Do you own a dog? Please read this!!!

[bewitched]

So today, 3 of my dogs had to spend the day throwing up at the vet. One of them also spent the day having hourly blood tests done, a liver panel and various other tests. I spent nearly $800 and it looks like everyone will be okay. Why? you may ask...

Xylitol.

This is a sweetener used in sugar-free gum and various other sugar-free goodies like hard candy and baked goods. It is EXTREMELY toxic to dogs. As few as 2 sticks of sugar-free gum can send a small dog into insulin shock. 10 pieces can cause irreversible liver failure within 48 hours. Surprisingly, this is not well known.

My dog was lucky. I was lucky. I know how lethal Xylitol is and got Pongo (that's him in my avatar) to the vet in time (Olivia had put her gum where she thought it was safe). I'm also lucky he's big...and that there were only 13 pieces left...and that I happened to see the remains of the package sticking out from under the bed....

The vet thinks he will be okay. I just wanted everyone else to have this information too; and to make sure you know to keep all sugar-free goodies where the doggies can't reach.

(No more sugar-free gum in our house, I figure I can't afford $800 a pack.)

[Gemini Cricket]

Holy crap! $800! Glad the pooches are going to be ok.

[wolfy999]

Thanks for the warning...Wolfette loves sugar-free gum, so always has some around. Twitter has not found any yet, but will eat anything of course. I'll be spreading the word around this morning. Glad to hear Pongo is OK, even if your wallet is a little worse for wear.

[lashbear]

The webpage for the company I buy my Xylitol has a warning saying it is dangerous to animals. (But I'm not sure of the science behind it all, because Xylitol for humans has a GI of 8. Glucose has a GI of 100. (the scale only goes up to 100) Funny that the lowest Gi item throws them into insulin shock.

I know the Xylitol gets absorbed by itself without needing insulin at all. Perhaps the animal registers the sweet taste, produces all the insulin for the "Sugary Treat" coming in and then all the insulin sits around going "So what do we do now?"

Glad to hear your furry ones are OK. I will never let them eat any of my homemade cookies, cos they have you know what in them too,

[alphabassettgrrl]

I don't know the biology of it, but yeah. Xylitol = not for doggies.

Glad your puppies are going to be ok!

[Betty]

Good to know!

[RStar]

The same goes for chocolate. The dogs can't motabilize the theobromin (SP) in it. Before we knew this we would give our dog an M&M or two every now and then, without any visible harm.

I've heard there are a number of foods that we eat that can harm dogs. Including grapes and lunch meat with nitrates. I'd stick to pet food for the most part.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Nuts, grapes/raisins, chocolate, garlic/onions... Those are the ones I remember. Cooked bones that splinter are bad (like poultry or a lot of bones that come in things like steaks or chops).

I've been told avocados are bad, but I haven't verified that.

On the other hand, a lot of veggies are good for them if they'll eat them. Ours loves brocolli, asparagus, tomatoes, and carrots. My vet approves of carrots and sweet potatoes.

[Capt Jack]

thanks for the info. I had no idea.

[Betty]

Seems like the avocado pits are the problem and not avocados but I'm just going off the top of my head and that may not be right.

What about strawberries? Are those okay. My chihuahua has eaten a bit of one before and just loved it but then I wondered if that was okay or not and he hasn't had one since.

What about dairy products? My grandparents used to give their dog a scoop of ice cream as a special treat in summer from time to time. I've since seen doggie ice cream - that doesn't have dairy - at the grocery and figured that meant regular ice cream was probably off limits.