Dog owners - Beware of the artificial sweetener Xylitol

[FlightlessDuck]

Recently it has been discovered that the sugar substitute Xylitol is harmful to dogs. It can be found in some types of gum and candy, breath mints, oral care products, and peanut butter.

We are talking 100x worse than chocolate.

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe...e/animal-health/xylitol-toxicity-in-dogs/4340

Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/xylitol.asp

Apparently it affects the insulin level in dogs and can cause serious liver damage.

 

[bcla]

Certainly that it's toxic to dogs is correct, but that has been well known for at least a decade.

 

[LJSquishy]

This is not new news....it's been known for many years that chewing gum is toxic to pets because of the xylitol.

I guess it's still a good reminder to pet owners to keep their purses out of a pets' reach as well as make sure kids don't leave gum lying around. It only takes a small amount.

On a side note...what kind of crappy peanut butter has xylitol in it?! Gross! There is only one ingredient in the nut butters I buy...peanuts or almonds only...no salt, additional oil, and certainly no fake sweetener...eww!

 

[bcla]

This is not new news....it's been known for many years that chewing gum is toxic to pets because of the xylitol.

I guess it's still a good reminder to pet owners to keep their purses out of a pets' reach as well as make sure kids don't leave gum lying around. It only takes a small amount.

On a side note...what kind of crappy peanut butter has xylitol in it?! Gross! There is only one ingredient in the nut butters I buy...peanuts or almonds only...no salt, additional oil, and certainly no fake sweetener...eww!

It's a substitute for sugar. Most peanut butter is sweetened - especially the big brands like Skippy, Jif, or Peter Pan. There are only a few using xylitol. I think there are a lot more that include other sugar alcohols like sorbitol or mannitol, which don't cause the insulin spike in dogs. They are known to be laxatives in large quantities. I found that out consuming large quantities of sugar-free hard candies.

http://topdogtips.com/manufacturers-adding-xylitol-peanut-butter/

 

[POOHsie]

It's a substitute for sugar. Most peanut butter is sweetened - especially the big brands like Skippy, Jif, or Peter Pan. There are only a few using xylitol. I think there are a lot more that include other sugar alcohols like sorbitol or mannitol, which don't cause the insulin spike in dogs. They are known to be laxatives in large quantities. I found that out consuming large quantities of sugar-free hard candies.
http://topdogtips.com/manufacturers-adding-xylitol-peanut-butter/

This is soooooooo true! I gave up artificial sweeteners after consuming many sugar-free little mints on a long, boring driving trip. Wow, what an ordeal I had that night. I'm diabetic, but now I restrict myself to eating what I naturally can consume, avoiding forbidden stuff reformulated for diabetics with substitute sweetening chemicals.

I have two favorite peanut butter products: Smucker's Organic (Walmart) and Santa Cruz Organic (Kroger). Ingredients: Organic Peanuts. You have to stir it when first opening the jar, but no big deal.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Certainly that it's toxic to dogs is correct, but that has been well known for at least a decade.

Well it's news to me. I had never heard about it the last time I had a dog.

 

[DisneyFan13US]

OP,

While this may be old news, I still wanted to think you for posting this. I, for one, had never heard of this before and would hate anything bad to happen to my fur baby.

Thanks.

 

[Kies99]

Wait until your dog actually ingests some. Ours ate almost a whole pack of sugar free gum with Xylitol. He did it when nobody was home so it was probably 2-3 hours before I found out (luckily he left some of the wrappers behind). I called the vet and rushed him in and they induced vomiting to see if it was still in his stomach. It had already passed through. The vet then had some medicine to give our dog to counteract any potential issues, however the dose had to be tied to not only the weight of the dog but to the rough amount of Xylitol the dog ate. Of course there is not way to tell how much Xylitol was in the gum from the package. The vet called the company that made the gum and not only did it take hours to find out the amount, she had to sign off on all sorts of Nondisclosure agreements with the company so that she wouldn't give the information out!

We got lucky in that our dog seems to have a stomach of steel and there were not ill effects, but it was ridiculous how long it took for the vet to find out that each piece of gum was something like .025% Xylitol.

 

[ELSA711]

Thanks for posting but all I kept thinking was "I have never given any of my dogs gum or candy"
LOL