Onions, garlic and DEATH!

[Tink]

Onion and garlic poisoning
Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.

Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet?s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body.

At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal?s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.

The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion

While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

[Mandy]

Great information Tink!! Thanks for sharing.

[DianaB]

I've never heard of this before! I hardly ever give Reuger any table scraps anyway. Thanks, Tink!!!!

[AngieDoogles]

Thanks so much for the info Tink! Crazy how many things can be harmful to our puppies that you'd never even imagine could hurt them!

[Ponyup]

We hardly ever cook with onion, but we did last night & my husband dropped a little piece. He said it was just a bite. & Logan of course ate it. I am keeping my eyes peeled for symptoms, but I assume since it was such a little bit of onion that he should be fine....fingers crossed.

[Janet]

We don't eat enough of either one at our house to be too concerned. Glad you're keeping us on our toes though!! Great information.

[Gina]

Originally Posted by Ponyup

We hardly ever cook with onion, but we did last night & my husband dropped a little piece. He said it was just a bite. & Logan of course ate it. I am keeping my eyes peeled for symptoms, but I assume since it was such a little bit of onion that he should be fine....fingers crossed.

I just did the same I was chopping an onion and a small bite size fell, Gucci is like a vacuum cleaner..lol I didnt find it, I hope if she ate it , its small enough not to cause any problems.... Now Im worried...but Logan I guess is fine.. So I guess its not enough to harm them.

[Ponyup]

Originally Posted by Gina

I just did the same I was chopping an onion and a small bite size fell, Gucci is like a vacuum cleaner..lol I didnt find it, I hope if she ate it , its small enough not to cause any problems.... Now Im worried...but Logan I guess is fine.. So I guess its not enough to harm them.

Yup, Logan was fine, no problems. I don't think we should make it a habit, but obviously a little bit one time is okay. Keep your eye open for signs of anemia...yellow gums, lathergic, things like that, but she should be okay.