When Sweetness Is Dangerous

Why artificial sweeteners are bad for dogs

- Michiko Manalang

Your vet has probably told you that you should stay up to speed on your dog’s (or cat’s) dental hygiene. In the same breath you’ve probably also been strictly warned not to share your toothpaste, (why anyone would think of that as a great solution, we’ll never know) and with good reason.

Aside from the fact that it veers dangerously close to Gross Beyond Belief, sharing toothpaste can potentially harm your dog. And by “potentially harm,” we mean, “almost definitely kill.”

Many if not all of of our dental hygiene products these days contain chemicals that shouldn’t be in our dogs’ systems to begin with. Fluoride is a common one that even we shouldn’t be swallowing, since it can cause an upset stomach--but we already know not to ingest it. Dogs don’t.