Not Today, Fido, Not Today—Don’t Let Your Dog Eat This

Good morning. Today I put forth to you perhaps a controversial, yet still true opinion: Dogs are wonderful (but that’s not the opinion, we all know that’s a fact). We love dogs, but even the smartest of them are… idiots. Happy, fluffy idiots who want to eat everything from alarm clocks to that cake you spent all night baking. They mean well, but that’s where we come in, and thus this friendly neighborhood PSA:

Everyone knows that as delicious as chocolate is, it should never be given to our favorite furry friends. However, there’s another ingredient that can be just as deadly to both dogs and cats. Xylitol, a commonly used sweetener often used as a substitute for sugar, can cause a pet’s blood sugar to rapidly drop, leading to tremors, seizures, or even death. It’s not great.

It turns out that xylitol, as obscure as it sounds, can actually be found in a number of common foods such as gum, melatonin, multivitamins and gummy candies. And if a dog or cat gets into anything containing the sweetener, it causes a dangerous amount of insulin to be released from the pancreas, thus causing that perilous drop in blood sugar.

But because dogs are idiots and don’t know any better, they’ll it eat anyway just as Bailey did, a local border collie living in Denver. According to 9 News, Bailey the doggo had had a run-in with the dangerous substance after she decided to eat a bottle of melatonin. The first ingredient? Xylitol. Luckily, she was rushed to the vet and has since recovered.

So, we must protect the adorable fools. Spread the news, and keep your gummy bears to yourself no matter HOW big your dogs’ eyes get.