Will one grape hurt my dog?

Dr. Marie replied:

Thanks for your question.

Will one grape hurt my dog?

Grapes are toxic to dogs, but one grape is very unlikely to cause a problem. One study showed that 3g/kg of grapes can be toxic to a dog's kidneys. This is the equivalent of a 10lb dog eating 3 grapes or a 50lb dog eating 13 grapes. But, some dogs seem to be able to eat grapes without any renal effects.

Because we don't know exactly why grapes are toxic for dogs, it's a good idea to keep an eye on her. The following are symptoms to look for:

• lethargy


• vomiting


• excessive thirst

Grapes are a little bit of a mystery. We don't know why some dogs have problems with grapes. The good news is that it seems to be very rare that dogs have serious issues with grapes. In 14 years of practice I have never treated a dog for toxicity problems due to eating grapes or raisins. I have heard of other vets who have, but it's not common.

I have met many clients whose dogs regularly eat grapes - sometimes every day (mostly because the owners didn't know they were potentially toxic.) and these dogs have never had a problem. Now, that's not an excuse to go and feed grapes, but it should help to put your mind at ease.

There are *some* dogs who can get renal failure (kidney failure) from eating just a small amount of grapes. There are many theories as to why, but no one can prove any cause.

The first sign of kidney problems would be an increase in thirst and urination. It's usually very obvious. Vomiting and diarrhea would come much later in the process if the kidneys were damaged enough to cause them to fail.


I hope that helps!

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Good questions. I have to admit that I have never had a case of grape toxicity in my clinic so I don't have first hand experience with this. I would think that the vomiting and diarrhea would come as a result of the renal failure, but this would take a couple of days to appear. It may be that dogs that are sensitive to grapes do have vomiting and diarrhea 6-12 hours after ingestion. I suppose if I had a dog who had eaten grapes and then had vomiting 6-12 hours later then I would want to have the dog checked out.

*If* renal failure was to happen, then I would expect it to take 1-3 days. But I must repeat that the chances of this happening with ingestion of one grape are pretty small.

I found this article put out by the ASPCA. They say that in cases of grape toxicity that they have studied, the lowest toxic dose was 0.32-0.65 oz/kg. But that doesn't mean that that dose is toxic for every dog.

Unfortunately there is a lot that we still don't know about why grapes have toxic effects for some dogs.

Dr. Marie