Daisy's Mom
Well-known member
I went up to the upstairs playroom tonight and found Daisy chewing on a package of Orbit gum, which I was pretty sure contained Xylitol. I later found out that it did, though in very small quantities. It looked like she had eaten 6 1/2 pieces of a 14 piece pack. I got very scared and called my vet, got referred to an emergency vet who told me there probably was nothing to worry about.
Me, being a worrier, was still worrying, so I called the ASPCA Animal poison control hotline. (The call is $60, btw. I wasn't aware there was a charge until tonight.) I spoke to a nice vet there who calculated the amount of Xylitol Daisy probably ingested and said it was around 20 mg/pound, and they don't start seeing problems till around 100 mg per pound. So they told me to give her a little bit of food, and to watch her and call back if she is vomiting or very lethargic. I asked if I should try to induce vomiting and she said no.
My hands are still kind of shaking because I got so scared about this. We almost NEVER have gum around the house, but my kids had their birthday parties on Saturday night and I put a pack of Orbit sugar free gum in each of their guests' favor boxes. There were some extra packs and my son brought a pack up to the playroom and left it on the coffee table, where Daisy found it. I knew that xylitol was very toxic to dogs, so when I saw what she was chewing on, I panicked.
So watch the sugar-free gum in your houses, if you have any. The vet at the poison control center said that the rule in her house is that any sugar free gum must stay in the car and never enter the house. I'm throwing all of that stupid gum away. I hate gum anyway, but my kids like it and I was trying to be a good parent and give the kids sugar-free rather than regular gum. I didn't think about the possibility of Daisy getting into it until I saw her eating it. Very scary. I doubt I sleep much tonight as I will be watching Daisy every minute. They say the effects may show up as much as 24 hours after they eat it. Of course the vet made me feel better, but I will still be scared until I'm sure she was not affected by it. Some of the websites I looked at said that a very small amount can be toxic. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tonight.
She's such a little glutton and in the past few days since I've cut down her food again, she is constantly on the lookout for something, anything to eat. She acts like she is starving all the time.
Me, being a worrier, was still worrying, so I called the ASPCA Animal poison control hotline. (The call is $60, btw. I wasn't aware there was a charge until tonight.) I spoke to a nice vet there who calculated the amount of Xylitol Daisy probably ingested and said it was around 20 mg/pound, and they don't start seeing problems till around 100 mg per pound. So they told me to give her a little bit of food, and to watch her and call back if she is vomiting or very lethargic. I asked if I should try to induce vomiting and she said no.
My hands are still kind of shaking because I got so scared about this. We almost NEVER have gum around the house, but my kids had their birthday parties on Saturday night and I put a pack of Orbit sugar free gum in each of their guests' favor boxes. There were some extra packs and my son brought a pack up to the playroom and left it on the coffee table, where Daisy found it. I knew that xylitol was very toxic to dogs, so when I saw what she was chewing on, I panicked.
So watch the sugar-free gum in your houses, if you have any. The vet at the poison control center said that the rule in her house is that any sugar free gum must stay in the car and never enter the house. I'm throwing all of that stupid gum away. I hate gum anyway, but my kids like it and I was trying to be a good parent and give the kids sugar-free rather than regular gum. I didn't think about the possibility of Daisy getting into it until I saw her eating it. Very scary. I doubt I sleep much tonight as I will be watching Daisy every minute. They say the effects may show up as much as 24 hours after they eat it. Of course the vet made me feel better, but I will still be scared until I'm sure she was not affected by it. Some of the websites I looked at said that a very small amount can be toxic. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tonight.
She's such a little glutton and in the past few days since I've cut down her food again, she is constantly on the lookout for something, anything to eat. She acts like she is starving all the time.