Help, please! Dog ate onion!

[djs_girl517]

I'm really hoping someone knowledgeable can help me out very quickly! My 20-lb Boston Terrier just at a chunk of raw onion! I would say the chunk was about the size of a ping pong ball. I was cutting the core out and dropped it and he got it and swallowed it in a split second.

My vet is closed for the day and I really cannot afford the emergency vet if it's not absolutely necessary. Please tell me what I can do to make sure my little man is okay.

Thanks in advance!

[Godiva]

"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."

[boricuaqueen327]

Definitely call the emergency vet, right away. Ask if you need to induce vomiting or if you need to take the dog in. Hope he is ok!

[djs_girl517]

Update: Well, I called the local Banfield. They had me induce vomitting and bring him in. He vomitted but no onion. So, I guess we're going to sedate him and pump his stomach. Poor baby.

[boricuaqueen327]

That sucks. At least they will get it out of him. Thank you for reminding me to be very careful with the onions/garlic in our house. hope he feels better soon.

[djs_girl517]

Another update: I really hate Banfield and didn't want them fooling around with Capone with general anesthesia and pumping his stomach, etc. I managed to figure out who my regular vet's backup was and called them.

The vet was seemed to know a lot more about the toxicity of onions are was not terribly concerned. He said, based on Capone's size and the amount of onion he ate, that he didn't think it was enough to seriuosly hurt him. They told me to induce vomitting and watch him over night, but that he should be okay.

He vomitted again, still no onion, but he's acting completely like himself, so maybe he's one of the lucky ones that aren't affected too drastically.

Please keep my little guy in your thoughts. And please, please, remember to keep your pets away from chocolate, all onion (raw, cooked, dehydrated, etc.), grapes, and raisins.

[shannon0218]

Oh Jamie, I'm glad you called the other vet. Serious complications with onion are FAR more common in animals eating smaller amounts daily. I'm glad you didn't let them put him under, there's a good chance the onion already digested, stomach pumping in pets is of limitted value unless it's done immediately.
If you can, go get some activated charcoal and give him 2 or 3 capsules--again it's a bit late, but at least the charcoal won't do any harm. Also get him to eat some fibre, canned pumkin is ideal, this will just encourage what is left in his digestive tract to move through quickly.

[djs_girl517]

Thanks for answering, Shannon! I'm really relieved to know you think it should be no problem. He has already vomitted twice, but I'm keeping a close eye on him.

[shannon0218]

We saw a number of them at the emergency clinic and the referral clinic--by far the worst were the ones who's owners where giving stew they made as a dog food and had put onions in the stew, in a young healthy dog it takes a lot of onion to knock them down with one dose.