Dog owners beware: artificially sweetener xylitol is highly toxic to dogs

Dog owners beware: artificially sweetener xylitol is highly toxic to dogs

My dog Shula is even smarter than I thought.

In the e-alert “Don’t Fall For It” (12/2/08), I told you how Shula had wisely decided not to eat a piece of paper from a stick of Orbit sweet mint sugarless gum. And this is a dog that will eat nearly any paper product. Or so I thought.

Bright dog that she is, I guessed it was the aspartame residue on the Orbit paper that put her off. But maybe it was something else.

Here’s a note I received from an HSI member named Adam: “Just saw the e-Alert on Shula not eating your gum wrapper. Reminded me of a story I saw about how xylitol is poisonous to dogs, so I checked to see if there’s any of it in Orbit Sweetmint gum. Looks like there is (along with aspartame).”

Adam included a link to a 2007 USA Today article with an important warning for dog owners: Even a small amount of the artificial sweetener xylitol is highly toxic to dogs, sometimes prompting fatalaties.

According to the ASPCA, within just half an hour of consuming xylitol a dog experiences a sharp drop in blood sugar, followed by lethargy, vomiting, trouble standing, and sometimes seizures. Liver failure and death may occur without quick, aggressive treatment.

So maybe Shula picked up on the aspartame AND the xylitol residue on the Orbit paper. Then again, maybe it was the soy lecithin.

By the way, xylitol is remarkably safe for humans – certainly far safer than aspartame. In fact, xylitol has actually been shown to help prevent tooth decay.

Source:
“Popular Sweetener is Toxic for Dogs” Sharon L. Peters, USA Today, 3/19/07, usatoday.com