/sultanas...please call your vet urgently & make him sick - I think Dobiegirl or ViszlaK had a horrid experience despite the dog not looking unwell. You do need to act asap

Hope all is ok x


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## stencilface (9 December 2012)

Gah! I thought he was going to be sick on the walk, which is why I went, stupid dog, think he just loves the vets!


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## stencilface (9 December 2012)

Just rung vets, and they said as it was a few hours ago, being sick wont help. I'm to make sure he has lots if water and monitor him. I had no idea raisins/grapes were poisonous too, maybe because it would never cross my mind to feed them to dog. He's coming to the stables with me now, so I'll see if a run around might make him throw up. He retched on the walk a couple of times, but didn't do anything


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## stencilface (9 December 2012)

I've just googled making dog throw up and it seems hydrogen peroxide is the answer, although it is too late now isn't it, dog ate cake maybe four hours ago, I wasn't panicked till I came on here 

Still, I bring our peroxide back from the stables in case, there probably will be a next time with my dog!


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## Sandstone1 (9 December 2012)

Hope you are lucky and there are no ill effects. Nuts, raisens, grapes and choc can all be fatal to a dog. hope its ok.
Sorry to say but the dogs not stupid, its just what dogs do! Its up to you as a dog owner to make sure these things are out of reach and you really should know whats dangerous for dogs to eat.


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## twiglet84 (9 December 2012)

I dont think making him sick now is a good idea, it's too late. Raisins are very toxic, even the smallest amount can be fatal. I'm Suprised your vet hadn't recommend gastric lavage or at least bloods and fluid therapy x


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## MurphysMinder (9 December 2012)

Hope he is okay.  There is a sticky at the top of AAD listing all the things that are bad/dangerous for dogs.  It was Vizslak who very nearly lost one of her dogs due to eating chocolate, I think a lot of us remember her posts through the time he was at the vets.  With Christmas coming and lots of extra rich food around it is worth being doubly careful with dogs that are inclined to pinch things.


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## stencilface (9 December 2012)

I'm not making him sick now, don't worry, he has spat up some water a few times, and is drinking more than usual (he is a dog that will empty a bowl just for the hell of it!)

I really didn't think it was a problem, as I said its been there for a month now, and he's not shown interest in it ever, I will be making the rooms he has access to doubly safe now, removing candles etc - who knows what will be next!

On another note, I think I'll be putting him forward as a blood donor and hopefully those vet visits will stop him self harming. And my dog is stupid, if he had a voice it would certainly be scooby doos!!


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## Sandstone1 (9 December 2012)

Well stupid or not I hope he is ok, It can be very dangerous and even fatal for them to eat things like this.   I would be at the vets now if it was me


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## chattygoneon3 (9 December 2012)

Firstly never use hydrogen peroxide to make your dog sick it will burn his mouth and oesophagus .Secondly if its eaten raisins and grapes it should be having bloods to check any kidney damage ,and should be on a drip .If you ever need to make a dog sick the safest thing to use is washing soda.


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## twiglet84 (9 December 2012)

He may be drinking more if they've damaged his kidneys. I'd be at the vet demanding a drip! X


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## SusannaF (9 December 2012)

Hope your dog is ok.

My friend's retriever puppy was once sick for days at Christmas before pooing out an entire sock and then eating an entire stilton... I hope this is just a similar misadventure...


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## gunnergundog (9 December 2012)

Tinselface....if your dog is drinking a lot it could be a sign of renal failure.  Start measuring his intake and collecting his output.......if one does not equal the other, you have a problem.

However, by the time you've done that, it could be too late.  Please read this article to give you an insight into how insiduous raisin poisoning can be. http://www.ourdogs.co.uk/News/2003/January2003/News310103/raisin.htm

For my own piece of mind, I would be back on the phone to my vet and INSISTING on bloods being taken NOW and the dog being put on a drip and given charcoal.

Fingers crossed for you.


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## millimoo (9 December 2012)

Quite a timely post on BD forum tonight relating to a Morrisons ad, and commented on by Dogs Today Magazine... Don't wish to put the fear of god in you OP, buy I would be at the vet.

Dogs Today Magazine
Over on the Morrisons Xmas Pud TV ad can kill facebook page someone just made the point that some people are allergic to nuts but we still TV advertise things containing nuts. And that there are lots of things depicted in adverts that would be dangerous if replicated at home. 
I've spent a little while answering these seemingly logical points and I reproduce the answer here in case you've had these points put to you, too: 
"If 60% of humans had a fatal nut allergy we definitely wouldn't have Snickers bars on sale or nuts in pubs. And Raisin toxicity is not something every dog owner knows about - and unlike a nut allergy the reaction a dog will have is not instant enough to alert the owner to get emergency treatment. It's most likely going to be mild upset tum for 24-48 hours so essential medical help is unlikely to be sought on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. But that's the window in which a vet could treat the dog, the irreversible renal damage is 
happening in that period. It's a nasty and expensive to treat condition with a poor chance of survival if you don't act immediately. Very few pet owners know that raisins are toxic. The Morrisons ad is funny and it is true that very many people do not like Christmas Pudding - that's why it's such a memorable ad, it picks up on something that happens in so many homes on Xmas day. Unfortunately as so many homes will have seen the ad and will have left over Xmas puds the temptation will bethis year to see if your dog rejects the Xmas pud like the dog in the ad. And kids may do it furtively - like the ad, so the adults who may possibly know about raisins being bad for dogs may not know anything about it until its too late. And unlike the acting dog in the commercial MOST dogs will eat the pudding. How do we reach the millions of people who saw that advert to warn them how raisin poisoning manifests? That if you treat it as a normal upset stomach due to rich food there's about a 60% chance your dog may either die or be gravely ill. Not going to change your mind, I guess, but hopefully you can see why we're so worried by this advert. It's a unique situation, the veterinary world is VERY worried by this ad. We have an ad that inadvertently encourages people to give the dog Xmas pudding leftovers as a joke and we have a toxin that acts statistically like Russian roulette only with more bullets in the gun - some possibly most dogs can be killed by a very small number of raisins, some can tolerate many more but there's no way of knowing which dog is which - and those that do react badly may initially only show mild symptoms when the toxin is being processed and then be so damaged they won't survive even with veterinary intervention." Beverley Cuddy, Editor, Dogs Today.


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## Dizzydancer (9 December 2012)

That's an interesting quote- i hope Morrisons get rid of that add.
Sad it was passed. Lots of people need to complain to have it removed.


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## Thistle (10 December 2012)

Many years ago my staffy ate a wholle home made brandy laced xmas cake.. She was a total dustbin, would clear a veg rack or fruit bowl given a chance (only thing she wouldn't eat was celery and onions) She lived a long and healthy life eventually being PTS aged nearly 16.

I have a boxer (again a rescue) here atm who is even worse. At least the staffy couldn't reach some things. The boxer boings and gets stuff even from high places. Luckily he can't open cupboards, unlike a friends labs.


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## MurphysMinder (10 December 2012)

The BVA have now issued a statement regarding the Morrisons ad.

http://www.bva.co.uk/news/3159.aspx

Thistle, it would seem your staffy was one of the lucky ones.


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## stencilface (10 December 2012)

Well, took max the xmas dog to the vets this afternoon, blood test was fine, and he seems a lot perkier in himself this evening - back to his normal crazy self. They told me to keep an eye on him still and give plain food for the next couple of days along with some probiotics.  They also shoved some liquid charcoal down his neck whilst I was there (big dogs can be incredibly wriggly lol) which I don't think he appreciated!

So it seems that max would have also been one of the lucky ones, but this time I've taken the precautionary approach. Thanks for all your comments, both positive and negative. 

In other news,  the bit of xmas cake that wasn't dog slobbered tasted amazing, so this evening I'm off to tescos to replenish my ingredient stock and start soaking fruit again.  Cake this time will be kept under lock an key, quite literally I think!


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## twiglet84 (10 December 2012)

Great news x


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## millimoo (10 December 2012)

Fab news tinselface 
Merry Xmas !!! x


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## MurphysMinder (10 December 2012)

Thats great news.


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## stencilface (10 December 2012)

I'm secretly looking forwards to making the cake again, more brandy tasting and more spoon licking


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## Love_my_Lurcher (11 December 2012)

I'm very happy to hear your dog is out of the woods. You'll have learned an extremely important lesson through this, and hopefully others reading this will be more careful about where they leave food. 

Have any of you reported that Morrisons advert to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) or complained to the supermarket itself? I'm going to send an e-mail to both as some people could well be encouraged to feed Christmas cake to their dogs.


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## MerrySherryRider (11 December 2012)

Glad your dog is ok now. I don't think you're the only owner to have a dog with exceptionally good taste buds. 
It never occurred to me that raisins were toxic to dogs, not that mine ever get a look in with christmas cake anyway. However, over the years, the odd stolen box of chocolates and a whole whiskey and orange trifle hasn't caused them any harm other than being in disgrace.


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## stencilface (11 December 2012)

horserider said:



			Glad your dog is ok now. I don't think you're the only owner to have a dog with exceptionally good taste buds. 
It never occurred to me that raisins were toxic to dogs, not that mine ever get a look in with christmas cake anyway. However, over the years, the odd stolen box of chocolates and a whole whiskey and orange trifle hasn't caused them any harm *other than being in disgrace*.
		
Click to expand...

Lol

Me either, and our dogs over the years have eaten all kinds of rubbish, chocolate whisky cakes, chocolates - lots of poisonous stuff and never had any ill effects.  The vet said that many people give their dog grapes on a daily basis and it never causes any problems (although she obviously wasn't recommending it!). To me dogs are scavengers, and within reason they can eat pretty much anything, at least in a small quantity without doing any harm. I'm not a stupid dog owner, and have hidden my now soaking in brandy fruits in a cupboard in the kitchen, which the dog is shut out of.  If he gets those, then there's no hope!


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