1. Contact your veterinarian immediately.
  2. Your veterinarian may instruct you to induce vomiting, however, do not induce vomiting unless instructed to.
  3. If possible, provide the recipe of onion or Allium spp containing foods to your veterinarian so that the dose received can be estimated.

TOXICITY

MODERATE

Depends on the dose ingested. Animals need to eat a reasonable amount (around 0.5% of their body weight) to develop signs.

CLINICAL SIGNS

Clinical signs occur in 12 hours to five days post ingestion.

  • Onion-smelling breath
  • Brown-tinged, onion-smelling urine
  • Pale (anaemia) or yellow tinged (jaundice) mucous membranes
  • Weakness
  • Fatigue/lethargy
  • Depression
  • Rapid breathing (tachypnoea)
  • Vomiting
  • Inappetence
  • Diarrhoea
  • Abdominal pain
  • Collapse

EFFECTS OF TOXICITY

Onions cause oxidative damage to red blood cells, leading to anaemia.

TREATMENT

Activated charcoal may be required to bind any remaining compounds in the gastrointestinal tract. Severely affected animals may require intravenous fluids, oxygen and even a blood transfusion. Monitoring of red blood cell levels is important to determine if anaemia is worsening or resolving.

REFERENCES

www.aspcapro.org

BSAVA (2012) BSAVA/VPIS Guide to Common Canine and Feline Poisons. Gloucester: BSAVA.

Bough M (2011) Food-Associated Intoxications. In: Small Animal Toxicology Essentials ed. RH Poppenga and SM Gwaltney-Brant. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Pp207-208.

Cope RB (2005) Allium species poisoning in dogs and cats. Veterinary Medicine 562-566.