# Is Xylitol Deadly To Rats?



## ROM (Apr 12, 2009)

I use Xylitol for baking, etc. I know it is terribly deadly to dogs and perhaps even cats, but is it harmful to rats? 

ETA: Looks like I answered my own question. I found this vet site: http://www.cumberlandanimalclinic.com/html/the_pet_threat_from_xylitol.html and according to that article, "Xylitol has shown no adverse effects in humans, rhesus monkeys, rats and horses but is toxic in dogs, baboons, cows and goats." 

ETA2: WTH?!! Now I find this article here: http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Xylitol-Really-Natural-and-Safe?&id=2673805 that states "Lab tests revealed that 1.65 grams of it could cause death in a 100gram rat."


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

Well, better safe than sorry. Just keep the rats away from it, that shouldn't be too hard.



Although the ezine article doesn't have a source for its information, while the animal clinic site does... which makes me lean more towards it's safe for rats. Not that they should be eating it anyway. It wouldn't benefit their diet at all.


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## Crasher (Jun 15, 2009)

Well, it says '1.65 grams of it could cause death in a 100 gram rat' while 5 grams = 1 tablesppon. It also says 'a typical piece of xylitol-gum contains 0.7 - 1 gram of xylitol, meaning that about half the amount of the sweetener is needed to kill a rat'. 

How much do you use for baking?


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

If it is that dangerous for some animals, I wonder if humans should use it at all. I'm not.
Thanks for the research.
Can you imagine how easy it would be for a dog to steal a cookie laced with that stuff? ???


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## Little nibbles (5 mo ago)

Xylitol is no joke and yes it can be harmful in higher amounts to humans especially if you have any type of insulin issues or diabetes it can throw off you blood sugar level completely off. My 100 lb Rottie got about a spoon full of less of it and immediately went here blood sugar level dropped to 1.5 she started having seasures Lost sensation to her hind legs and just laid on her side motion less. We IMMEDIATELY took her to Emergency at that point her sugar went to 1 normal being 7-7.5 in . They immediately went to work to get her out of shock and stabilize her sugar level. Stayed / nights at the clinic and was in high dosage liver protectors and medication to hero cleanse her liver as it starts to lead to permanent organ damage starting liver, kidneys, heart, etc. I went to my exotic vet to inquire about my rats she said if my rat ingested anything when xylitol to go to take her to emergency. Exotic vets received recent study on pet rodents proving immediate liver damage. So I’d stay away. My rat is 3 so i just never used that product again but I just gave her lots of water to dilute it and if any did get to her liver it was minor amount. They can do too much anyway for a rat what they did for my dog is pump her stomach and give her meds to cause her to start vomiting rats cannot vomit so they couldn’t really help just make sure that they didn’t go into coma but i did that at home like i said it was minute amount usually you see overdose effects within 10-20 min animal goes into shock and seizures after then and organ damage begins following that than death. Luckily my dog received emergency help within 25 min and $2 k vet charged me later i took her home.


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