What happens if a dog eats an onion?

Onion It is not only one of the healthiest foods in the human diet. It is also delicious, so much so that we use it both cooked and raw in most of our dinners or lunches.

Let’s take a look if not. It is a must to accompany the roast with the Creole salad (tomato and raw onion). But onion is well cooked on pizza, in meat empanadas and in cheese and onion empanadas; and it also appears in most stews with legumes, meats and various vegetables.

It’s strange that there are no onions at home every day. It’s also strange that there is no garlic. A little avocado. A couple of bunches of grapes in summer. Good chocolate in the pantry all year round. All products toxic to dogs. But be careful, toxic.

If we are about to have a puppy, if we have chosen to improve our life (or that of our family) by adding a four-legged furry friend to the house, then We must know that we can never make him eat the onion.

What happens if my dog ​​eats an onion?

First we need to think about how poisoning occurs in our dogs. It can happen by chance. For example, while playing in the square, the puppy started eating an onion dropped by someone who was returning from shopping. Okay, it’s an accident.

But there is also the problem of negligence on the part of guardians. Those who give their dogs a slice of the pizza purchased and take a photo on social media while eating together. That pizza has everything wrong with the dog. Onion. Definitely the garlic. Tomato sauce with seasonings and added salt. The dog cannot eat salt. And lots of cheese, cheese for humans, with salt, with condiments, with additions for humans.

Sometimes our dog also gets sick because we gave him small portions of food with onions and this caused poisoning.

However. What is it about onions that makes them so bad? The specialized site Animal Expert explains that the compounds that make the onion such a toxic food are the so-called “organosulfoxides”.

And he specifies: “Specifically, onion contains n-propyl disulfide, n-propyl, various sodium thiosulfates, trans-1-propenyl thiosulfate and cis-1-propenyl thiosulfate. “These are all compounds that are rapidly absorbed into the intestinal tract and are metabolised, generating highly reactive oxidizing agents.”

Oxidizing agents will cause serious injury to the animal’s red blood cells, interrupting its operation. The next step, they explain on the site, takes place a hemolytic anemia which, if left untreated, can cause acute renal failure in dogs and lead to death.

Symptoms of a dog poisoned with onion

Symptoms usually appear a few days after eating onion. Between 1 and 5 days. Therefore, when the time comes to go to the vet, it will be difficult to solve the problem quickly.

How he tells it the Spanish site of Anicura, symptoms will appear. And they will be:

• Lethargy
• Vomit
• Diarrhea
• Increased salivation
• Tiredness and weakness
• Abdominal pain
• Increased pulse and respiratory rate
• Pale mucous membranes.
• And sometimes, convulsions and even the death of the animal.

The site also explains on its website that if we saw the dog eating the onion, the vet could induce vomiting to improve the situation. “Activated charcoal can be administered to the dog to prevent its body from absorbing toxic substances. But once the animal has developed symptoms, treatment will be symptomatic, through intravenous fluid therapy, oxygen supply and, in more serious cases, blood transfusion”.

Amount of onion lethal for dogs

Although it is usually believed that for something to poison him the dog must have ingested a lot of that product, in the case of onion this is not the case. It does not take much.

And you will get poisoning from raw onion, cooked onion, and any part of the onion plant that you eat. Hepper’s Spanish site exemplifies on his website with a shocking piece of information. “If a 30kg Labrador (dog) eats 150g of onion (a medium onion) he will run the risk of poisoning”.

As a general rule, a dog only needs to ingest 5 grams of onion per kilo of body weight to be poisoned. In other words: with 50 grams of onion a 10 kilo dog will find himself with serious problems.

It is good to remember that, as with other cases of dog poisoning, take it to the center urgently veterinarian closer is invaluable for your health.

And, considering our dog’s symptoms, hemolytic anemia causes the blood flow to no longer be able to effectively deliver oxygen to the tissues, then the dog may begin to breathe desperately to compensate. Your urine may also turn dark brown or red, which is a sign that your body is ridding itself of damaged or dead red blood cells.

Anemia and dead red blood cells can damage the liver and kidneys and, unfortunately, in some cases this can lead to death. But poisoning can be cured if we seek help in time.