07/19/2023
For my fellow dog owners:
This post is about Xylitol. It was removed from many peanut butters because dogs were dying from it a few years back. But this weekend I made an almost fatal mistake and left my ice breakers cube gum in the living room. I was outside mowing when my mom came out and said your dogs got into gum and Loki and Mowgli also threw up. āSighā I walk inside and see Mowgli on the couch looking off and then proceed to tell him to get off the couch. He looked like he was drunk and his back legs kept giving out. I immediately went to the gym packaging and found that xylitol was first ingredient in it. Loki at this point was normal acting. So off we went to what was supposed to be rochester emergency vet, they were full and couldnāt treat him, so to orchard park we went. On the way we called the dog poison line, which is the same line a vet uses for guided treatment because the amount of xylitol in products is proprietary only they know amount of xylitol in it. So Mowgli was started on dextrose drip because it causes dogs pancreas to secrete 2-7x amount of normal insulin. Basically this is like giving a huge dose of insulin to a normal healthy person. Insulin is needed to transport glucose into cells like muscles and other organs, however your brain does not need insulin in order for it get glucose. Having too much depletes the blood of a healthy amount of glucose that your brain needs which can result in death if not treated promptly. So Mowgli ate a meal right before this so we were okay for now. Next the vet told me liver necrosis is our next worry. So he stayed for several days. As expected his liver values reflected acute liver damage and he was started on liver protectants. Heās home now with almost normal liver function. Heās a 50lb dog who ate 13 pieces and threw them up almost immediately. (Loki had 6 and weighs 72lbs) Resulted in multi day stay at vets and cost $3,000. So moral of the story, be mindful of where you place your gum.
