Easter Candy Can Poison Your Pets!

Easter Candy can poison your pets. There are two major dangers: Chocolate and Xylitol. All sugar substitutes are bad for your pets, but Xylitol is lethal.

Chocolate poisoning in dogs is caused by the caffeine and theobromine in the chocolate. Signs of chocolate poisoning include: vomiting, diarrhea, elevated body temperature, hyper reactions such as startling easily, muscle rigidity, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, low blood pressure, seizures, weakness, coma, cardiac failure and death.

The degree of toxicity depends on which type and how much was eaten. The absolutely worst is baking chocolate.  Also bad is any form of dark chocolate. Milk chocolate is not as toxic, however if enough is eaten it too can be dangerous. Make sure that your dog never eats any of this. If your dog does eat any Baking Chocolate, dark chocolate or milk chocolate,  get your dog to your vet or the Emergency vet as soon as possible.

Chocolate poisoning in cats is also caused by the caffeine and theobromine in chocolate. Signs of toxicity are basically the same as dogs.  Signs include:  vomiting, diarrhea, elevated body temperature, hyper reactions such as startling easily, muscle rigidity, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, low blood pressure, seizures, weakness, coma, cardiac failure and death.

Xylitol is extreamly poisonous to dogs. Xylitol is 100 times more toxic than chocolate to dogs! While it actually seems to be good for humans, it is amazingly dangerous for any non-primate animal.

Being a natural substance, Xylitol.an alcohol sugar, has become increasingly popular as a “sugar substitute”. As a result, calls into pet poison control centers have also become much more frequently.  In humans, Xylitol does not effect the level of insulin in the blood. In dogs, there is a huge release of insulin into the blood stream resulting in a rapid. profound drop of blood glucose (blood sugar). Left untreated, this drop in blood sugar is life threatening.

Signs of Xylitol in dogs include: vomiting, weakness, difficulty walking or standing (walking like a drunk), depression or lethargy, tremors, seizures, drastic drop in blood sugar levels, coma, liver failure, and death.

There is no antidote for Xylitol. Aggressive, early veterinary treatment is your dog’s only hope……

If you suspect that your dog might have even just possibly have eaten any Xylitol at all, no matter how little, you have to get your dog to your vet or Emergency vet hospital immediately!

As far as I can find, Xylitol is not toxic to cats. However, even so, I would make absolutely sure that my cat never got the chance to ever eat any of it!

With all of this said, just a little care around your pets, will go a long way to making your Easter holiday a joyous time!

Happy Easter To Everyone…..

Kitty Levee

P.S. General prepping and taking care of animals the way you should can be expensive. If you want to know how I afford to do all of that: