We want to draw to your attention a request from long-time newsletter subscriber Marcia Wilson. Marcia is also a regular judge for the contests we sponsor to find stories for each year's new book. Marcia sent us an email and asked us to please pass the following information along to our readers.

Marcia's letter told about a harrowing experience a woman had had when her dog got into the purse a visitor left on the floor of her home. The dog gobbled up some mint gum that had been sweetened with Xylitol.

This woman did some quick-thinking and induced vomiting in the dog who had minty-fresh breath and in her other dog. After a trip to the emergency veterinarian, the woman found out that the dogs would have died had she not handled the situation immediately.

The letter-writer wrote, "Xylitol tastes just like sugar but with fewer calories, so in the last six to eight months there has been an EXPLOSION of products in the United States with Xylitol added. By the way, there has also been a parallel explosion of Xylitol-related deaths in dogs during that same period. I've read that strawberries
and raspberries are natural sources of Xylitol. Who'd have thought?"

We went to the ASPCA's poison control center and found out that, sure enough, Xylitol is listed as a substance that is poisonous to dogs. Go to http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc for more information about plants, food items, and other substances that are poisonous to dogs and cats. The site also explains what to do if your pet has ingested something poisonous.