i HAve just read today in dog world paper that grapes are lethal for dogs and can cause kidney and liver failure along with raisins.i have kept dogs for over 10 years and didn't know this as i love grapes and all my dogs beg them off me -or used to.i want to know if anyone else was aware of this.HELP!!

Like so many things, it's a matter of degree. Onions are domaging to a dog's health but the little onion which a dog would find by eating a little of the leftover meal er have just had is unlikley to contain enough to do any harm. Same with grapes. A diet containing a large proportion of grapes would no doubt cause trouble! Again some dogs seem better able to cope with these things.

Regards, John

I read in a magazine that a dog had once eaten a large quantity of raisins and ended up at the vet's suffering acute renal failure. Unfortunately nobody had ever heard of a threat to dogs from raisins and it was only after sourcing information about grape and raisin toxicity on the Internet that the dog was given a blood test which revealed she was in renal failure. Despite evry effort she died five days later.

I too read this and I was really concerned. I used to buy a bunch of grapes for my dogs as a treat not any more. So just bananas in future- unless anyone knows that these aren't safe.

Isn't it the pips that are poisonous, ( contain cyanide) rather than the grape itself? Perhaps seedless ones would be ok?

No WL its apple pips that contain cyanide and as for grapes it is grapes and any of the dried variations such as raisins or sultanas

No one knows which part of the grape causes the toxic reaction. Dogs have been reported with poisoning from a variety of grapes and raisins as mentioned.
Lara x

thanks for all that info.i read it in dog world newspaper and was very upset as i have always given my dogs the occasional few grapes as a low fat snack.they still eat apples though!!!