# Sticky  Sugarfree gum warning



## dolly'sgrandma

My vet came by yesterday to give Dolly her shots and she was very adamant that I get the word out about XYLITOL. It's a sugar substitute commonly used in gum, but also used for sugarfree baking, etc... She had a 75 pound lab die from eating one of his diabetic owner's muffins. She said it pretty much means death to any dogs, particularly chi's...and frankly, I had just bought some Orbit gum because my kids' dentist told me how great it was at preventing cavities. I could totally see Dolly finding some gum somewhere. It's out of here now and I found this article for you guys to read. Scary stuff!





Xylitol Poisoning!

submitted by Susan Thorpe-Vargas Ph.D



The Animal Poison Control Center has reported a substantial increase in the number of cases of Xylitol poisoning. Xylitol is a sweetener that is found in sugar-free gum, candy, baked goods, desserts, toothpaste, and other oral-care products. It can also be purchased as granulated powder for cooking and baking.



It can cause serious and sometimes life-threatening problems in dogs. In the October 1, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 8 adult dogs were evaluated for lethargy and vomiting after ingestion of Xylitol. Five of the 8 were either euthanized or died.


The Animal Poison Control Center managed more than 170 cases of Xylitol poisonings in 2005, up from approximately 70 in 2004. As of August, 2006, the poison control center had managed 114 cases in 2006. That may be due to the increased availability of Xylitol containing products or the increased awareness by the public and veterinarians.


While it was previously thought that only large concentrations of Xylitol could cause problems in dogs, lesser amounts of the sweetener may also be harmful.


Our concern used to be mainly with products that contain xylitol as one of the first ingredients, said Dr. Eric Dunayer, who specializes in toxicology at the center. However we have begun to see problems developing from ingestions of products with lesser amounts of this sweetener. He said that with smaller concentrations of Xylitol, the onset of clinical signs could be delayed as much as 12 hours after ingestion.


Dogs that ingest substantial amounts of items sweetened with Xylitol can develop a sudden drop in blood sugar resulting in depression, loss of coordination, and seizures. These signs can develop quite rapidly, at times less than 30 minutes after ingestion of the product. Therefore, it is crucial that pet owners seek veterinary treatment immediately after ingestion or suspected ingestion of products containing Xylitol. The poison control center also reported that there appears to be strong link between Xylitol ingestions and the development of liver failure in dogs.

Credit to: Dr. Vern Otte, DVM, State Line Animal Hospital, Leawood, KS and the Journal of the American Veterinary Association, October 2006.


A Special Thank you to Dr. Susan Thorpe-Vargas [email protected] for submitting this information to help promote the health and care of all our animals.

Dr. Susan Thorpe-Vargas shares her life with two Samoyed dogs, Max and Chloe, and rescue Siamese kitty, Sidney. Scientific citations that support this article can be found at SMDI.org


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## CM Katie

Omg thank you for posting this!
Carl found a piece of gum on a walk once and started chewing it. I couldn't get it away from him.
Next time I'll be more careful!


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## Jen

wow, thanks for posting that :thumbup:


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## lalaNlucky

lucky loves to lick my gum haha  we're gross i know. but now i won't let him.


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## dolly'sgrandma

It's true... Dolly would SO grab gum if she saw it. That's why my vet said not to even bring it in the house...dogs get it out of the trash. And it's basically death...there isn't much they can do.

I am going to check ingredients like crazy. I won't have naprox in the house after reading here how someone's baby died after getting that, and it's less likely that my dog would get a pill than a piece of gum (or a sugarfree baked good...how scary!). My vet said to pass the news, so tell your friends!


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## Kat & Jinxy

OMG Thanks for posting this!
I always prefer sugar free chewing gum. I found one one the floor, about a week ago, and imediately picked it up, because I didn't want Jinxy to find it. I did not know that it could kill though. I'm glad I found it before Jinxy did. It's really scary.
I wonder if it's best to make this thread sticky?


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## dolly'sgrandma

Maybe we should, because according to my vet, it's pretty much certain to kill a chi. And this article mentioned five out of eight dogs dying. And we all either chew it, or know someone who does. Plus, it can be hidden in "sugarfree or diabetic" baked goods. Scary! Anything that can kill, we need to know about.


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## Kat & Jinxy

I totally agree with you.


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## lalaNlucky

sad too. cause its not like i can just chew regular gum, its horrid for your teeth. do ALL sugarfree gums have this ingredient?


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## Katie

Yikes! The chis have got a hold of 2 packs of gum  Luckily they were ok. That's so scary! I can't leave anything laying out. Someone we know works for Wrigleys and we always have huge amounts of gum around here. I will definitely be more careful.


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## Poco'sMom

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for posting this!


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## dolly'sgrandma

It's not just any sugarfree gum...it has to have xylitol in it. But since xylitol is getting really good press on its amazing ability to actually keep teeth from getting cavities, I wouldn't be surprised if ALL sugarfree gum had it soon. I know it's in Orbit.

I know, that's the only kind of gum we'll chew here. But it's not worth the risk of the dogs even finding old, chewed gum in our trash.


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## lalaNlucky

pretty sure the trident white doesnt have any, its sugarless gum.


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## Rubyfox

OMG How awful..

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.


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## juliefrw

I had no idea too! Thanks for the lifesaving information


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## MsViv

lalaNlucky said:


> do ALL sugar free gums have this ingredient?


I do believe that most sugar free gum has aspartame and believe this is a similar ingredient. Aspartame is a poison to people so I don't eat or drink anything with it in. Aspartame is also called nutrasweet. Surely wouldn't want my girls to get anything with that in.


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## red hat mama

Thanks for the warning about the sugar free products ,I will certainly never bring them in to my home, Bruiser is like a little vac he finds the smallest thing and eats it quickly before I can get my hands on him.


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## Sweet-Chi

lalaNlucky said:


> lucky loves to lick my gum haha  we're gross i know. QUOTE]
> :laughing8: :laughing8: :laughing8: :laughing8: :laughing8:


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## Constance

I have learnt far more information on here about sugar than I have ever read in books and thank you for that.


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## chihuahua_momma

omg i never realized that could hurt them


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## roosterbob

Thanks for the heads up! My Chihuahuas are always trying to get into things...anything!


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## mychiisqueen

I heard about this too! Thankfully Emma (my chi) has been taught any gum is bad she wont go near it even if its in the wrapper... i just taught her that because I never wanted to deal with the mess or have it get in her hair... but I'm glad my neuroticness is saving her life


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## KatG

Wow, Im glad you took the time to let us know that, Im a newbie here and am finding so much info...thanks a bunch!


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## Abbey'sMommie

thanks for the great info, i would have never thought about gum,ot that i would ever give it to my dog but thanks for sharing


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## IHeartBK

I never knew this! My pups have gotten into Orbit gum before... nothing happened though, thank goodness!

Thank you for the information!


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## lilbabyvenus

Thanks for the warning! Hubbys' stepmom leaves her purse on the floor all the time: gum, cigarettes, pens...you name it. Ugh I hate going over there. If I didn't like visiting his dad so much I'd never go there lol. Last time we went there she let Venus get into a hershey kiss. I was never so mad in all my life. Venus was fine. Thank god. But after that and now hearing about the gum, I don't know that Venus will be roaming freely at their house anymore...


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## Yoshismom

Keep in mind that both the sugarless gum, chocolate, as well as other dangerous foods do not take affect right away. It can affect liver, kidney's and such over a long period of time eventually shutting these organs down. I say this as I run into people on a regular basis that know that it is dangerous but after they get into it and it doesnt affect them they think that their dog is immune and they continue to feed the stuff?? So I always try to make this clear ;-)

Not saying you guys think like this but there are people out there that do so.

Such small amounts as mentioned above I am sure will not hurt much though so I am not trying to scare you ;-)


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## SillySally

My vet also lost his dog dueto sugar free gum. He was going out of town and left his back pack at the door in the floor and his dog got into the back pack and ate no telling how much sugar free gum. He rushed him upto the clinic and couldn't save him


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## Pepe&Thia'sMom

thank you for posting that I have a home run baking business and do alot of my baking for diabtic's I never thought anything about it


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## Chacha09

CRAZY! Mojo loves to nose in purses.. we keep them up bc he steals gum.. good thing.


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## Digipup

Yikes - I gotta be careful. Just got braces not long ago, and they recommended sugarfree gum instead of the usual stuff. I got a few little packets of it around here somewhere - must go on a colelcting trip!
Thanks for posting this.


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## pigeonsheep

luckily i dont have gum laying around in my room, but i do have coins! i keep collecting coins like a nut that i bought a coin bank for all the coins i find LOL!


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## ilovemychiCAMI

Wow this is crazy! I am a college student living in a apartment complex where its 99% students and they always spit out their gum on the ground......and of course everytime i am walking Cami she finds the gum. Scary


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## cocochihuahua

Oooh thanks for this...glitter has a fascination with gum and a couple of times ive had to pull it out her mouth when shes got into my bag or something..I assumed it wouldnt be good for them but more incase it got stuck in thier throat or something..not the sugar thing!


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## chikisses

Thank you so much for this informative post. I guess the gum is in the trash can . If it causes that in dogs, who knows what it really causes in us humans. Thanks again for the article.


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## TheJewelKitten

THANK YOU!

I was so scared because I remembered earlier Taco got into a life savers gummy, but when I checked the ingredients on the bag it said sugar, so hes much safer now, im going to check ingrediants like CRAZY now!


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## ExoticChis

Thanks for posting 
Great info


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## widogmom

Also be aware of other products that contain xylitol - Hammer Nutrition Products specifically, for all you athletes out there (they have a warning on their website somewhere, but a lot of the bike shops that carry the products don't know about the dog toxin potential). Spouse is a cyclist and we keep HEED, Perpetuem, etc. in the house, but we make sure the dogs don't touch any of it because it does contain xylitol. Watch those little packs of energy/electrolyte gel, too - they can be a very attractive, sweet chew for a dog if they fall out of a jersey pocket onto the dog shelf unnoticed.


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## Pat64

Wow! I had no idea! Thanks for posting this. My dog can be a little thief! Once he took a $20 bill out of my purse and left a nyla bone in it's place! Imagine my surprise when I went in my purse for cash and instead found a bone. He steals make up, pencils, cigarettes, basically anything he can get away with. Pencils are his favorite! He chews them (he doesn't eat them) and leaves a mess!


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## theshanman97

GOD! , thank you for posting this! , my puppy likes finding and eating things and of course its not easy to get it out of her mouth!  Well now i know not to buy that stuff! , shes already got to TEN chocolates , so lucky shes ok  X


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## kellyb

Our dog Lucky (who has since passed on) was a border collie black lab mix. He got into my daughter's school bag and got a lie a of gum. I had no idea about xylitol until then. We rushed him to the e-vet. Fifth two hours later after constant iv's and bloodwork he survived but another dog who was brought in and was smaller did not. It was awful. We never left the vet's office and we cried many tears for our Lucky we were so afraid, and then for the other poor dog and his family. There should be more warnings about xylitol. It is not just in gum either.


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## prettylola

I never think this gum is harmful for our pet. This is a dangerous and I surly keep away my pet from gums. Thanks to share this important information with us.


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## Aquarius

Prettylola - I am glad you are finding this information useful 

I too didn't realise about sugar free gum being dangerous until I read it on here!


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## waldo

Waldo is a terrible and FAST food thief. He got a piece of sugar free gum I had already chewed over and before I could take it away, he swallowed it. How worried should I be?

AARRGG!!!


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## Jessicashield

Thankyou for the heads up!


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## enginesrus

I wish every place that sold anything with xylitol would have huge warning signs posted at the product, saying how dangerous that stuff is to dogs. So many dog owners have no idea how bad that stuff is.


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