Recently the ingredient Xylitol was brought to my attention and immediately I had flash backs to a cat that was seen while I was a vet tech.  The cat, already in the first stages of renal failure, came to the vet due to excessive vomiting and lethargy.  After many tests and much research, it was found that the cat had been using a mouth cleaning product that contained Xylitol.  At first nothing was thought of this until all the pieces were brought together but let me explain Xylitol first.

According to Wikipedia : "Xylitol (from Greek ξύλον - xyl[on], "wood" + suffix -itol, used to denote sugar alcohols) is a sugar alcohol sweetener used as a naturally occurring sugar substitute. It is found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms.^[2] It can be extracted from corn fiber,^[3] birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose with only two-thirds the food energy. As with most sugar alcohols, initial consumption can result in bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence, although generally rather less so than other sugar alcohols like sorbitol."

It is used in many dental products as a sweetener due to it's "tooth friendly" nature...in other words it sweetens without harm to teeth.  It has also been found to control yeast in the mouth, increases white blood cell activity helping the fight against bacteria and has even been thought of as a treatment for osteoporosis!  And although there has been very small side effects from regular use in humans, pets are another story.

Most pet products that contain Xylitol are oral rinses that are added to the pet's normal drinking water supply.  This in itself is a danger because of consumer misuse, the inability of pets to monitor their own water consumption and the chance of over-dosing.  Granted, it does take a bit of over-dosing to cause problems in a healthy pet but...

"Dogs that have ingested foods containing high levels of xylitol (greater than 100 milligram of xylitol consumed per kilogram of bodyweight) have presented with low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) which can be life-threatening. Low blood sugar can result in a loss of coordination, depression, collapse and seizures in as soon as 30 minutes. Intake of very high doses of xylitol (greater than 500 – 1000 mg/kg bwt) has also been implicated in liver failure in dogs, which can be fatal." Wikipedia

Couple that with any pet that isn't in top condition and it is a recipe for disaster.  Let's look at the cat that I mentioned before.

Let me list out all the reasons that we believed that Xylitol was to blame...

1. The cat was vomiting

2. The cat's liver values suddenly elevated - liver damage

3. The cat was in renal failure and for anyone that has a cat in renal failure they know that the pet will drink more

4. The owner was using a oral wash for the cat and placing it in the water - good dental hygiene is essential in pet's with kidney conditions

5. Nothing else seemed to be to blame!

What had occurred was that the owner was following the directions on the oral rinse correctly but what wasn't put into consideration was the cat's voracious appetite for water.  The over consumption of the Xylitol then started to effect the liver and the cat's blood sugar would drop as well.