Thursday, March 20, 2008

Sugar Substitue, Xylitol, Dangerous to Dogs

Fellow pug lover, Linda, recently sent in a link to an article about Harley the pug and his near death experience after eating a few breath mints.  The breath mints contained the sugar substitute, xylitol, and within hours after eating the breath mints Harley was experiencing acute liver distress.

Xylitol is found in many foods, but is commonly found in items like gum, breath mints, toothpaste and mouthwash.  As the sugar substitute is becoming more popular it is appearing in more and more food items.

In 2006, the AVMA released an article on the dangers of xylitol if ingested by dogs.

Stephanie Lam, Harley’s mom, hopes to raise awareness about xylitol and the dangers it poses to animals so that no one will have to go through what her and Harley experienced after he treated himself to a few breath mints.