YES-WE ARE A PEANUT BUTTER FREE CLINIC.
I just had a most unusual and very worrying phone query from a potential new client asking if we were a peanut butter free clinic?
As a Vet, I have never been a fan of peanut butter for pets as other than palatability to get medication in, it just adds empty calories to a pet’s daily intake.
With the addition of xylitol sweetener to many commercial peanut butters that at a certain level the xylitol then becomes a poison to dogs, we advise against peanut butter in general.
Additional to that we have always been aware of how many people of all ages have nut allergies and that transference of peanut butter from other people’s hands etc can have fatal consequences to these allergic folks.
The caller indicated the trend for using peanut butter is gaining traction in Sydney as a way to make dogs enjoy their vet visit or their weigh-ins. That may be true but there are way way safer and healthier ways to make a dog like a vet visit than using Peanut butter!!
Transference from vet staff handling peanut butter to areas an allergic person could touch or be touched by or a child being licked by a dog fed peanut butter is a Huge risk to an allergic child or adult. Scarily, most affected families would not be on high alert taking their pet to their Vet so their own guard is down and then they walk into a massive danger zone of risk.
Our clinic has Never had -nor will it Ever have -any size pot of peanut butter sitting anywhere in our clinic, let alone at the front desk or waiting room or consultation room.
I am going to ask Sydney University’s Center for Vet Education to spread this alert.
I would ask anyone reading this that has an allergic family member to contact your allergy support groups and ask them to sent out an official alert to their members to advise this new area of concern.
This is yet another example of Form over Function-where is sounds good, looks good but no one thinks it through-a bit like plastic grass for dog runs-just a disaster waiting to happen.
Thank you for any one who can share this so we Spread the Word not the Butter.