berry and nut eating

[Sez1]

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Hi all,
Just a quick query.
My spaniel who is 2 has discovered acorns the squirrels have buried, investigated the taste of holly berries( seems to leave now), eaten all my blueberries, the odd apple from next door, finds walnuts from who knows where, and is obsessed by hawthorn berries which he hoovers daily at the minute.
I have stopped panicking over the odd acorn or walnut but this year's hawthorn berries are unripe. Should I be more concerned?

 

[Cookee]

Hi Sez
I'm no expert, but our young mongrel gorged on grapes, nuts and red apples for a year with no ill effects. She seems to have gone off them now, for some reason.

 

[JoanneF]

Please keep her away from grapes. For some reason, some dogs become fatally ill with kidney failure. Not all dogs are affected, and unlike chocolate where there is a correlation between the size of the dog and the amount consumed, with grapes there is no clear link. I saw a study was done somewhere - Australia or Canada maybe - that indicated the variety of grape was significant, I'll need to see if I can find it.

 

[Cookee]

Thanks for the tip. I'll do my best. It's a challenge in the autumn here with wild grapes everywhere. As far as the OP is concerned, I've learned to trust my street dog/mongrel's eating instincts, including when she occasionally hokes out some specific type of emetic plant (doesn't seem to be plain grass) and chews it to make herself vomit - behaviour either learned before we got her, or instinctive. Not sure about pedigrees though...

Just read somewhere that hawthorne seeds (not berries), like apple seeds, contain cyanide-based amygdalin, although only in tiny quantities.

 

[JoanneF]

Just read somewhere that hawthorne seeds (not berries), like apple seeds, contain cyanide-based amygdalin, although only in tiny quantities.

I'm guessing there will be a seed in the berry but I don't know much about hawthorn. Certainly in apples, the tiny amount of amygdala means a small dog would need to eat about 100 apples to be at risk.

 

[Hemlock]

Hawthorn also has medicinal properties, significantly for the heart. One of our terriers used to gorge on them but none of the other dogs. That's not to say eating them in quantity is a great idea, and acorns I suspect aren't good in quantity, though pigs adore them, and people used to make ersatz "coffee" with them.

 

[JudyN]

My dog used to hoover up acorns (and rotten partially fermented apples). Acorns can be potentially dangerous, but there's a load of oak trees at the end of the garden, and many more locally, so preventing him eating them would have meant not letting him off lead, even in the garden. Thankfully he never had any ill effects, and he did grow out of it.

 

[excuseme]

Do blackberry seeds have cyanide in them?
It looks as if there are loads of seeds that may be worth checking. Our vet always said that a dog would have to eat a bucket full of apple pips to cause any harm. Luckily dogs do not have any teeth for grinding unlike ruminants so most seeds/pips go through their systems whole causing no harm.
Our lot love blackberries and acorns, we do discourage them eating too many acorns if we realize what they are doing. Our donkeys love them too.

 

[excuseme]

"Fruit pits/pips and seeds may put cyanide in your body.
However, the seeds are covered in a protective coating and the only way the amygdalin can be released is if this coating were penetrated, either by chewing or grinding".

 

[Sez1]

Thank you for all your replies. It is reassuring to hear about your experience. I have read about the dangers but am hoping that the seeds just pass through and he doesn't eat enough to cause harm and he grows out of his obsession. The tree is in the garden and l can't stop squirrels hiding acorns. My neighbour has an apple tree . He loves apple! Still working on leave it.
It is so worrying but you can only do your best. Yesterday a fellow dog walker told me one of his dog had to be euthanised due to liver failure .He can only attribute it to some dodgy water he'd drunk from. It was a very sudden illness.

 

[Hemlock]

Ref. liver failure - it's an amazing organ, capable of renewing part of itself as well as functioning apparently normally with only a very small part of itself. So your friends dog may well have been in liver failure for quite some time before reaching tipping point.

 

[Sez1]

That's interesting. However, my mistake, I meant kidney failure. They did try treatment to no avail.

 

[Hemlock]

Ah - kidneys are a completely different challenge. I'm sorry for your fellow dog owner.

 

[excuseme]

We have all of our lot DNA tested for the hereditary kidney disease "FN".
We would never use a dog to mate with any of ours unless he too was tested and clear too.
There are so many hereditary diseases that affect our dogs and not all of them relate to our specific breeds and not all diseases are DNA detectable either.
I believe that if we intend to breed from our dog that the least anyone can do is to find which diseases are common to our breed and if they are DNA detectable to have them tested, then find a compatible tested male to use.
Our lot are Cocker Spaniels and all tested clear.

 

[excuseme]

Some interesting information about the hereditary kidney condition FN in our dogs and which breeds. I hope the links work.

www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/index.jsp

Familial Nephropathy (FN) in the cocker spaniel | Pets4Homes

 

[JoanneF]

I found this about grapes -

 

[arealhuman]

Not doubting the article you've posted @JoanneF (and we all know grapes aren't good for dogs), but it does read oddly, like it was translated from another language, or written by someone who's first language isn't English - I wouldn't expect a professional publication to say things like "put two and two together"! But that's just me

Going back to nuts, I'm sure Rusty snaffles something nutty on occasion when we're out, we never get to see what it is, though!

 

[JoanneF]

Not doubting the article you've posted @JoanneF (and we all know grapes aren't good for dogs), but it does oddly, like it was translated from another language, or written by someone who's first language isn't English - I wouldn't expect a professional publication to say things like "put two and two together"! But that's just me

It was from an Australian website, I suspect their language is just less formal maybe?

Having found that potassium bitartrate seems to be the root of the problem, a quick Google found a number of articles - I wouldn't have searched for potassium bitartrate if I hadn't seen that piece though!