Dog almost dies after eating mince pie

A dog almost died after eating a mince pie, prompting a warning to pet owners.

The miniature Dachshund had to be rushed for veterinary treatment after snaffling the festive pastry while no one was looking.

Lucie Coffey, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, found her dog Beatrice on the sofa and the mince pie’s empty foil casing after going to check on the dog.

The 33-year-old healthcare worker was aware that raisins were poisonous for dogs so took her to her local vet, where the animal was given an injection to induce vomiting and activated charcoal to reduce the chances of harmful toxins from the raisins being absorbed.

Vets warned the pie could have caused fatal kidney failure, as all grapes, raisins, currants and sultanas can be poisonous to dogs and cause severe illness.

Ms Coffey said she was in the kitchen chopping vegetables for dinner at the time of the incident.

“When I went back in I saw the foil on the plate but no pie and I thought, ‘right, there’s only one explanation for this’, and there was the dog looking very sheepish,” she said. “It was my nine-year-old daughter Grace who’d left it out, then went up to bed.”

She said she then faced a nervous wait at the vet’s.

“We were there about three hours getting everything checked out and tested,” she said.

“I couldn’t have lived with myself if we hadn’t taken her to get checked out and something was badly wrong.

“A dog is part of your family and I would have been devastated if anything had happened to her. Santa’s mince pie is definitely staying outside with the carrot for Rudolph at the back door – out of harm’s way.”

Beatrice has managed to make a full recovery in time for Christmas.

Jodie Holt, 31, had a similar experience when her three-year-old cockapoo Ernie ate a mince pie from under the Christmas tree.

The nurse said: “As soon as I saw the mince pie had gone, I started googling it and saw how dangerous raisins can be for dogs. If it’s edible, then Ernie will eat it and he’s always hovering round when the kids are eating in case they drop anything.

“He actually nicked the carrot from the snowman’s nose last year, so maybe I should have seen this coming. But he usually comes upstairs when we all go to bed, so when he was poorly it never occurred to me that it was because he’d gone back down and eaten Santa’s mince pie.”

The dog also recovered after receiving the same treatment as Beatrice.

Laura Playforth, of Vets Now, an out-of-hours emergency service for pets, said: “Our vets and vet nurses treated dozens of dogs last year who had eaten mince pies left out for Santa and we are expecting similar this year.”

She said it was important to raise awareness that raisins in mince pies are toxic to dogs.

“Normally symptoms start showing between six and 24 hours after the dog has eaten grapes or raisins,” she said.

“But these may not take effect for several days and in the most serious cases, the fruits can also cause sudden kidney failure.

“The good news is the prognosis for grape and raisin toxicity is generally good if treated early and there’s been no kidney damage.”

She urged dog owners to contact their vet immediately if they suspect their pet has eaten any items of food containing grapes, raisins, sultanas or currants.

Additional reporting by SWNS