A co-worker passed this message on to me from a friend of hers who is a PETCO customer in Redding, WA. I’ve done my due dilligence and checked the validity of Xylitol danger over at snopes.com. This is scary stuff folks. Be careful what you feed your dog.
As dog owners, we try to be vigilant about protecting our companions. We heed the warnings about not feeding chocolate, grapes, nuts, or onions (among other items) to our friends. So imagine my surprise when I lost my best friend, a 45-pound Golden Retriever mix, to a pack of chewing gum last year.
Xylitol, a sugar substitute used in sugarless chewing gum, mints, and candies (even in sugar free Jello pudding) is extremely toxic to dogs. The ASPCA has issued warnings about xylitol on its website (aspca.org), and several years ago USA Today wrote an article warning about xylitol toxicity in dogs. But most people out there still haven’t heard of this killer. In fact, it took my veterinarian about 4 hours to figure out the cause of my dog’s symptoms.
Search YouTube and you can even find videos of people proudly teaching their dog to chew gum (even if the gum doesn’t contain xylitol, you have to wonder about these people). Even a small amount of xylitol can cause an insulin surge in a dog in about 30 minutes. Without immediate veterinary intervention, permanent liver damage or even death can result. The makers of xylitol- containing products don’t seem likely to post any sort of warning on their product (their stance seems to be that the products are intended for human use, so no warning is necessary).
If you suspect that your dog has ingested anything containing any amount of xylitol, contact your veterinarian immediately. If you wait for the dog to exhibit symptoms, it may be too late.