River's Big Vet Adventure

We had a small scare with River yesterday. I walked into my office in the morning and found an empty pack of gum on the floor. I was pretty sure there had been 8 or so pieces in there on Tuesday. I looked around on the desk to make sure it was in fact that pack and not an empty one that River might have pulled out of the trashcan. It wasn't.

So, I called the vet. They said I could try to make River throw up myself or just bring her in. I decided to try it myself first. The told me to give her 10 mL of hydrogen peroxide or a children's dose of ipecac. Well, we didn't have ipecac but we did have hydrogen peroxide, so I gave her some of that and took her outside (I didn't want to have to clean up the mess!). After about 15 minutes, nothing had happened so I called the vet back and they said to go ahead and bring her in.

At this point, I wasn't too worried and River was acting normal. At the vet, the Dr. briefly told me they'd try to make her throw up, and then check her glucose. I reminded her that it was sugarless gum (I was thinking glucose = sugar) and she said "well, it's the Xylitol we have to worry about." She told me she'd call me around noon and took River back.

I still wasn't too worried, and of course promptly forgot the word "Xylitol." When I got home, I posted on the Nest and one of the girls brought up Xylitol. I remembered that was what the vet had mentioned, so I pulled out the gum package to see if it was listed as an ingredient. At first, I didn't see it, so I also checked the Wrigley's website (it was Orbit Raspberry gum) and it didn't say anything. But, then I Googled Xylitol with Orbit and found a different Wrigley's website (one focused on oral health instead of the products) that said Orbit does have Xylitol, but didn't mention the Raspberry flavor. I was talking with Alec over instant messenger and he said it was a good sign it wasn't on the package, b/c by law they'd have to print that. So, I decided to look again because actually I hadn't seen any ingredients listed. I found the ingredients list in really small print on the side of the package - and it said there was less than 2% Xylitol.

Meanwhile, one of the girls on the Nest had found a pets blog that mentioned although it's different for all dogs, a toxic dose is .1 gram per kilogram of body weight. I did some quick calculations and figured she probably didn't ingest that much.

By 12:30 the vet had not called, so I called them. At this point, I was fluctuating between being really worried and thinking she was probably fine. They said that River was fine, but the vet was with a patient, they were about to check River's glucose and they would call me soon.

Alec got home about 2:30 and I still hadn't heard anything. I didn't really want to annoy the vet, though, so I decided if I hadn't heard by 4:00 I would call again - because no news is good news.

At 4:00 I called again and got to talk to the vet. They said that they had checked River's glucose twice and it was normal, plus when they made her throw up, they didn't see any gum pieces - which makes me think she actually ate it Tuesday night. So, they said I could come get her.

The vet told me (and this is also what I read on-line) that there haven't been any studies about the affects of Xylitol on pets, but there have been some instances of liver problems and even death from eating it. One of the girls on the Nest has a dog who ate a whole cup earlier this year, and she nearly went in to liver failure and had to be on IV's for 3 days.

Anway, I'm so grateful River is okay! And, I will be checking anything we buy that is sugar-free to make sure it doesn't have Xylitol! I don't want to be alarmist, but I do think it's better to be safe than sorry. River is too clever about getting stuff if she wants it and I don't want to accidently leave something out, or just leave the room for a few minutes and have her grab it. I hope some studies are done soon. Alec is thinking of doing a story on it.