Dog Owner Warns: Artificial Sweeteners Harmful to K9s After Pet Dies From Sugar-Free Brownie

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As dieters around the world try to keep trim, natural alternatives to refined sugar have proliferated, but as a woman in London, England, found, what works for humans is oftentimes very different for dogs.

In October 2018, Kate Chacksfield went through every pet owner’s worst nightmare as her Hungarian Vizsla, named Ruby, managed to climb up on the counter and scrounge some brownies that she had made with xylitol, a natural sweetener derived from birch trees.

When Ruby fell ill, Chacksfield spared no expense to save the beloved family pet, but eventually the dog passed away. Now, Chacksfield is advising fellow animal lovers about the dangers posed by ordinary household cooking ingredients like birch sugar.

“I only made brownies with Xylitol in to reduce the amount of sugar I was eating,” Chacksfield told Metro. “She seemed fine at first and it wasn’t until a couple of days later she began being violently ill and I took her to the vets.” She never intended for Ruby to get into them but also had no idea that there would be much of a problem if the dog did.

While the vets originally thought Ruby had somehow managed to ingest some rat poison, at that point Chacksfield hadn’t yet realized that the xylitol could be making her dog so sick. “We just thought she may have eaten some by mistake in the park or something—it never crossed my mind to mention the brownies,” Chacksfield said.

Once Ruby got into hospital, things only seemed to get worse. As Chacksfield posted on Facebook, “It’s been a tortuous rollercoaster of a week as she has veered between merely ‘critical’ and ‘extremely critical’ which is where she was this morning. Always the sickest dog at the Royal Vet Hospital.”

Ruby received two different blood transfusions, which momentarily improved her outlook. Chacksfield’s post continued, “So Ruby was unplugged from all her drips and wheeled into the sunshine where she spent half an hour watching the world go by, tucked under best friend Eliott’s smelly blanket.”

But unfortunately, Ruby’s recovery was all too temporary, and she died of xylitol poisoning. It was only through her death that Chacksfield learned just how widespread xylitol is in foods and how toxic it is for dogs. “I had absolutely no idea Xylitol was harmful to dogs whatsoever and I was heartbroken when they told me and I knew it was too late for Ruby,” she said to Metro.

Xylitol is used as a substitute for sugar in baking mixes, jello, candy, gum, and oral care products. As it contains far fewer calories than sugar and has a much lower glycemic index, xylitol is popular for people watching their weight.

From a dental perspective, the sweetener is far superior to sugar, as oral bacteria are unable to break it down; they decline and leave teeth in better shape.

The problem is, as Chacksfield learned with Ruby, the more xylitol humans incorporate into their everyday lives, the more chances there are that curious and hungry canines will get into it. And the results can be fatal.

“I really, really urge other dog owners to read up on the dangers of Xylitol in dogs and urgently take their pets to the vet if they accidentally consume it as it could be the difference between life and death,” Chacksfield’s post adds.

While the common belief that chocolate is toxic to dogs is true, the quantities of cacao that need to be eaten before trouble sets in are far higher than those of something as basic as sugar-free gum.

According to Preventive Vet, when dogs consume xylitol, they experience hypoglycemia, a rapid drop in blood sugar because of overly stimulated insulin. The shock they experience is very similar to that experienced by diabetics. Larger amounts can cause sudden liver death.