For a dog named Hershey, sugarless gum is not so sweet

   

Steve Clow, an editor with The Times sports section, offers this cautionary tale about an adventuresome dachshund.

     Two years ago our rescue dachshund (name: Hershey) got into some chocolate. Or, more precisely, some chocolate got into him. Lots of chocolate. It's a long story, involving seemingly inaccessible shrink-wrapped Advent calendars. But with the help of the fine professionals at the Thousand Oaks Pet Emergency Clinic, Hershey, above, came through the experience with no lasting damage.

     Now, try as we might to keep the lovable little guy safe and healthy, we're sometimes no match for his tireless nostrils. Recently, in his cook's tour of forbidden treats, he rooted out a pack of sugarless gum on our teenager's nightstand. Hershey inhaled 15 mini-sticks of Trident. Wrapping included.

     We caught him practically in the act, and some quick online research confirmed our fears: Xylitol, which makes sugar-free gum sweet to us, can be toxic for dogs.  We raced him to the emergency hospital, where his old friend, Dr. Lidia Ladno, was on duty. She remembered him from his last misadventure, offered a gentle quip about his shifting taste in sweets, and once again worked her veterinary wonders.

     Today, Hershey is fine. And we've almost recovered. While these incidents made us question whether "Dachshunds for Dummies" might be a little too advanced for us, we found in telling the story that we aren't alone. Most people knew about the perils of chocolate. And grapes. But sugarless gum? Not really.

     So we're telling Hershey to think of all this as a public service. So far, he hasn't objected.

-- Steve Clow

Photo: The Clow family

Comments

[Alyssa]

Poor Hershey. I learned that xylitol and malitol is not so great for humans either, after consuming a whole bag of sugar-free gummy bears. I didn't feel so hot afterwards... Let that serve as a cautionary tale for humans too.. Sugar-free goods can really make you feel like shi*!

[R]

wow, glad he survived!!

[jim sparks]

Our Dachshund, Bonnie, sniffed out our niece's "large" chocolate Easter bunny, which she had hidden under her bed. She, the dog not the niece, pealed back the wrapping paper, and ate the entire thing. She was a bit seedy for a few days - to much chocolate isn't good for anybody - but soon recovered.

[J Wesley]

Very insightful, I do not have a dog but the story just made me want to read it… funny and cute and delivers some info that I can tuck away.
Good Luck to you, your family, and your dog…

[Egami Vivid]

Very insightful, I do not have a dog but the story just made me want to read it… funny and cute and delivers some info that I can tuck away.
Good Luck to you, your family, and your dog…

[Steve Wimer]

As the owner of two dachshunds I appreciate your story. Dachies love human food! But it's best not to give it to them.

[James Niles]

I wonder if people don't have more food allergies than we might think? My Australian Shepherd had horrible allergies, most evident in dermatological ways. She periodically had to receive steroid shots and take methyl prednisone orally. One astute vet suggested that we test the food theory by taking her to an expensive allergist or finding some food without soy in it. This was harder than one might think, and we found some food at rural feed store. Within six weeks she was okay and off steroids. I challenged the inhalant and grass theory, because we had moved to the city, and she got worse. We had been admonished to take her off canned food in her puppyhood, because of its huge fat content. Our vet said to feed our cats canned food but never dogs, that dry cat food destroyed kidneys. He said that cats were the only true carnivores in the animal kingdom. Anyway always like to read news about pets. Thanks.

[Heidi C]

Grapes are poisonous to Daschunds?????
Who knew?!
What else should I be on the lookout for?
btw, my dog, Simon, got into a pound of designer sugarless dark chocolate that I bought for my diabetic father for Father's Day. I had to give him hydrogen peroxide to make him throw it up-gated him in the kitchen so the dastardly deed would happen on a vinyl floor-no dice. Gave him the run of the house and he picked the light beige broadloom. Did you know that chocolate dog vomit does NOT come out of broadloom? Must be the chocolate and sulfuric acid combo. Anyway, I digress. I wanted him to live, so that I could kill him myself.

[Maura]

Thanks for the heads up! Don't forget to include onions and raisins as enemies of our canine friends. My cautionary tale might surprise you. Our 1 year old shihtzu, Oliver, somehow managed to "eat" five pennies! Though we noticed he was a bit lethargic, he was still eating fine. Within days, however, he was deathly ill. The morning we rushed him to the animal hospital, his tongue and gums were gray and he was gasping for air. They immediately took him in and an x-ray revealed a small stack of pennies in his stomach! He had zinc poisoning. Because of the weight of the stacked pennies, they would not go out when he had a bowel movement. The pennies were breaking down in his stomach and the zinc was killing off his red blood cells and basically suffocating him. One week later, an open tummy operation, blood transfusion and every other imaginable procedure, we brought little Oliver home, about as thin as we'd ever seen him. We still have the blackened, hole-riddled pennies that were removed from his stomach. Today, a year and a half later, we are still paying the nearly $5k hospital bill, but to see our little guy running, playing and getting his kisses makes it all worth it. He literally has cost us a pretty penny! So beware where/when you empty your pockets of change.