Xylitol (sugar substitute in sugar-free gum) can be DEADLY for pets.

[Dover]

This may be old news. It's new to me, though.
Don't know if this subject has already been covered in this forum or not but this was forwarded to me in an email from a friend and thought I'd pass it along since it seems a very real and serious danger.

I'm thinking if it's that dangerous for animals, maybe humans should stay away from it too!




Warning to all dog owners - pass this on to everyone you can. Last
Friday evening, I arrived home from work, fed Chloe, our 24 Lb. dachshund,
just as I normally do. Ten minutes later I walked into the den just in
time to see her head inside the pocket of Katie's friend's purse. She had a
guilty look on her face so I looked closer and saw a small package of sugar-free
gum. It contained Xylitol. I remembered that I had recently read that sugar- free gum
can be deadly for dogs so I jumped on line and looked to see if Xylitol was the
ingredient. I found the first website below and it was the one.

Next, I called our vet. She said to bring her in immediately. Unfortunately, it was
still rush hour and it took me almost 1/2 hour to get there. Meanwhile, since
this was her first case, our vet found another website to figure out the treatment.
She took Chloe and said they would induce her to vomit, give her a charcoal
drink to absorb the toxin (even though they don't think it works)
then they would start an iv with dextrose. The Xylitol causes dogs to secrete
insulin so their blood sugar drops very quickly. The second thing that
happens is liver failure. If that happens, even with aggressive treatment, it
can be difficult to save them. She told us she would call us.

Almost two hours later, the vet called and said that contents of her stomach
contained 2-3 gum wrappers and that her blood sugar had dropped from 90 to 59 in 30 minutes.
She wanted us to take Chloe to another hospital that has a critical care unit operating around
the clock. We picked her up and took her there. They had us call the ASPCA poison control for
a case number and for a donation, their doctors would direct Chloe's doctor on treatment.
They would continue the iv, monitor her blood every other hour and then in 2 days test her
liver function. She ended up with a central line in her jugular vein since the one in her leg collapsed, just as our regular vet had feared.

Chloe spent almost the entire weekend in the critical care hospital.
After her blood sugar was stabilized, she came home yesterday. They ran all the tests
again before they released her and so far, no sign of liver damage.
Had I not seen her head in the purse, she probably would have died and we wouldn't even have
known why.

Three vets told me this weekend, that they were amazed that I even knew about it since they are first learning about it too. Please tell
everyone you know about Xylitol and dogs. It may save another life.


More Info:

Cases of xylitol poisoning in dogs rise
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct06/061001b.asp

USA TODAY story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-18-xylitol-sweetener_N.htm

Pet Nutrition
http://petnutritioninfo.com/xylitol_pet_dog.htm

Xylitol Dangerous to Dogs and Possibly Ferrets
http://vetmedicine.about.com/b/2008/05/02/xylitol-dangerous-to-dogs-and-possibly-ferrets.htm