Diet Foods for Dogs?

Posted on 05. May, 2010 by doglover in In The News, Medical Topics

Can you share your diet food with your dog? The best answer to that is “probably not”.

Many diet foods for people contain xylitol as a sugar substitute. That’s fine for us, but in dogs xylitol causes a sudden and rapid release of insulin from the pancreas. This leads to a drop in his blood sugar levels, which results in vomiting, seizures, staggering and coma within half an hour of eating the xylitol. Not good. However, if you can get your dog to your vet, he can be treated with intravenous glucose and other supportive treatment, and his blood glucose will return to normal.

All is not well though. Xylitol can also cause liver damage and internal bleeding in dogs, and this can be harder to manage. It can in fact be fatal.

So, what can you do? Firstly, don’t give your dog diet cookies containing xylitol. Keep your sugar free gum out of his reach. If you’re looking to reduce the calories your dog eats, choose a low fat food, cut out the snacks and table scraps, and increase his exercise. Don’t rely on quick solutions such as low fat treats, they can be fatal in dogs.