We are now knee deep in autumn celebrations, wedged as we are between Halloween and Bonfire night. Anyone that has children in the house will be inundated with chocolate and sweets at the moment. I do not need to remind my faithful readers about the dangers of chocolate poisoning in dogs – you all know to keep those tasty treats away from your pets. The other one that we think of less is artificial sweetener poisoning; classically found in things like chewing gum there is a chemical called Xylitol that can cause major problems in our dogs.

Xylitol fools the dog's body into thinking it has suddenly taken on a load of sugar – the body releases natural insulin which reduces actual blood sugar to dangerously low levels.

If we think dogs have eaten chewing gum, sweets or artificial sweeteners containing Xylitol we will initially try and make them sick to bring up the offending substance. However if we are too late to do this or a large quantity has been eaten we have to admit these dogs to monitor their blood glucose and give then intravenous glucose and fluids to maintain blood glucose until the levels settle down.

Of course the next seasonal worry for dogs is the noise of fireworks, it is too late at this stage to think about a desensitisation program for your dog (do think about this for next year), but do remember to keep them in, keep the radio on and have lots of positive distractions to try and get them through the next few evenings. If you have major worries then speak to your vet about possible medication.