I found out the hard way a popular sweetener is toxic for dogs!

I just got home from emergency!
I had to leave my Romeo there.
Being a very inquisitive 10 month old, he got into my purse and ate some trident sugar-free chewing gum.
Luckily I noticed right away what he had done!
It is toxic to dogs!
So they had to make him vomit it up!
They are testing his glucose levels every hour.
Also they will take x-rays and give him IV fluids.
All it takes is 1-2 sticks of gum to be toxic!
He ate around 7!!!!
Basically he will be there for 12-24 hours!

This is a BIG FYI keep anything containing xylitol away from your precious little ones!

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING LINK!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-18-xylitol-sweetener_N.htm

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Permalink Reply by Claudette on October 10, 2010 at 5:47pm

Very sorry to hear about Romeo. I pray he gets well soon. I must remember to keep my pocket book away from my baby, Hayden. I do believe he ate some gum before as well too.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on October 10, 2010 at 9:15pm

Any news on Romeo?????

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Permalink Reply by Chris Payerl on October 10, 2010 at 10:02pm

Been there, done that! Sending healing thoughts your way.
We went out to lunch with my mother-in-law a couple of years ago, putting Sophie in her crate in our room since we had a trusted workman doing some things around the house and we didn't want her getting in his way. We came home and went to the bedroom to let her out only to find a huge mess all over the floor. She had managed to open her crate, jump up on top of it (a crate big enough for a lab), climb from there onto my dresser, knock stuff off onto the floor, chew through the outer pocket of a purse I had hanging over the corner of the mirror, and EAT a pack of sugar free gum, among other things. We found fragments of the cardboard outer wrapper, a chap stick tube, shredded tissues and papers, the remains of a pen, etc. all over the floor. Thank goodness I had just read an article about how toxic xylitol is for dogs. The workman, who knew and liked Sophie very much, felt just terrible as he said he heard her messing around in the bedroom but didn't want to go into our room without our permission while we were gone. Off to the ER for X-rays, emetics, laxatives and IVs. The staff said that it was the most pleasant smelling poop they ever had to pick up---peppermint. $800+ and an overnight stay later, we got to bring her back home and the first thing that stinker did was run back to the scene of the crime looking for a way to get up onto the dresser again. We can laugh about it in retrospect, but it was very scary at the time.
Please be very careful to keep gum, candies, cough drops, commercially prepared baked goods, etc., away from your dogs. With the holidays coming up, there are plenty of opportunities around for "snacking." Remind your children not to leave these items lying around. Be especially careful if your dog is on any meds, as Sophie was, as some of meds can make a dog develop an insatiable appetite---even worse than a regular corgi has normally. Don't underestimate a corgi's ability to climb to get at something it really wants, either. I'd never have guessed that Sophie could get up onto my dresser, but she did.

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Permalink Reply by Zion (pem) & Andrew (me) on October 11, 2010 at 12:34am

Thanks for the heads up. I did not know this aside from usual chocolate/grapes/garlic/onions.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea De Leo on October 11, 2010 at 1:15am

I just got home from the emergency vet.
I am happy to report Romeo does not have any liver damage!
He is now home and he is getting back to his old self.
We were one of the lucky ones!

Thank you everybody for words of encouragement and well wishes!