April 19th, 2010
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Well, we can add chewing gum to the multitude of things we need to keep away from our dogs. Besides being a nuisance when he doesn’t keep his mouth closed, chewing gum can be also be harmful to your dog. When my 80 lb. AmStaff downed a pack the other day, I jumped online to www.justanswer.com to find out the consequences. Turns out sugared gum isn’t too bad and may just cause a bad tummy ache. However, the Xylitol in sugarless gum can be toxic, and can cause liver failure.
So, if there’s a trail of gum wrappers down the hall or your dog is unexpectedly blowing bubbles, get him to a vet right away. Kelly is a pet writer. She lives in the Boston area with her three pit bulls and one neurotic cat. |
My 15 pound Chihuahua/Schnauzer mix ate 18 pieces of Ice Breakers sugar free gum with Xylitol. Luckily I had seen that sugar free gum is deadly and got him to the vet within the hour! He had to be on Dextrose IV for 72 hours and had slight kidney damage. It is amazing that he even got through the first night. None of my dog lover friends had even heard of xylitol.
Miles is happy and healthy 1 month later. We are lucky to have him around.
-Jeni
If only all those gum chewers would properly dispose of their old chewed gum instead of leaving it on sidewalks and paths where we walk our dogs. My dog just LOVES gum!
One of my dogs was alone for not even three minutes and rummaged through my purse and ate 11 of 12 pieces of my sugar free gum. Thank GOD my trainer had told me about Xylitol previously. I was able to call the vet, take her right in and she spent about 3 days in the hospital. She was very sick! Mostly liver and kidney issues but she made it. I try to tell as many people as possible about this as it hits close to home. Good Tip of the Day!
What kind of idiot would give their dog gum!
Our dog is a disguised vacuum cleaner!She just sucks every thing up. Thanks. Now I know to keep her far away as possible from gum.
will the xylitol be gone if it is ABC(already been chewed) gum?
Thanks for the tip on chewing gum.
I remember back when my kids were young, we had a Dalmatian, I once caught her getting gum from trash bin and she chewed it, i watched one day as she chewed over 20 minutes, then left it on the shag rug!
(I had previously suspected one of my children of doing this) this BEFORE sugarless.
have a good day.
Gillian.
ps
So what is this doing to OUR bodies?