Hi All:
Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you have a wonderful, blessed and safe holiday season spent with all your loved ones...furry and otherwise.

Just got a warning note from our local animal rescue regarding candy and goodies which can be potentially be life threatening to our pets. There is a new sweetener (maybe it's an OLD sweetener) that, if ingested by a dog causes fatal liver damage almost immediately. This sweetener (and others) are natural sweeteners called "XYLITOL". It is highly toxic to dogs and as LITTLE AS 2 STICKS of the sugarless gum can be and has been fatal to many animals. This Xylitol use to be made out of birch but the manufacturers have found they can make it much cheaper out of corn products ...it can be found in sugar-free gum, candy and mints, mouthwash and health stores sell it for baking as it has 1/3 less calories than sugar. PLEASE VISIT THE ASPCA POISON CONTROLL CENTER AT
aspca.org and look at ALNIMAL POISON CENTER or you can call the ASPCA Poison Control Center at 1-888-426=4435.

Thank you for being very careful with goodies around your animals. Chocolate which is a comfort food for many of us can be deadly for our canine family members.

Feathers

Feathers, Thanks so much for alerting us to this. I was not aware how harmful Xylitol could be to pets.

Thank you! I knew about the plant and the chocolates. But did not know about the gum. Thank you for such a timely reminder.

Merrry Christmas

Thanks Feathers...

I knew about the chocolate and gum...another one to keep an eye on is poinsettia ...their leaves are poisonous. My furry friends only get treats that are made for them in their stockings and human goodies are kept out of their line of scent. :)