Xylitol (found in sugar-free gum) IS Deadly To Dogs...

Warning to all dog owners:
Last Friday evening, I arrived home from work, fed Chloe, our 24 Lb
dachshund, just as I normally do. Ten minutes later I walked into the den
just in time to see her head inside the pocket of Katie's friend's purse.
She had a guilty look on her face so I looked closer and saw a small package
of sugar-free gum. It contained xylitol. I remembered that I had recently
read that sugar-free gum can be deadly for dogs so I jumped on line and
looked to see if xylitol was the ingredient. I found the first website below
and it was the one. Next, I called our vet. She said to brin g her in
immediately. Unfortunately, it was still rush hour and it took me almost 1/2
hour to get there. Meanwhile, since this was her first case, our vet found
another website to figure out the treatment. She took Chloe and said they
would induce her to vomit, give her a charcoal drink to absorb the toxin
(even though they don't think it works) then they would start an iv with
dextrose. The xylitol causes dogs to secrete insulin so their blood sugar
drops very quickly. The second thing that happens is liver failure. If that
happens, even with aggressive treatment, it can be difficult to save them.
She told us she would call us.

Almost two hours later, the vet called and said that contents of her
stomach contained 2-3 gum wrappers and that her blood sugar had dropped from
90 to 59 in 30 minutes. She wanted us to take Chloe to another hospital that
has a critical care unit operating around the clo c k. We picked her up and
took her there. They had us call the ASPCA poison control for a case number
and for a donation, their doctors would direct Chloe's doctor on treatment.
They would continue the iv, monitor her blood every other hour and then in 2
days test her liver function. She ended up with a central line in her
jugular vein since the one in her leg collapsed, just as our regular vet had
feared.

Chloe spent almost the entire weekend in the critical care hospital.
After her blood sugar was stabilized, she came home yesterday. They ran all
the tests again before they released her and so far, no sign of liver
damage. Had I not seen her head in the purse, she probably would have died
and we wouldn't even had known wh y.

Three vets told me this weekend, that they were amazed that I even
knew about it since they are first learning about it too. Please tell everyone you know about xylitol and dogs. It may save another life.

Verify this information by reading the following article:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/xylitol.asp