Onion is a highly irritating food. After being eaten by dogs, it will not only stimulate the dog's gastrointestinal tract and cause an inflammatory response, but also the toxic component n-propyl disulfide in onion can oxidize hemoglobin into Heinz bodies.
There are different reports on the dose of onion poisoning in dogs. The earliest study abroad reported that a severe phenomenon would occur if dogs were fed onions with a dose of more than 5g/kg body weight; in one study, dogs weighing 9.9-12kg were fed once.
A case report of onion poisoning in a Pomeranian dog is as follows.
1. Incidence
The sick dog was a Pomeranian, female, 3 years old, 5.3 kg.
2. Clinical symptoms
The sick dog has a medical history of eating onions or green onions, and after eating onions or planning to eat 1 to 2 days, the sick dog develops hematuria, the color of the urine varies from light red, dark red to black red, and the body temperature is 39.2°C.
Hemoglobinuria due to onion poisoning
Abdominal breathing visible mucous membrane pale
3. Laboratory test
3.1 Routine blood test
The red blood cells decreased, from the normal 5.5~8.5×1012/L to 2.86×1012/L; the hematocrit decreased from the normal 120~180g/L to 59g/L.
3.2 Biochemical index check
The contents of serum albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and glucose (GLU) were basically normal; but the content of serum total protein (TP) was significantly increased, from the normal 54~78g/L to 121.6g
3.3 Urine examination
Urine changes from normal yellowish, clear and transparent urine to cloudy, dark red urine. The specific gravity of urine increases significantly, from normal 1.015 to 1.045 to 1.080. Due to the influence of urine color, other indicators are difficult to measure by colorimetry.
Identify the nature of red urine: firstly remove the urine and centrifuge, if it is caused by red blood cells, the red blood cells will sink to the bottom of the test tube after centrifugation, and the urine will become clear, if there is no change, it should be hemoglobinuria or myoglobinuria, and then use the ammonium sulfate method to identify
3.4 Blood test under microscope
figure 1
figure 2
image 3
The Heinz corpuscles are clearly visible from the three figures.
4. Diagnosis
According to the clinical symptoms and laboratory test results, combined with the dog's medical history of eating cooked onions, a preliminary diagnosis of onion poisoning was made.
5. Treatment
For the sick dog, we take the following treatment measures:
It is strictly forbidden to feed onions to dogs.
6. Discussion and experience
According to the following points, this disease is not difficult to diagnose (1) have a history of eating onions or green onions; (2) have typical clinical symptoms: urine is red in different shades; (3) blood routine examination: red blood cells, blood cells
In addition, dogs with mild symptoms can recover naturally without treatment after stopping feeding onions.
Due to its special irritant and rich nutrition, especially rich in vitamin C, onion is deeply loved by people and is harmless to humans, but it can cause poisoning after being eaten by animals such as dogs and cats.