Dog rushed to vet after eating raisins left by litterbugs

A dog needed emergency treatment after it swallowed chocolate raisins and their packaging in South Lanarkshire.

Litterbugs have been told to clean up after themselves after the near-fatal incident at Holmhills Wood Park in Cambuslang.

Owner Carrie Allan had been out walking her golden retrievers Baxter and Oscar on the evening of Thursday, July 2, when the pair ate the leftovers of a picnic.

Carrie, 41, was aware of the dangers posed by raisins to dogs and took them both to the Vets Now pet emergency hospital in Glasgow.

She said: “It looked like there had been a very messy picnic with lots to drink and they’d just left it at their backsides.

“It’s definitely been worse because of lockdown and there has been much more rubbish than you’d normally see at this time of year.

“There aren’t a lot of bins there, but I still can’t understand why people just get up and walk away.”

Baxter, eight, and Oscar, seven, were both given urgent injections by a vet to make them sick.

While Oscar had a very small amount of the chocolate raisins, Baxter brought up the whole packet, including the wrapper.

Chocolate can be very harmful for dogs but just tiny quantities of raisins can be potentially fatal.

Emergency vet Andrew Murray said: “It was clear Baxter had eaten a fairly significant number of raisins and a large amount of chocolate.

“After doing various tests, including bloods, which were all within normal limits, we gave him fluids and monitored him closely.

“Thankfully, his condition remained stable throughout.”

Baxter was also given activated charcoal to absorb the toxins from the sweets he’d eaten.

His stay in hospital coincided with his eighth birthday and staff pulled out all the stops to make sure it was enjoyable as possible, laying on a mini-celebration.

Baxter is none the worse for his ordeal but Carrie is hoping to get the warning message about the perils of raisins and chocolate out to others.

“If I hadn’t have seen that one raisin, I’d have gone home none the wiser and it could have killed my dog,” said Carrie.