Two dogs and one pack of sugarless Orbit sweet mint gum don't make a good combination. On Super Bowl Sunday, about 9:15 pm I discovered a shredded package that use to contain 13 sticks of gum. My oldest had taken one out and left the package on the kitchen table. Well, I thought Jack ate the gum and remembered it could be fatal so I called the after hours vet. I was directed to bring him in as soon as possible. Problem was I did not see either dog with any gum wrappers and neither had "sweet mint" breath so I took both Cooper and Jack to the vet at 9:40pm. After making both dogs vomit ( for only $500- I am not kidding!) and inspecting it for gum, we discovered that Cooper had eaten ALL 13 pieces. Some were even intact and in the wrappers and according to my husband, "could be passed out to friends" ( yeah, right). So now we had to leave Cooper hospitalized for the night (for another $250) so they could check his blood sugar every two hours and monitor him. We were up all night phoning the vet to check on Cooper and I picked him up at 7:15 am. I fed him and walked him then called my vet. She wanted him for the day to continue monitoring him (that was only $80- what a bargain!). Now it is 6:00 pm and Cooper is home resting. We think he will be fine but have to watch for liver damage this week. Yuck! Moral of this story: XYLITOL, the sweetener in all sugarless gum, is HIGHLY TOXIC TO DOGS!!!! We no longer allow gum in the house.
