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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  That is a good article but I didn't see mention of the need for immediate vet care to manage the blood surger or vet follow-up for the what I'd thought was almost certain liver damage that I have seen on other website articles. Other articles I'd seen seem to stress getting the dog in to the vet quickly for BS management and continued follow-up over time. Does anyone know if the liver damage is always a problem after Xylitol is ingested? I'd gotten the impression from the articles I've read online last night that it is and vet f/u is essential. The articles I read treated the ingestion of Xylitol as more of an emergent situation. |
One article I read last night said 'some dogs' develop liver failure, can't determine why yet. So, no, to answer your question, but all dogs should be treated as if they will develop liver failure.
From:
Xylitol toxicity in dogs
The sweetener xylitol is toxic to dogs. It has been known to cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in dogs for years,
but recently it has been discovered that it can cause acute liver disease and a coagulopathy (inability to clot the blood). A study found that 0.5g/kg or more of ingested xylitol can cause liver failure. What does this mean in the real world?
One piece of sugar free gum with xylitol has around 0.3g of xylitol in it. Some gums can have as much as 1g of xylitol per piece. If you bake with the xylitol powder one cup has 190g of xylitol. If a recipe calls for 1 cups of xylitol to make 24 cup cakes,
it will only take 2 cupcakes to cause acute liver disease in a 50lb dog.
What are the signs of xylitol toxicity?
Vomiting is usually the first sign of toxicity and then in 30-60 minutes hypoglycemia can occur. The signs of hypoglycemia can be lethargy, ataxia (stumbling around), collapse, and seizure.
In cases where gum with xylitol was ingested the hypoglycemia may be delayed for up to 12 hours. In severe over doses some dogs do not display the signs of hypoglycemia prior to the onset of liver failure. Instead lethargy and vomiting occurred 9-72 hours after exposure. They developed petechia (small spots of bleeding on the skin and mucus membranes like gums), echymosis (larger spots of bleeding seen on the skin and mucus membranes), and gastric hemorrhage (bleeding in the stomach)