Aquadent and xylitol?

[Susanna72]

Hi! I have three cats: Timothy, Benjamin, and Oliver. My vet suggested I use Aquadent mouthwash for their teeth. I measured it out and put it in ONE of their two water bowls Friday night. (I just did one because I wanted to see if they'd drink it. If they didn't, they'd be without water and I didn't want that.)

By Saturday night, Timothy was throwing up and wouldn't eat, Benjamin wouldn't eat, and Oliver had diarrhea. That mouthwash was the only change, so I removed it. Timothy threw up bile most of Sunday, but ate a small amount of his dinner and drank some water. He ate a little bit this morning and just threw it all up again. I've got a call to the vet and I'm defrosting a chicken breast. He won't even eat a Churu, though, so I have my doubts about the chicken. MAYBE by tonight, though. Benjamin is back to eating. Timothy is not hiding, just lying on the bed looking sad. Vet should call me back today.

My point is now I see xylitol is the third ingredient in this mouthwash and I thought that was toxic to animals! Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Maybe I'm off base and it's NOT the mouthwash, but that's the only thing I could think of.

Side question: Oliver is complicated. He has gastro issues and has diarrhea on and off anyway, so not sure what's going on. I asked the vet about putting him on a probiotic and I searched here and see people have success with that, but if anyone else has advice about chronic throwing up food and on and off diarrhea, that would be great. I'm talking to the vet about that, too, but I thought maybe I'd get feedback on other's experiences. He eats Hills i/d Digestive. VERY finicky eater so he'll decide once in a while not to eat for a day. He also has mild CH, which I don't think is part of it but mentioning in case someone else thinks it's related.

 

[Twylasmom]

My understanding is that xylitol is very toxic to dogs, but not for cats, though I would try and avoid it anyway. There are several cat specific water additives, like Oratene, that are available and those would be a better choice than a human grade mouthwash, as it may contain other ingredients that aren’t cat friendly.

 

[Susanna72]

My understanding is that xylitol is very toxic to dogs, but not for cats, though I would try and avoid it anyway. There are several cat specific water additives, like Oratene, that are available and those would be a better choice than a human grade mouthwash, as it may contain other ingredients that aren’t cat friendly.

I'm so confused because this is marketed for cats AND dogs! It's weird.

 

[daftcat75]

I don't see xylitol in the Aquadent ingredients. But I do see erythritol. This isn't toxic as much as it is, well, that stuff is in all the keto foods, and it gives me the runs. I can only imagine what it would do to a cat.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. Xylitol is toxic to cats and dogs. There are some sites that say it is in it and some say it isn’t. Where it isnt said to have it, it has another artificial sweetener based on alcohol sugars. It also has chlorhexidine in it and that an cause problems as well. I wouldn’t use it at all. All it will do is temporarily make their breath better but otherwise it won’t do more than make them sick.

You do need to get your cat to the vet.

Please let us know how it goes.

 

[Kflowers]

You might want to think of another vet, perhaps a cat only vet?

 

[Susanna72]

Hi. Xylitol is toxic to cats and dogs. There are some sites that say it is in it and some say it isn’t. Where it isnt said to have it, it has another artificial sweetener based on alcohol sugars. It also has chlorhexidine in it and that an cause problems as well. I wouldn’t use it at all. All it will do is temporarily make their breath better but otherwise it won’t do more than make them sick.

You do need to get your cat to the vet.

Please let us know how it goes.

The vet got me in at 6:40pm and I'm on a cancelation list. Last night all Timothy would eat was a little bit of Hills Senior Vitality dry food. Wouldn't touch the boiled chicken. This morning. I gave him a little bit of boiled chicken, bit of dry food, plus a tablespoon of his regular canned food and he ate it all! However, by 2pm he threw it up. But at least he is hungry and he's been sitting in my lap and seems fine. Not lethargic. HOWEVER, I just caught him chewing a leaf off my lemon tree. I Googled it and I had no idea lemon trees were toxic. I just knew cats hate citrus. Now, I have never seen any evidence that the tree is being eaten and maybe his tummy is just upset so he's looking for something green to munch, but I'll let the vet know and I've hid the tree away in the basement.

My cat Benjamin now has diarrhea so he's going to the vet in the morning. (he also has the sniffles, which he gets sometimes.) So what is going on with my cats? If it's not that mouthwash, they are eating something or it's a treat I'm giving them or something. At least Benjamin isn't throwing up.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. Please let us know how it goes at the vet. Just consider everything as toxic to cats. I forget, did you have any other plants or flowers in the house? What I do is, no plants inside, but I do get them the cat grass from the pet store, and have given them cat nip that I tried to grow as well. I hope you stopped the mouthwash.
That is allot of vomiting. Is he the kind of cat that likes to eat hair ties and things like that? It could be an obstruction completely unrelated.

 

[Susanna72]

Hi. Please let us know how it goes at the vet. Just consider everything as toxic to cats. I forget, did you have any other plants or flowers in the house? What I do is, no plants inside, but I do get them the cat grass from the pet store, and have given them cat nip that I tried to grow as well. I hope you stopped the mouthwash.
That is allot of vomiting. Is he the kind of cat that likes to eat hair ties and things like that? It could be an obstruction completely unrelated.

I only have African violets. I put the lemon tree in the basement until it gets warm enough to go outdoors.
They did X-rays and nothing is blocking anything. Shot of Cerenia for nausea and fluids. Bloodwork. Said his belly is soft and basically found nothing obvious wrong with him. I guess the bloodwork will tell the rest of the story.

 

[Susanna72]

I came home tonight and Timothy is under the bed. Won’t eat. I left room to feed others and came back and he was just staring at me, dazed and drooling. Alert enough to run when I try to wipe the drool. Really odd.

 

[silent meowlook]

Not to scare you, but Timothy sounds very ill. Can you get him in somewhere tonight?

 

[Susanna72]

Not to scare you, but Timothy sounds very ill. Can you get him in somewhere tonight?

I missed this last night! Calling vet this morning. I searched here and Google for Cerenia and it sounds like it can make cats sick and hypersalivate.

 

[Susanna72]

He’s under the bed. Head up and alert but obviously doesn’t feel good. No drool that I can see (saliva dripping from his mouth last night). Vet opens soon. This is so sudden, it has to be that Cerenia injection.

 

[silent meowlook]

I’ve never seen Cerenia do that. The injection lasts 24 hours. I suppose it could cause problems bug I haven’t seen it.

You don’t have any essential oils in your house right? No new cleaners or sprays?No new topical medications for you?

Either way, a cat that’s hiding is a very ill cat
Let us know what the vet says.

 

[Susanna72]

I’ve never seen Cerenia do that. The injection lasts 24 hours. I suppose it could cause problems bug I haven’t seen it.

You don’t have any essential oils in your house right? No new cleaners or sprays?No new topical medications for you?

Either way, a cat that’s hiding is a very ill cat
Let us know what the vet says.

The vet said to give him an appetite stimulant. I had some from another cat, so he said it's okay to use that. I just gave him some Churu and he ate that. He said "Could it be Cerenia side effect? Yes. Could it be the issue you brought him in for, which turns out to be possible hyper thyroid and/or liver issue? Yes. I am still waiting for the test results."

I don't think I shared what he said about the bloodwork and xray. There is a 1.5cm nodule on his spleen. Also his ALT (i think that's what it's called) is high. High is 100, he is 214. Thyroid is a bit high. It's 3.6 and 4 is high. So the next step is to do a 3t4(?) by dialysis test which they did and that's what we are waiting on. Based on that, we would do an abdominal ultrasound. That would also give us a better view of this nodule and see if there are others.

 

[silent meowlook]

Sounds like a good plan. FreeT4

 

[Susanna72]

Sounds like a good plan. FreeT4

On a lighter note, I think it's funny that something to do with the vet has the word "Free" in it. Nothing about the vet is free. It would be nice to have a free test!

Timothy is out and eating a little and loafing ON the bed instead of under it.

 

[silent meowlook]

I totally get that. Expensive! It was expensive for me when I had to do all that testing on my cat and that was with a discount.

 

[Susanna72]

I totally get that. Expensive! It was expensive for me when I had to do all that testing on my cat and that was with a discount.

I feel like it’s gotten more expensive in recent years. I’m glad I’m at a point when I can halfway afford it. I couldn’t in my 20s and 30s. I only had two cats, though, and a Care Credit card.

Timothy has gotten more cuddly as the day went on and is eating treats and licking his wet food. No word on Free T4 test yet. Hopefully tomorrow. We need to tackle what’s going on.
Thank you to everyone for your advice! I love this forum.

 

[Susanna72]

Hi all. Timothy is completely back to normal this morning! Circling and meowing to be fed and scarfed his breakfast. Now he's snoozing on the bed. I guess it must have been that mouthwash initially and then maybe the Cerenia shot? Still waiting for the test results. If it's thyroid, at least he can take medication for that. As far as the liver numbers being high, could that be because of the not eating and vomiting? In other words temporarily elevated? Thanks everyone for your advice and support. It helps to hear the experience and knowledge of others.