Many of us have pets and they are our best friends. We love to exercise them, feed and care for them, and cater to their every need. Our pets are clever and if they are adamant they do not want to do something such as eat their medication or even their meals, this calls for the owner to try to persuade them to take their medication or eat any of the pouches of food we humans generously administer to them.
Some pet owners try to coax our animal companions to consume their food and medication by adding some of their favourite treats that they cannot resist, or a variety of human foods which sends their gastric juices into overdrive. However, pet owners should stop and take notice of a recent question-and-answer session provided by a vet from the PDSA. The vet took some time out from her busy daily job to discuss a few of the potential traps unwary animal lovers may find themselves falling in if they take such action, and how they can reduce the risk of disaster striking.
Making pets take their medication can be a challenge
During the question-and-answer discussion, an animal lover named Naomi was concerned because her feline friend named Nala was refusing to consume its tablets. Naomi expressed her frustration about the situation to the vet because she had conceivably tried everything she reasonably could to get the cat to consume its medication such as disguising it in its food, hoping it would not notice and happily swallow it. However, all this effort was to no avail as Nala intelligently and cunningly dug through, found the medication within the food, and refused to consume it. Naomi asked the vet for a suggestion to solve her predicament and posed the question, “how can I get my cat to take her medicine?
In response, the vet seemed sympathetic to Naomi’s plight, advising that intelligent pets are “challenging” when pet owners are trying to get their furry friends to take their medication. However, more broadly the vet advised all pet owners as a first port of call to seek independent guidance from a specialist “vet”. The vet advised owners that whilst “crushing tablets into an animal’s food may be safe” it would be prudent for them to consider seeking a cautious approach by approaching a vet for independent advice due to the many variables and it depended on the type of medication which is being administered (as some medications need to be taken whole and should not be crushed).
The vet running the session suggested some possible alternatives pet owners could try persuading our animal friends to consume their medicine in its everyday pouch of food by giving a pet some appealing nice tasting food packed with flavour prior to its “full meal” when it is hungry, such as some sausage, a bit of cheese or peanut butter”. However, the vet was cautious to warn the wider population of animal lovers about the danger posed to our furry friends by some types of peanut butter and in particular the ingredient known as xylitol.
Peanut butter as temptation?
Closely following the questions from Naomi, another attendee of the event named Flora had observed that her canine companion “Charlie, absolutely adores peanut butter” and posed the question regarding ‘why xylitol is so perilous’? The vet commented that her dog is not the only one to like the taste of peanut butter and it makes for a high energy reward for a dog or cat. The vet advised pet owners to think carefully about the size of the dose of peanut butter being administered to the dog as it has the potential to increase weight gain in our animals. She advised the wider public to only feed peanut butter to pets in small amounts and occasionally.
So what is xylitol and why should pet owners take care?
The vet then moved on to explain what Xylitol is. She explained that the chemical is a “birch sugar” (also called sweetener) which humans consume on a daily basis without negative impact on their health (as long as they don’t take too much of it). The chemical does not contain calories and many low sugar foods contain it such as “chewing gum, some medications, spreads, chocolate, chewing gum, and peanut butter”.
Having said that xylitol in small doses is edible for humans without causing any adverse medical reaction, she then contrasted it with the situation for our canine companions. She commented, “However in dogs, xylitol can cause a sudden and dangerous drop in blood glucose levels”. The vet also focussed the mind of dog lovers out there by emphasising that, “even a small amount of xylitol can induce serious liver damage and even death”. The vet continued to enlighten the attendees of the discussion about some of the symptoms animals adversely impacted by xylitol poisoning experience for example “vomiting, disorientation, and seizures”. The vet encouraged pet owners who think their animal companions have consumed “anything with birch sugar or xylitol” in it to approach an expert veterinary health professional as a matter of urgency for advice, guidance, and support.
Is this information new?
For the unaware, the question-and-answer session chaired by the PDSA vet was very interesting. However, it appears to be old news to pet owners and those who work in the veterinary industry. Back in early February 2022 leading pet food manufacturer Purina reassured members of the public that xylitol is a “sugar substitute which is prized for its low calorie content, low glycemic index”, and its positive impact on “human dental health”.
However, the manufacturer confirmed that the chemical is “highly poisonous” to our canine companions. To underline the extent to which the issue of dogs unintentionally “ingesting” xylitol and its impact of the chemical on our animal companions, Purina quoted the alarming statistic that “in 2020 alone” “Pet Poison Helpline received 5,846 telephone calls”.
Is xylitol safe for human consumption?
Whilst many of us humans love the taste of peanut butter, spreads, sweets and chewing gum, the European Union decided to ban producers from adding xylitol to soft drinks because of the adverse laxative effect all polyols have on the human digestive system in high doses. Campaigner Fionnaigh Reid suggests that the authorities go further and wants regulators to be more cautious when it comes to xylitol in human foods. She has been campaigning for the banning of xylitol for many years and thinks that the chemical should be prevented from entering both the animal and human food chain. Mrs Reid began a petition in 2019 to ban the chemical from the human food chain as she claims “it causes Hypoglycemia” and “is not recommended for diabetics”. However, the petition only received 629 signatures and did not progress any further.
In June 2024 the European Heart Journal published a piece of research in which it found evidence suggesting that excessive consumption of the chemical xylitol can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and type two diabetes over the longer term
Xylitol is not the only danger
A lot of food that humans eat without problems is potentially dangerous for our pets. Think about chocolate, onions (for instance if we share a bit of stew), or grapes and raisins. and then there are other dangers such as bowel obstructions (eating bones, corn-on-the-cob, nuts) and many other things. For a quite comprehensive list of common dangers, the PDSA has a website to check.
