After my Australian Shepherd mix, Pooh Bear, ate a pack of Orbit sugarless gum last spring and had to spend the night at the emergency vet on IV fluids and the next day at my regular vet's on IV fluids, I thought I would share the dangers of Xylitol (which is contained in sugarless gum, candy, baked goods, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.) to dogs. It can cause hypoglycemia and liver failure, and can kill dogs. The emergency vet said that two sticks of Orbit gum could make a dog Pooh Bear's size (about 50 pounds) very sick, and he ate almost a whole pack of 14 sticks of gum. My regular vet said that this was his first case of Xylitol poisoning. Six months later, when I took one of my other dogs in for a routine vet exam, my vet told me that he had had two Xylitol poisoning cases since Pooh Bear's.
When I got home from work at 12:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning (I work 4:30 p.m. to midnight), I saw that Pooh Bear had vomited in his crate, and nothing in the vomit was identifiable; it was all just gooey. Then I let the dogs outside and saw the remnants of the package of gum. It had been a three-pack of gum (and each pack has 14 pieces of gum). I had put one pack in my purse, and the other two packs had been in the middle of the big kitchen table. He must have snatched the gum around 3:30 p.m. on Wedsday the day before when I was upstairs taking a shower. The dogs came in when I called them before I went to work so I didn't go in the back yard at that time. In the yard I found one whole pack of gum with teeth marks, and the remnants of the other formerly whole pack of gum, and one piece of gum in its wrapper. So he ate most of the pack of gum.
I figured that eating a pack of gum would definitely not be good for a dog, but I decided to immediately call the emergency vet to see if it was toxic. They had me call the ASPCA poison control (which charges a $50 consultation fee), and they told me that it was indeed very toxic to dogs and that I should immediately bring my dog to the emergency vet. The emergency vet said (when I first brought Pooh Bear in) that depending on how Pooh Bear was doing that he might have to be hospitalized for 48 hours. Luckily Pooh Bear was doing well enough that I was able to bring him home late Thursday afternoon. He was still a bit lethargic and was sleeping a lot, but did run out to chase the squirrels and barked at the neighbor dogs that evening.
I took Pooh Bear back to my regular vet the next week for blood work which confirmed that he didn't have any liver or other damage.
So please be very careful of where you leave anything containing Xylitol, and tell all your friends and family who have dogs. I've attached a few articles telling of the dangers of Xylitol to dogs.
Pooh Bear was one of the lucky ones, but many dogs have died due to Xylitol poisoning. Hopefully Pooh Bear's story will save other dogs' lives.
Peg
Here are links to a few articles about Xylitol poisoning.
Here's Pooh Bear:
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