Don't let anyone in your house with a pack of gum. No joke.
We just had to call the emergency vet because Cosmo, my sweet Cosmo, the rescue that will eat ANYTHING because he was rarely fed before we got him.....at 1/2 pack, about 7 pieces of Orbit gum that has the ingredient xylitol.
Thankfully I came into the room as he was finishing the last of the package and was able to call the vet right away.
I had to give him a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide to make him vomit and pray that the gum was in the vomit...meaning that it hadn't digested enough to kill him.
S3 was sobbing. It was his gum that Cosmo got into while S3 was napping. He had left the package on the coffee table (we had the xylitol talk before but until tonight, he didn't understand the severity of it).
I guarantee you S3 will never leave gum laying around again.
The emergency vet said we need to watch for sleepiness (yeah, right..this dog has two speeds, very slow and stop, so sleepiness will be hard to determine). But, at this point there is really nothing we can do other than hope he is still ok by morning.
The thought of losing this little guy is more than I can stand. He is the 8th dog I have had in my lifetime and is absolutely the best dog I have ever had.
I know to those of you that aren't animal people, this may sound silly, but he is not "just a dog", he is family. If you don't get it, you don't get it, but trust me, people like me love our pets more than some of our relatives. Sad but true.
Please tell your family and friends about the toxins in plain old ordinary gum (almost all gums now contain the xylitol, which is the dangerous component).
Public service announcement over.
14 comments:
I am so glad you wrote this, because I would have had no idea that it would have hurt a dog!!
Good to know. I will make sure Colby knows.
So sorry this has happened,I will be praying all is well with Cosmo. I truly know the love for our pets and I also wouldn't trade my furbabies for half my relatives(yea,I have some doozies). Thank you so much for this info,I wasn't aware of it at all. Please let us know how Cosmo is.
I went through so many pets as a child that I've forced myself to be very detached (dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrals, birds, hamsters, fox, deer, horses, calves, sheep, racoons, etc., etc.,) because my dad would sell them or shoot them when the time came. But I know so many families like yours that welcome in these poor little souls and admirably take them under their wings.
I had no idea that gum was dangerous to dogs. I had heard chocolate was a no-no, but I wouldn't have given it another thought if I had seen or heard of any of my friends letting their dog eat some gum. Thank you so much for letting us know.
OMG I hope he is okay! Just the other day I caught Sophie my wire fox terrier in my daughters garbage can and in her mouth was gum in the wrapper and I quickly grabbed it from her. WOW scary!
So sorry this has happend to your sweet Cosmo; please let us know if he recovers!
All of our animals are members of our family, full stop. And thanks for this information, I had no idea!
Sheesh.. I didn't know that? It's some bad stuff to dogs. Here's a link that explains it.
http://www.petmd.com/blogs/dailyvet/2009/May/26
How's he doing now?
My prayers will be with Cosmo's speedy recovery. I had no idea xylitol was toxic to dogs. God bless.
Very good post. I don't have a pet but I love animals. I will pass this info on to the family and friends who do have dogs.
I am glad everything worked out. I did not know this about gum (although I have noticed the word xylitol on the packaging- but did not give it much thought). I will tell other people about this.
OMG, I will pray for Cosmo - most definitely! I do a have a vague recollection about xylitol, but not being much of a gum chewer, I rarely leave it out. Now I will make sure that I NEVER do. I love my dog more than I do some members of my family, so I know exactly what you mean.
I had no idea. I'm so sorry.
Dogs have more emotions and knowledge that some of the more "superior" humans will allow them to have. To Cosmo, you ARE mom and he trusts his life into your hands. Been there.
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