My Dog Ate Gummy Bears: Should I Ignore It? (Solved & Explained!)

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Monitoring your dog’s diet is a difficult task that isn’t made easier by them trying to eat everything they get their mouths on. One food you shouldn’t let your dog have is gummy bears. What do you do if your dog ate gummy bears?

If your dog ate gummy bears, don’t panic right away. Unless it’s eaten in large quantities, they’re not going to put your dog in any life-threatening danger. If you have a smaller dog, you need to monitor this more closely. If your smaller dog eats a lot, take them to the vet. If your larger dog eats a lot, monitor them for symptoms.

The rest of this article will cover what to do if your dog ate gummy bears, how to prevent them from eating gummy bears, why you shouldn’t let them eat gummy bears, and how to take care of them after treatment.

What To Do If Your Dog Ate Gummy Bears

If your dog ate gummy bears, first you have to calm down and assess the situation. Unlike other harmful substances, gummy bears won’t put your dog in imminent danger unless they’re a small dog that ate an entire bag of bears. First, you need to look at the size of your dog.

How harmful the bears are depends on the size of your dog. If you have a small breed dog, the more bears they eat, the more dangerous they are. If you have a medium or large breed dog, they have more body weight, so the gummy bears aren’t as much of a threat.

Next is determining how much they ate. For small dogs, if they ate any more than a quarter of a bag of gummy bears, call a vet and get them help. For large and medium dogs, if they ate the whole bag, call a vet. If they ate less than the whole bag, monitor them for symptoms.

If they start showing symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, and or excessive drooling, then call a vet. If they don’t show symptoms, then you don’t have much reason to worry. That means the bears will give them an upset stomach, but nothing dangerous.

After you assess the situation, care can be given to the dog. Make sure to take the gummy bears away from them. Don’t let them eat gummy bears under any circumstances, especially gummy bears with xylitol in it. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that isn’t good for dogs.

How To Prevent Dogs From Eating Gummy Bears

Unfortunately, keeping your bears in a bag isn’t enough to stop your pet from going after them. Their claws can easily rip through the surface of the bag, so they can eat them with ease. That’s why you have to take extra precaution when storing your gummy bears.

When you get the gummy bears, put them on the highest shelf possible. That way your dog can’t get to the bag easily. For added protection, put the gummy bears in a sealable bag like a Ziploc bag. That’ll give it more strength if your dog manages to get their paws on it.

If you’re not comfortable putting it high up, then keep it behind closed doors. Instead of putting it on an elevated surface, find a cupboard, cabinet, or pantry to store it behind. The doors will prevent your dog from taking it out and eating it.

Why You Shouldn’t Let Your Dog Eat Gummy Bears

Gummy bears, although a nice treat for humans, aren’t suitable for dogs. The sweetness isn’t meant for their digestive system. It’ll cause an upset stomach and, in severe cases, can damage their livers. This is why you should never let your dog have gummy bears, even if it’s only one.

Although the smaller the amount, the less likely you’ll see any symptoms, it’s still not recommended to feed them any at all. The sweeter the gummy bear, the more it’ll upset their stomach. These stomach issues will make your dog very uncomfortable.

How To Take Care Of Your Dog After Treatment

After treating the dog’s upset stomach from the gummy bears, you should clean up and make sure there’s no gummy bears on the floor or on low surfaces. This will prevent any further damage from being caused. Along with that, make sure to monitor your dog.

The symptoms should fade after the treatment is done, but if the symptoms persist for longer than a day, call your local vet. This could be a sign that there’s more damage and your dog needs to be checked out. Make sure they don’t eat any more gummy bears during this time.

Give your dog a lot of love and comfort, especially if the treatment was difficult. They’ll need comfort so they can adjust back to their normal living patterns. Also ease them back into eating at a slow pace.

They may be reluctant to eat because of their experience. Don’t panic and continue to be patient with them. If their reluctance to eat persists for more than a couple days, then call your vet and make them aware of the situation.

Conclusion

You have to monitor what your dog is eating, and if they eat gummy bears, you should take the gummy bears away and assess the situation. If they’re showing symptoms, like vomiting and diarrhea, you’ll need to call your local vet to get your dog treatment.

To prevent your dog from eating gummy bears, keep it in its packaging and add a sealable bag around it for extra protection. From there, you have two options: either put it on a high shelf, or put it behind a closed door like a cupboard, a cabinet, or a pantry.

You shouldn’t ever feed your dog gummy bears. Although they won’t harm the dog in small quantities, the sweetness they have still upsets a dog’s stomach. After you’ve given treatment to your dog, you should monitor them and comfort them to make sure no symptoms come back.


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