Subject: Popular Sweetener Is Toxic to Dogs Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:33:44 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 You might want to pass this along to other dog users. > Popular sweetener is toxic for dogs By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA > TODAY A sugar substitute found in a variety of sugar-free and dietetic > cookies, mints and chewing gum is proving highly toxic, even fatal, to > snack-snatching dogs. Xylitol, popular in Europe for decades but a > relative > newcomer to the U.S. alternative-sweeteners market, can be "very, very > serious" to dogs when ingested, says Dana Farbman, spokeswoman for the > Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of > Cruelty to Animals. "It doesn't take a whole lot (of xylitol), and the > effects are so rapid that the window of opportunity to treat the dog is > extremely small," Farbman says. The ASPCA sent an advisory to > veterinarians > last August warning them about the potential for serious harm or death. > Veterinarians have used a variety of means to get the word out, including > posting signs in their offices and making copies of the bulletin for > clients > to augment the caution the ASPCA has posted on its website. Concerned that > millions of people are still unaware of the risk, veterinarians with > forums > for widespread public announcements are spreading the word that way as > well. > Among them: Miami veterinarian Patty Khuly wrote about the problem on her > doolittler.com blog, and Colorado Springs veterinarian Anne Pierce devoted > her entire weekly newspaper column a week ago to xylitol. Within 30 > minutes > of consuming a small amount of a xylitol-sweetened product, the ASPCA > says, > dogs can experience a dramatic drop in blood sugar, and they usually begin > vomiting, become lethargic and can have difficulty standing or walking. > Some > have seizures, develop internal hemorrhaging and lesions and suffer liver > failure. As few as two or three sticks of xylitol gum could be toxic to a > 20-pound dog, the ASPCA says. Immediate and aggressive veterinary > treatment, > which includes glucose drips and IV fluids, has proved effective in many > cases. The ASPCA's poison control unit is aware of 10 dog deaths from > xylitol since 2002, and it has received scores of reports of dogs becoming > gravely ill. But only a fraction of veterinarians and consumers alert the > ASPCA when a dog becomes ill or dies from toxins, and there is no national > clearinghouse tracking xylitol-suspected toxic reactions. Moreover, it's > not > always entirely clear what caused the problem when a dog arrives at a > veterinarian's office with seizures or liver failure. "I suspect that > there > are more cases than we know about because they come in with liver failure, > and the owner is not aware of what has been ingested," Pierce says. She > believes that xylitol ingestion is "an emerging problem" and that the > number > of cases probably will increase with time, "depending on how widespread > xylitol as a sweetener becomes." Xylitol is an all-natural sugar > substitute > derived from beets, birch tree bark, corncobs and other natural sources. > It's as sweet as sugar but has 40% fewer calories. Unlike sugar, xylitol > does not require insulin to be metabolized. Right now, xylitol is used > mostly in cookies, candies, cupcakes and other sweets developed for people > who have diabetes. It's also sold in bags of crystals for baking. Because > of > its bacteria-killing properties, it is put into some oral care products, > including Tom's All Natural and Biotene toothpastes. It also is beginning > to > be used in a broad assortment of products intended for the general public. > Among them: Jello sugar-free puddings and a wide variety of sugar-free > gums, > including Trident, Orbit, Stride, Icebreakers and Altoids. Makers of > products with xylitol say their products are designed for people, > including > diabetes patients, who are seeking an alternative to sugar; they were > never > recommended for dogs and were never intended to be ingested by dogs. > Owners > should be careful because some dogs, Khuly says, "get into just about > everything and eat everything they find." There is no indication that any > of > the other sweeteners on the market adversely affect dogs. And there is no > evidence so far that xylitol is toxic to pets other than dogs. But cats, > for > example, don't scavenge for sweets as dogs do, so it's possible there are > risks that have not yet been discovered. For now, veterinarians advise pet > owners to keep xylitol away from all animals. Find this article at: > http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-18-xylit ----- Original Message ----- From: delma bliss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 3:38 PM Subject: [RecipesAndMore] to sandy
> > hi to answer your question > when the u k's time changes this week end > they will be back to 6 hous ahead of us on cst time > like it's 6 pm here there it will be 12 midnight there > hth > Delma > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Access the Recipes And More list archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/recipesandmore%40googlegroups.com/ Visit the group home page at: http://groups.google.com/group/RecipesAndMore -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
