Ever pick up one of those foul, fake, Sara-Lee sugar-free cupcakes? It contains a substitute for a surrogate of a stand-in for sugar whose danger to dogs confirms a belief I`ve always held dear: once we humans start to simulate things, a certain number of generations later we’re bound to f--- it up.
Case in point: What do Vioxx, the space shuttle and the 2006 Mustang all have in common? They were all better in their first incarnations. `Nuff said.
Xylitol is the name of this stuff. It lives in lots of savagely over-processed desserts whose half-lives rival plutonium’s. Ever leave a Twinkie out? Not even ants will touch it. It will last indefinitely just sitting on the countertop and furthermore, will forever taste the same. (And they say cockroaches are the only things destined to survive a nuclear holocaust.)
Now that I`ve disparaged Twinkies gratuitously, let me be forthright in informing you that Twinkies do not contain xylitol. (They are nasty, though.) Sugar-free gums, candies, toothpaste, and increasingly, cookies and pastries are all commonly sweetened with xylitol.
Xylitol has been the subject of a recent study that demonstrates the devastating power of a seemingly innocuous supermarket substance on the canine liver. Rimadyl, raw onions and Tylenol have nothing on this sweetener. It only takes a few cupcakes left unobserved on the kitchen counter to kill even a large dog. Your three-pound Yorkie? A fraction of one offered surreptitiously by a well-meaning guest might suffice.
We’ve known about this toxin for some time but it’s only recently that we’ve discovered a definitive connection between even small amounts of the product and deadly liver toxicity in dogs. Dogs just don’t have the liver enzymes necessary to deal with this particular molecule.
Ingestion of a large amount (a box of cupcakes) can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar (hypoglycemia) followed by seizures as soon as 30 minutes after ingestion. Smaller amounts can have delayed effects—up to twelve hours later. By this time, you might not be able to make the connection between ingestion and illness.
If your dog does consume xylitol, inform your vet immediately. Estimate the amount consumed. Armed with the product’s label, call the animal poison control hotline on the way to your vet’s office. They will ask for $55. Pay it. Your vet will then be able to converse directly with the poison control specialist.
Typically, vomiting will be induced if the ingestion was recent. Activated charcoal might be considered. Fluid therapy is a must. Supportive care for neurological signs (like seizures) will be provided with valium, phenobarbital or propofol, as needed. Liver enzymes and coagulation times will also be monitored. Can the xylitol-afflicted survive? Apparently it depends on the dose, the patient’s size, and the speed of treatment.
How do you prevent this toxicity? Simple. Don’t buy any xylitol-containing products. Like rat poison or antifreeze, it’s a product just not worth keeping around. Read your sugar-free labels carefully! Because (unlike rat poison and antifreeze) there is no antidote.
So now that we know how toxic xylitol products can be, will they be pulled off supermarket shelves? Nope. The FDA does not step in to regulate pet-toxic ingredients in products intended for human consumption—even if they inadvertently result in the death of hundreds or thousands of our family members.
In their defense, were the FDA to enforce a new policy eliminating pet-toxic products, chocolate would be gone from our lives, too. We don’t really want that, do we? What we do need, however, is very simple: a warning label on all chocolate, xylitol, and other products poisonous to our pets. Is that too much to ask for?
Problem is, the FDA has lower standards for our pets` safety than we pet-devotees demand. Consider the Hartz and Sergeant’s products: cheap, poorly efficacious, and deadly when used even a smidge off-label (try using their poorly-labeled pyrethrins-based flea products on a cat and you’ll quickly see why). Then again, I guess these are sort of like Twinkies: they’re simply bad for you. The difference is that no one can prove anyone’s ever died from consuming a Twinkie.
Dolittler
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Thank you for the heads up on this one - I first heard about it on a breed-specific mailing list a couple of weeks ago, and and have since been diligently reading labels; it's really terrifying how many products Xylitol is in. Scary thing is, my corgis would cheerfully eat anything, regardless of ingredients - thankfully, I won't, so there's no sugar free cr*p in the house. Oh, and why do manufacturers use these ingredients? Because they're cheap :(
Erika October 27th, 2006 12:04:00 PM
Hm. Apparently my weird anti-processed-foods lifestyle is good for my ridiculous pup Bella as well as for me.
re:pyrethrins. I didn't know how dangerous these were until I read <a href="http://petpeeves6003.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E6EA464E112A897E!2013.entry">the Pet Peeves post on them</a> earlier this month. Yeesh! I'm glad I got my anti-flea treatment from my vet.
Laura October 27th, 2006 01:51:00 PM
Oh dear. I'm hooked on Altoids cinnamon gum. #1 ingredient is Xylitol. Fortunately, the dogs aren't allowed anywhere near them, and I'm careful to pick the piece up if I drop it. My other sugar-free treats have sorbitol, which probably isn't good for me or the dogs either.
Georg October 27th, 2006 03:58:00 PM
I had a patient, an adult male German Shepherd, present recently with generalized seizures. He had consumed 2 cough drops containing Xylitol. He was lucky enough to make it, but it seems with this stuff a little toxin goes a LONG way.
Alexandra October 27th, 2006 05:30:00 PM
That's the scary part. Just a tiny amount has the possibility to wreak such havoc. And I feel terribly ignorant in just having realized how toxic xylitol is. How many other products are causing undiscovered hepatotoxicity or other untoward effects? Truly frightening.
Dr. Patty Khuly October 29th, 2006 07:35:00 PM
Hi,
I saw this reported on our channel 10 news four weeks after my puppy Pom ate some gum.
Tinkerbell weighs 4 lbs and ate one stick of gum and with in 20 minutes I was rushing her to my vet. She vomited and then passed out and lost all body function. I live less then 2 miles from my vet and rushed her in. By the time I get there she had died on me and the vet brought her back. The Dr's. gave her blood transfusions and sodium bicarbonate because her blood turned to acid. Tinker was bleeding out and had to have a complete bag of plasma.
Tinkerbell is now recovered and doing fine but if I wasn't home when she found the gum I would have come home to a dead dog. You just can't imagined how fast this was.
I am soooo glad I saw the news about this because we searched this house for anything that may have bitten her anything poison she may have gotten into but never found a thing. We never suspected gum.
Margaret Shope March 11th, 2007 02:04:00 PM
My 4 year old mixed Lab. become suddenly ill last in August of 2006. She had all of the symptons of Xylitol induced toxic shock. She was vomiting, couldn't move as if she had no life in her and all of the symptons came suddenly. My Dad purchased alot of her food from Winn-Dixie, Walmart, and the Dollar Store. Some dry food, but mostly canned and gravied. Neither us or the Vet could find out what was wrong with her. This dog just 12-16 hours prior to this attack was healthy and running and full of life. We ended up putting her to sleep because she was suffering and had been in that state for 72 hours. If funds would have been available to me a struggling single mom of four, I would have transferred her to LSU Vetinary School of Medicine to run more tests. My family and I have been deeply affected because the only thing that happened was a feeding.
We thought she had been poisoned by the neighbor, heartworms, or even insect bites. There was no evidence to support those theories and a lack of closure has my daughter, DADA's best friend, in 11 year old depression. I would like to know if Xylitol was present in those products during the months of July and August of 2006 and if so what can I do to voice my concerns and get justice for our lost family companion?
Anita March 19th, 2007 03:27:00 PM
It seems you folks are mixed up here...xylitol is not found in very many products at all. It is aspartame that is found in everything. It is aspartame that is toxic, overused and overly sweet tasting. Xylitol is a naturally occuring sweetener, produced mainly from birch trees and other sources. Aspartame is a chemical that is well known to cause seizures and headaches among other health problems.
Lwp July 29th, 2007 07:18:00 PM
While Aspartame may not be good for anyone (and less so for our pets) it is not considered a toxin by the ASPCA's poison control. Xylitol has been found to be a potent toxin for pets, however, and though it might not be found in as many products, it's information like this that might keep the industry from adopting its more widespread use.
Dr. Patty Khuly August 3rd, 2007 11:09:00 AM
Dr Khuly,
As I understand, xylitol, like sorbitol, is an oggliosacchride, which is hard to digest in both humans and pets, and these are both used as sweeteners. Please correct me if I am wrong. I believe you know best, so I accept the toxicity factor of xylitol. Since xylitol falls within the same chemical category as sorbitol and others like, mannitol, could large amounts of sorbitol affect pets in an adverse way, especially so if it were of an inferior grade? Sorbitol is used in a multitude of pet foods, and it is a humectant, shows less vulnerability to mold and, supposedly, it is bacteria resistant. It is also used as a plastisizing agent.
I am curious, as Anita's story sounds all too familiar. Rightfully, the family's Lab shares a place with the multitude of "sacrificial lambs" that fell victim to pet food tragedy of 2007. Evidence has come forth regarding the time span as being further back than originally thought. Our our own dog refused to eat her usual kibble right around the same time as Anita lost her lab and continued through until she gave up her life on 3.7.07, before the tainting affected American pets. Anita's story is the first that I have seen falling specifically within the same time frame I had figured the tainted spanned because of our dog's adverse behavior to her food.
Any information you can provide is certainly appreciated.
Thank you.
Donna August 9th, 2007 07:58:00 PM
For the other side of the story on Xylitol have a read of this
http://www.laleva.cc/food/xylitol.html
Not good for dogs, but can do wonders for humans that eat too much sugar!!
Zane August 12th, 2007 11:31:00 PM
I learned about this poison for dogs too late. I just buried one of my pommeranians after she had eaten 2 pieces of Trident sugar free gum. I didn't even think about the fact that an ingredient could be harmful all I thought about was her passing it. Four days later she started by vomiting one time, by 6 days she was vomiting everything. I took her to the vet. and he treated the vomiting not seeing signs of anything else. He asked if she had eaten a toy or anything and I told him she had eaten 2 pieces of gum 6 days ago. He refered to the information he had on xylitol and said that according to it she didn't eat enough to hurt her. The next day I noticed her belly was turning yellow. Liver Failure. I rushed her to an emergency clinic and they kept her all night but in their call to APCC they were told she didn't get enought of it to cause a problem. The next day I took her to my old vet near UF and he fought for 12 days to keep her alive and get her through all the medical problems that the xylitol caused. He and Brandi fought long and hard but in the end the effects of xylitol took her life. I would like to get the word out to the general public and pet owners of this danger. If I had heard about it before she would have gotten immediate treatment and maybe she would be alive today. If anyone has any ideas of how to get the word out to the general public please share them with me.
Barbara Wilt August 14th, 2007 04:51:00 PM
Your stories are tragic. All the info we have on how dogs respond to Xylitol come from one study, though. Small dogs are also predisposed to liver shunts which some dogs can live with [undetected] for years (or forever) and this may have contributed to the toxicity of the product. It certainly sounds like these deaths are suspicious for Xylitol toxicity. Labeling these products as toxic will help spread the word--but getting the news out online and in other media will be necessary to disseminate this issue widely.
As to the toxic nature of related compounds--I'm sorry--I don't know better than you. The ASPCA's poison control may answer your question if you call their 1-800 number, though. I've found them to be extremely helpful.
Dr. Patty Khuly August 15th, 2007 11:57:00 AM
I am heartbroken. I think this may have been what caused the death of my sweet border collie, Sprocket. Dr. Khuly, can you tell me if Sorbitol has the same effects as Xylitol? Sprocket ate a 1/2 pack of Extra brand sugar free gum, which contains: Sorbitol, Glycerol, Mannitol, Maltitol, Aspartame, Acesulfame K, BHT, and phenylalanine. He had a regular check up scheduled the next day, and I mentioned it to them when I took him in. He had had a couple of seizures that night, but he had a history of seizures and it was controlled with phenobarbitol. Because the pack of gum didn't show Xylitol as an ingredient, they weren't concerned. I just managed the short seizures, and waited for the gum to pass. Then one night later, he went into a seizure, and never came out of it. I had him put down the next morning. Did gum kill my dog? I want to share with my vet and neighbors, friends, etc, if Sorbitol is also dangerous, so they can avoid such a tragedy.
Michelle March 17th, 2008 03:55:00 PM
I'm not sure what the hold-up is...as said in http://www.jebshouse.com maybe they have re-thought their stance on how this is going to actually make the company any money. Or perhaps their lawyers pointed out the liability of providing agents a platform to stick their feet in their mouth. Whatever it is, it's hardly something I'd claim as being "Well done".
Jefry Archar June 1st, 2008 01:26:00 PM
You may be interested to know that new consumer protection laws have come into force all over Europe on 26.5.2008 which say that no-one must sell anything by misleading people and so under this law all Vets who sell pet food are now committing an offence under the new legislation since all who sell pet food are misleading pet owners into believing cats and dogs have a nutritional need for 30-60% carbohyrate in it or the up to 30% carbohydrate in tinned food. Vets are failing to tell clients that cats are true carnivores and must not be fed carbohydrate or that feeding cats and dogs carbohydrate can, as veterinary research shows, give them diabetes or dilated cardiomyopathy which will eventually kill the cat or dog, can give cats kidney failure, cystitis, struvite crystals, calcium oxalate stones or that the acidifiers in dry pet food are causing kidney failure. Under this new legislation no-one must make any health claim that they cannot back up with research and so the pet food companies who are making health claims on the food for bladder, kidney and heart health will now all be committng an offence under this new legislation because veterinary research I have blamed pet food for causing the bladder, kidney and heart problems the pet food companies claim their food is helping. Prescription diets too make false health claims and a Vet I know tells me Hills c/d causes calcium oxalate stones which need an operation to remove them. Purina say in a paper written by them the high incidence of kidney failure in cats in the past 10 years is probably due to the acidifiers the pet food companies put into the food and I have veterinary research which blames these acidifiers for indeed giving cats kidney failue so the pet food companies and Vets are misleading clients by failing to warn them that feeding dry food can cause kidney failure and so are committing an offence under this new law and I am pursuing this with the relevant Government department who are responsible for enforcing the new law.
Fiona MacMillan June 6th, 2008 05:35:00 AM
omg... This information about xylitol is so frightening, yet i'm glad I found out before my dogs get hurt.
There are so many foods and products that are poisonous to dogs.. I'm just scared that one day my dogs will get poisoned from my ignorance of some product.
One of my dogs has an affinity for anything mint.. even toothpaste. She always tries to grab the tooth paste and eat it so I am really glad I found out about this.
What happens if my 13 pound dog eats a tiny bit of toothpaste? like the size of half of my pinky fingernail? Will there be a slow permanent degeneration of her liver or if she does not show any signs of sickness..will it pass???
I just hope and pray that both my beloved dogs will live long and healthy lives with me.
Concerned reader June 14th, 2008 07:55:00 PM
I had an incident last night with my 12 week old puppy. She went absolutely nuts (out of control and angry) after eating a gnawhide disc that is part of the nylabone toy I purchased at Target. It started 20-30 minutes after she ate the disk and she began violent running and jumping. I thought she might kill herself and we could not contain her. We worked her down over a period of two hours with massage and talking, but we were scared. This gnawhide disc contained sorbitol and thus internet research led me to this article. I wonder if there is a connection here.
Puppy Owner June 26th, 2008 03:04:00 PM
I am so glad I learned of this because my Chihuahua loves gum and my husband gives it to him all the time but he chews it first. I don't know why he hasn't got sick unless due to my husband chewing it first removes enough of the toxin. We will never give him gum again. I am so glad he hasn't got sick, I will take him for a complete check-up to see if he has any side affects.
Chihuahua owner July 24th, 2008 11:18:00 PM
Unfortunately for tucker, our beloved dachsund this information came to late. I had no idea that there was an ingredient in gum that would have such an effect on dogs. Somehow my Tucker had gotten into some without me knowing it and by the time I found him he was seizing. We eventually had to put him down because he wasn't going to make it.
Tucker's gone August 25th, 2008 07:12:00 PM
It has been over a year now since we lost Brandi to xylitol poisoning and I still get angry when I see other dogs suffering the same way for the same reason she did. Since she passed, we have found xylitol used in more and more sugar free foods, human dental products like toothpaste, and even in dental additives for dogs to help keep their teeth clean. How rediculous can it get. Add a poison to a product that we are going to give to our dogs. The bottom line here is WE have to watch the ingredients in everything that our pets put in their mouths.
Barbara Wilt August 25th, 2008 08:52:00 PM
my dog got into my daughters gum
by the time i got her to the vet she had no blood pressure
when we figured it out she was almost dead
she was in the hostital for 5 days
when we brought her home she was a very different dog
we wont know the full effects for another 3 weeks
but it looks like we may have a special needs dog from here on out
shes only 3 1/2 years old boarder collie very sad indeed
jerrin leslie roukema October 31st, 2008 01:48:00 PM
Jerrin.... If there is any way possible, I would really like to be kept informed on how your border collie is doing. I am so very sorry that you have gone thru this. I know how awful the experience has been. I hope that it is a blessing that in the end that your baby is still alive. Please keep me posted. I wish you well.
Barbara Wilt October 31st, 2008 06:50:00 PM
What a rant. So let's ban chocolate? In my opinion if you have a pet it is your
responsibility to know what NOT to allow your pet to have (or leave laying about).
Xylitol is an excellent sweetener with 40% of the calories of other sugars, no
cariogenicity and promotes healthy gums by destroying harmful mouth bacteria.
The big bad world is full of evil things preying on our pets but the #1 killer is our
own inept attitude like banning autos because they run over a dog that was left
to run on his own. I love my dog of 13 years and do the work to keep him safe
and happy instead of blaming the world at large for producing "nasty" substances.
Do we really need the FDA to take up the slack for our own lack of awareness?
Draomin January 2nd, 2009 05:32:45 PM
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