[Dailydrool] Dogs & sugar free gum

[Karrie Kuecker]

I know there's been stuff about this posted in the past, but please, check
all of your sugar free gum!! If it contains Xylitol, make sure there's no
way that any animal can get near it!

I'd heard some warnings about this posted to the drool before, and glad I
did, it *literally* saved my friend's dog's life! She had commented one
morning, about 9:30 or so that her crazy beagle girl Fred (short for
Winnifred) had managed to unzip her handbag, knock it over, and devour a
WHOLE pack of Trident gum! When she found out that dogs shouldn't have it,
she did a google search on it, and Fred was at the vets in about 20 mins.
flat.

He vet informed her that for a dog Fred's size, only 2 piece would be fatal!
They induced vomiting, and quite a few of the pieces came up, but they also
had to pump her stomach, and I believe she got 2 or 3 rounds of charcoal
treatments to help stop the absorption of the Xylitol. Poor girl was at the
vets, on IV fluids all weekend, and was terribly uncomfortable having so
many charcoal treatments. They did catch it in time, and she doesn't seem to
have suffered any residual problems, but Trident will never be allowed in my
friend's house again, that much I can garantee!

I would have to look up articles on it again, but I believe the first stage
is where the blood glucose level goes really dangerously low, and that if
too much is eaten, it can lead to organ failure and death of the dog!
Obviously, the bigger the dog, the more they would have to injest before
death occured, so 1 or 2 pieces, though toxic, would probably not kill a
large hound, but I wouldn't take any chances!

It's really a scary situation, as my friend can tell you, and the most nerve
wracking thing is that there's no warning about that on the packaging!
Nadda, zilch, nothing at all about it being life threatening to dogs! If it
was humans that would have that problem, I'm sure there'd be warnings on the
packaging (or at least something akin to the "allergy warning: product may
contain ____" warnings you see on food).

So, if your dog does infact eat sugar free gum, check the package carefully
to see if it contains Xylitol (I know Trident does, not sure about all of
the other gums, though), and if it contains Xylitol, and your dog eats it,
please take them to the vet asap! I know Winnifred the Beagle will share
those sentiments!

-- 
-Karrie, momma to Joey, Aunty to Checkers & Crispin (wb)

Joey's dogster page: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/637473
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