Chocolate in just small amounts can critically affect your pet dog, worst it can lead to death. Some animal clinics noticed a higher number of chocolate toxicity incidents among dogs eating milk chocolate compared to dogs that have eaten a healthier dark chocolate. But your pet dog can only eat about 1/3 of dark chocolate.
Why chocolate is harmful?
Caffeine and theobromine are the toxic ingredients in chocolate. The theobromine has very high concentrations in chocolate and causes serious illness in dogs. Your dog’s intestinal system, brain, heart and lungs, and kidney can be harmed by taking in Theobromine in chocolates.
Here are some examples of how much theobromine is in a chocolate
- 5 ounce milk chocolate bar has 250 mg of theobromine
- a dark chocolate bar has 600 mg
- Unsweetened baking chocolate has 400mg theobromine (per square)
- 30 chips of semisweet chocolate has 250 mg.
- Dry cocoa powder has 700mg/oz of theobromine
A 10 pound poodle can be fatally harmed by as little as one milk chocolate bar consisting of 250 mg of theobromine. If a Golden Retriever, weighing 75 pounds, consumed eight milk chocolate bars he or she will end up being critically ill. On the other hand, the dark chocolate and bakers chocolate are even more toxic. A retriever only requires to eat 3 of the dark chocolate bars to be fatally ill.
Determinants of chocolate toxicity
- The type of chocolate
- Amount consumed
- The time it was eaten
Pet owners can notice the following signs right after their dogs ate chocolate
- stomach upset
- bloating
- vomiting
- diarrhea
Listed below are also symptoms that we must observe carefully
- hyperactivity
- frequent drinking and urinating routine
- restlessness
- elevated heart rate
The most severe signs are listed below
- nervous system is affected
- tremors
- seizures
- raise breathing rate
- high body temperature (hyperthermia)
- coma
60mg/kg chocolate dose can potentially be fatal to your dog. For example, a 10 pound dog can only eat 300 milligrams of chocolate. Serious complications can be seen as low as 20mg/kg. For instance, a small 10lb dog only needs to eat 100mg to have problems. Consuming 40mg/kg or 200 milligrams of chocolate can cause death.
How to treat your dog after eating chocolate
- Check how much chocolate has been taken in.
- Then based on the type of chocolate, identify if your pet has taken in a possibly toxic amount. If the dose of chocolate is 20mg/kg of theobromine or more, you must call your vet and induce vomiting. This implies that if your 10 pound (5 kilograms) poodle eats a milk chocolate bar he has to vomit because he ate more than 200 mg of theobromine. You can compute this by multiplying the weight of the dog and the toxic dose amount.
- You can induce vomiting by giving your dog hydrogen peroxide. It is recommended to give 1tsp/10lbs of body weight. If the pet did not vomit, repeat the steps. But do not exceed more than 2 hydrogen peroxide treatments.
- You can also try giving the pet test salt. Simply dilute one teaspoon of salt in a tablespoon of water per 10 pounds of body weight.
- If the above steps do not help in inducing vomiting, call your veterinary clinic as soon as possible.
- You must also observe these serious signs such as diarrhea, tremors, seizures and excessive vomiting.
Being a responsible dog owner, you must be aware of the kinds of chocolate and how much chocolate was consumed to cause poisoning in your dog. Even the smallest amount of chocolate can seriously harm your pet dogs. If that happens, you should be able to determine the signs of chocolate toxicity and induce vomiting.
When your dog ate chocolate, do not panic. Just follow the recommendations and call your vet immediately.
